What are your favorite and least favorite fast food restaurants?
Generally, the question is about the food, but please feel free, especially if you don't eat fast food, to use some other criteria, like advertising or sheer ubiquity.
I don't know if it's technically fast food (there is some specific criteria to warrant that designation and render a place distinct from casual dining, e.g. Applebee's, though I don't remember what it is), but my favorite place that I consider fast food is Panera Bread. Worst has got to be Hardee's; its food sucks and its advertising sucks. Blech.
Question of the Day
The Overton Window: Chapter Eleven
There is a downside to making a pit stop. As much is I love the proverbial Slim Jim and Fanta, slowing down means you get to your destination later. And as fun as the last post was, I still have to actually slog through chapter eleven properly.
If you didn't get enough speechifying in chapter ten, well, hold on, chapter eleven is the headline act. Danny Bailey, Youtube sensation and mavericky straight-talker!
Before he hits the stage, Noah is getting the metaphoric tear in his beer on (is that metaphoric or proverbial? Nevermind) at his otherwise empty table by the stage. "He'd briefly considered playing a drinking game with himself, wherein he would pound one back each time he heard one of the dirty words progressive, socialist, or globalism, but by those rules he'd have drunk himself under the table within a few minutes." It's actually an interesting observation, as if Beck is acknowledging just how ridiculous the movement is.
I mean, Socialism? Really? Does anyone truly believe we, as a country, are on the verge of, heading toward, or anywhere remotely near Socialism? Because, let me tell you: We're not. And if you think we are, you have no idea what Socialism is.
Hollis sits down with Noah, because he looked kind of sad, according to the big man. How nice of him. Or maybe Hollis is just keeping an eye on Noah. Nah, if that were the case, Noah would have noticed, what with his "almost supernatural ability to tell when a person is hiding something."
Noah's night goes from bad to worse:
Tonight's headliner, the illustrious Danny Bailey, now took to the stage in a swell of heavy-metal music and an ovation that rattled every shelf of glassware behind the bar.
"Hello, New York!" Bailey shouted, like an aging rock star kicking off his annual farewell tour. He held out the microphone to pump up the roar of the answering crowd and made no move to settle them down. On the contrary, the clamor continued until he produced a piece of paper and took back the mike almost a full deafening minute later.
God damn if people just don't love Youtube stars! Anyway. If you listened to the audio of the speech, you'll already know something about Bailey's speech: It reads better than it it sounds out loud. Which is really saying something. This only goes on for a few pages, and I am going to spoil the end here, because Bailey is interrupted before he can finish. Oh, what thrilling thing happens, you ask? Does Blackwater storm the place? Does the fire marshal shut down the bar? Does America's crumbling infrastructure lead to a sudden power outage? Oh, just you wait. It's even better than all of those ideas!
Bailey continues:
Watch what they name things. If they call something the Patriot Act, you can bet it won't be long before they're using it to hunt down us patriots. If it's called Net Neutrality, it's going to be used to neutralize their enemies. If it's called the Fairness Doctrine, it's meant to un fairly put free speech under government control and create a chilling effect on your First Amendment rights.
That's right, kids, in an Orwellian twist, those bills are all named the opposite of what they really are! The Patriot Act is for rounding up patriots! Net Neutrality is for neutralizing dissenters. (Okay, that's not really an opposite.) The Fairness Doctrine is to unfairly do something to the First Amendment. God damn if Danny Bailey isn't a genius.
Plus, he has lots of paper. Like Beverly before him, Bailey makes his point by dangling papers in front of his audience. He's sort of a patirotic prop comic, but not funny. Like Carrottop.
Blah blah blah... Bailey goes on about unemployment ("almost forty percent if you're a young black man") and prisons ("of all the world's prisoners, we've got twenty-five percent of them right here in this country"), yet fails to make the connection between poverty and crime.
He does however note that the government is hiring Internment and Resettlement Specialists like nobody's business. There's more papers, more factoids, more statistics.
"And here"—he squinted as he read briefly from the document on top of his stack—"United States Air Force Civil Disturbance Plan 55-2 will authorize and direct the secretary of defense to use the U.S. armed forces to restore law and order in the event of a crisis. Under this umbrella plan they ran an exercise in 1984—so you see they do have a sense of humor—and that exercise was called Rex-84. The purpose was to see how efficiently they could pick up and corral all those disobedient Americans on their lists."
Bailey held up document after document as he continued. "What lists, you ask? All kinds of them. The FBI's ADEX list from the late 1960s—ADEX, that stands for Agitator Index—it was full of dangerous intellectuals, union organizers, and people who spoke out against the Vietnam War. Now there's almost a million and a half people on the DHS Terrorist Watch List, and it's growing by twenty thousand names every month.
"Have you registered a firearm? You're on a list! Have you made a political contribution to a third-party candidate? You're on a list! Have you visited my website? You're on a list! Have you given a speech about government lists to a rowdy group of patriots? You're on a list!
So, yeah. Big Brother is watching you, and making lists, and checking them twice (sorry) and you better be careful. They're hiring Internment Specialists to round everyone up. (Not really.) It would seem grim. If you lacked critical thinking skills.
It's interesting how Beck throws out all this random data, never really ties any of it together, not sufficiently anyway. Take that bit about the ADEX from the Sixties. What the fuck does that have to do with the DHS Terrorist Watch List? It is implied there is some connection between the two. But that's all it is. They are mentioned in the same paragraph, so I think we're to infer there is some credence to the plot fifty years in the making. But vague innuendoes aren't facts.
And this is when things start to get personal for Noah.
"Oh, and this just in, thanks to our friends on the Internet—a place where, at least for now, we can track them as easily as they can track us."
Noah felt his face getting hot. In Bailey's hand was a printout of the leaked government memorandum from that afternoon meeting at the office, the one he'd spent his entire morning trying to nullify. It was effectively harmless now, it was a nonissue, and he repeated that to himself, but the smug look coming from the guy onstage had already gotten under his skin.
"... if you speak out against abortion," Bailey continued, reading from the memo, "are a returning veteran, are a defender of the Second Amendment, oppose illegal immigration, are a homeschooler, if you've got a bumper sticker on your car that says 'Chuck Baldwin for President' or, heaven help us, if you're found to be in possession of a copy of the U.S. Constitution, then you good American patriots, you moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, you guardians of liberty are to be approached with extreme caution and guns at the ready, because you may be a terrorist!"
Whoops! The leak that Doyle and Merchant thought they had fixed? Turns out: Not so much. They better check with HR, make sure no teabaggers are on the payroll. First place to look: The copy room. Or the mail room. Yeah, check the mail room! Also, see if anyone's been hanging up flyers aroung the office. Just a suggestion.
Oh, and about the line "heaven help us, if you're found to be in possession of a copy of the U.S. Constitution..." Wasn't Beverly jsut telling everyone to carry a copy with them at all times? But Bailey says that'll get you "on a list." Which is it? Maybe this is why I don't know what the teabaggers want: They don't know what they want.
There stuff about the Enduring Constitutional Government, Constitution Free Zones, a "continuous state of national emergency" blah blah blah.
"It looks bad, I know it does," Bailey began. "But do you know why we're going to beat them? We're going to beat them because once the truth gets out there'll be no stopping it. When enough people wake up they'll have no choice but to come out of the shadows and fight, and then we've got them. Remember what a great man once told us: First they ignore you—then they ridicule you—then they fight you—"
"And then they win," Noah said.
Uh oh! All eyes on Noah! Then the chapter wraps. Dang, what will happen next? Oh, the thrills! Chapter twelve, here I come!
Oh, and if anyone can guess what happens in chapter twelve, you get a prize.
Earthish
Take us to your leader, or just lie there like an adorable single-celled organism, or whatever:
A team of astronomers from the University of California and the Carnegie Institute of Washington say they've found a planet like ours, 20 light years (120 trillion miles) from Earth, where the basic conditions for life are good.Does Richard Branson really have anything better to do? I think not.
...Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, says the discovery [of Gliese 581g] is a huge deal. "It could have liquid water on the surface," she said. "That's the first step to find life."
There are hundreds of known extrasolar planets that have been discovered in the Milky Way, but this is the first that could support life.
Earthlings won't be traveling to Gliese 581g any time soon unfortunately. Scientists say a spaceship traveling close to the speed of light would take 20 years to make this journey.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
[Trigger warning.]
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
"Democratic leaders must recognize that the nation's views on women and power are changing. They might also consider it a moral and social imperative for the party that relies on women, and to which women's progress has been historically tied, to treat its women as a fundamental asset rather than a vaguely irritating embarrassment."—Rebecca Traister, in "Democrats: Remember the Ladies!" for The Nation. A must-read.
Today's Extra Dose o' Cute
Someone* in one of today's threads called for a double dose of cute today. So here's Swatch (canine mascot of Mood Fabrics in NYC) to the rescue:
Swatch says: "This day is pushing my buttons"
Image description: a small black-and-white dog with a bemused expression. Zie sits on a gray carpet in front of a display wall of sewing buttons on cards.
*ETA: for shaker intransigentia.
Say, I Know Some People Who'd Like to Get Married...
Report: U.S. Marriages are Down...Way Down:
Data reported by the Population Reference Bureau, a Washington-based research organization that comes up with global demographic stats, show that the number of American young adults, aged 25-34, have dropped a dramatic 10 percentage points between 2000 and 2009 from 55.1% to 44.9%, citing the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Among the total population, aged 18 or older, marriage dropped from 57% in 2000 to 52% in 2009.I blame feminism!
The numbers are the lowest since the Census Bureau began counting marriage a century ago.
You know, if the People Who Care About These Things want to bump up those marriage rates, they could try legalizing same-sex marriage.
But, of course, it's really not marriage over which they're wringing their beringed hands; it it were, the fact that "90% of adults will get married at some point in their lives," thus suggesting not fewer marriages but merely delayed marriages, would soothe their alarm. What it's really about is protecting the proud tradition of male supremacy, of which early marriage (and childbearing) has long been an integral part.
Ah well. Female equality's a bitch. *rimshot*
(Btw/TW: A million demerits for the image accompanying the article and the lede equating marriage to "clubbing someone over the head." Whoops you forgot to flip your calendar to the 21st century!)
Daily Dose o' Cute
There's a monster in the shower! Oh, nope -- it's just Sophie. Olivia and Matilda are the laziest playpals ever. Dudz couldn't be less interested. Zzzzz.
(I'll post some still pictures for those who can't view video later in the day.)
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Trigger warning for rape apologism, heterocentrism, ciscentrism.]
Another important dispatch from the Department of Gender Essentialism, Evo-Psych, and Farts...
One-Night Stands Explained: Men Prefer Hot Bods to Pretty Faces.
And that explains why women have one-night stands how...?
Wait wait—don't tell me! I bet it's because of our ancient evo-ova driving us to procure seed to make teh babies, amirite? HIGH FIVE, LADIES! (But only the cis ladies, obviously.)
You know, the really fun thing about evo-psych is how useful it has the potential to be for rape apologists, given its insistence on ripping apart our bodies from our minds and assigning them their own individual motivations. When scientists say that our sexual urges are "operating outside of conscious awareness," it's like getting a big fat stamp of institutional approval on that old "your mouth says no, but your body says yes" chestnut. Classic!
I Guess They're Nice Guys, Too
[Trigger warning for sexual violence.]
What the everloving fuck. Two Michigan State University basketball players are accused of taking turns "assaulting an unidentified woman for nearly an hour in their Wonders Hall dormitory room late on Aug. 29 and into Aug. 30," and one of the players "who volunteered a statement corroborated much of the victim's statement," including the fact that she did not consent, but prosecutors have nonetheless declined to pursue the case.
The victim, who was brought to tears by a prosecutor affecting "a defense approach" and "grill[ing] her about whether or not it was possible the perpetrators thought the activity was consensual, why she didn't yell and scream and why she didn't run or try and fight her way out of the room," is still willing to testify.
"I worry about what would happen if it didn't go through and having to deal with all the publicity and everything that goes with pursuing charges," she said. "But also I am angry. It's just that everybody looks at them as heroes and they're so excited for basketball season that [the players] get off without anybody caring. They haven't even been punished."Leaving her rapists free to do it again, creating even more victims whose cases prosecutors can decline to pursue.
Asked what she would like to see, she tenses the muscles in her face, and chews nervously at her upper lip.
"Just some justice, because right now there's none," she says.
Unless the victim, having already survived a gang rape, goes back to the prosecutors who revictimized her and asks them to reconsider: Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III generously offers, "There is a reconsideration policy in our office. If a victim is not happy, they can come talk to me and I'll review everything personally."
What a swell guy.
[H/T to Shaker nina_bruja.]
"But He's Such a Nice Guy"
[Trigger warning for sexual assault, homophobia, and suicide.]
By now, you've probably heard the details of the terrible incident at Rutgers University, in which 18-year-old freshman Tyler Clementi jumped to his death off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and a friend secretly filmed and live-streamed Clementi making out with another young man.
Naturally, a lot of people have reasonably concluded that the "merry pranksters" who broadcast Clementi's private sexual acts, Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, were homophobic. But a longtime friend of Ravi's says this is not true:
[Michael Zhuang told ABC News] the media portrayals of Ravi as possibly homophobic or a serious prankster are not true. "I'm in shock, I didn't expect this to happen and I am just speechless. He's normally very nice and I don't think that this is a representation of him," said Zhuang. "He's very very open minded and he, like if it had been a girl in the room it wouldn't have been any different," he said.See that? Ravi isn't homophobic; he's an equal opportunity sexual assaulter.
Oh, pardon me: An equal opportunity privacy-invader. Ravi and Wei "have been charged with two counts each of invasion of privacy."
You know you're living in a rape culture when the proffered evidence of someone's decency and open-mindedness is that he'd have callously violated his roommate's privacy if he'd been intimate with a girl, too.
Naturally, the phrase "if it had been a girl in the room it wouldn't have been any different" is absurd for another reason: It might not have been any different for Ravi (a dubious claim in the first place, frankly), but it certainly made a world of difference to his victim, by virtue of the fact that we live in an institutionally homophobic culture where straight people generally needn't worry about violent retribution or familial ostracization or any of the other potential consequences many gay/bi men and women might face after evidence of their sexuality is broadcast to the world.
The things Clementi evidently feared enough to take his own life.
Top Chef: Just Desserts Open Thread
[Image from last night's episode: The chefjudicators visit our pastrycheftestants at the "bake sale."]
Last night's episode will be gently fluffed, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, pack your whisk and go...
The Good News and the Bad News
The Good News: Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey will reportedly introduce LGBTQI-inclusive immigration legislation today or tomorrow, at long last providing US citizens and permanent residents to sponsor same-sex partners for residency in the same way opposite-sex partners can. (For evident reasons, this is a particular legislative interest of Iain's and mine.) The legislation "would also provide a path to citizenship for the undocumented and would include the DREAM Act, which would give adolescents who came to the U.S. as children a chance to achieve citizenship through completing two years of college or spending two years in the military."
The Bad News: The Senate adjourns this week for the midterm recess. Senator Menendez's spokesperson "would not confirm the report but said details of the bill." And "the complicated legislation is not expected to move before the end of the year, but may just be laying the groundwork for next session.
Or, worse, may be a promise to mixed-nationality gay families and immigrant families before the midterm elections that the Democrats actually have no promise of keeping.
I don't like feeling that cynical, though, so I'm going to quote the optimistic Steve Ralls, director of communications for the pro-LGBT Immigration Equality: "Senator Menendez's bill will set the stage, in this Congress and the next, for a serious debate on fixing our broken immigration system."
Today might be a good day to contact your senators and ask them to support LGBTQI-inclusive immigration reform, which also includes the DREAM Act and offers undocumented workers a path to citizenship. Let them know there is a constituency who's eager to see such legislation passed, so when the legislation comes across their desks, they see it as an issue with broad support, not "special interest" legislation they can ignore as long as it got a press release.
Question of the Day
Following up on yesterday's question: Once I get moved, what kind of shop/business should I open?
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Are Men the New Minority? "With more women on campus, some male activists are now crying foul."
I've written about the OH NOES MORE LADIES GETTING DEGREES! and BOY CRISIS! alarmism more times than I can count, so I'm not going to do it again. Just have at it in comments.
Instead, I'll share with you the email exchange in which Iain sent me this article.
Iain: Sends link under the deceptively innocuous subject line "Hi."
Liss: LOL. You could have warned me you were about to throw me into a pile of garbage. Now I smell like poo.
Iain: LOL. Sorry, honsels.
Privacy Schmivacy: It's Like You Want the Terrorists to WIN!
Adam Serwer on how radical the administration's internet surveillance proposal (about which I tweeted here) really is:
I don't think I adequately expressed how fundamentally radical it is that the administration is planning to propose legislation that would force Internet communications companies to build their systems in a way that allows the government to have a backdoor. Part of the problem, I think, is that we still think of privacy on the Internet as being somehow different from physical privacy. As in, I still have privacy if there isn't a camera in my home, but the government can read my e-mails. It should be immediately obvious, though, even in that example, how tapping the Internet is not like tapping a phone line.That's an enormous amount of information for the government to have access to. And even if one "doesn't have anything to hide" from a center-left administration, would the same be true under a far right administration...?
"Telephone conversations are ephemeral, they go away after you're done," explains Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel with the ACLU. "Internet communications leave a record; that record, while it seems just as private as the actual conversation, is protected at a much lower level." What that means is that unlike a phone tap, which tracks future communications from the point at which the eavesdropping begins, under this proposal, past records would be accessible too.
Last night I was thinking about an aside in a piece Julian Sanchez wrote about how we increasingly live our lives, and it's true. For a growing number of people, if the government has access to someone's Internet communications, you have access to just about everything. They know what food you like. They know who you're having sex with. You know who your friends are, and who your enemies are. They know your political views, your literary preferences, your sense of humor. They know how much money you make, what kinds of health problems you have, what neighborhood you live in.
Viewed in this context, forcing Internet communications companies to reverse engineer their systems for breach by the government is like forcing construction companies to build houses that have cameras in every room.
Scary stuff, this.
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.]
Texting! With Liss and Deeky!
Deeky: Patti LuPone! You're such a fudgepacker.
Liss: I ain't packin' no fudge! I'm just sitting here quietly minding my own business, reading an article about Liza Minelli while listening to Patti LuPone.
Deeky: LOL! There is almost no way that could be gayer.
I Couldn't Make This Shit Up
Senators Tom Coburn (R-Eprobate) and Jim DeMint (R-Evolting) have put a hold on a bill that would grant "approval of a decade-long effort to build a women's history museum in the nation's capital." The two senators are concerned about, among other things, bias.
Got that? Two conservative male senators are holding up approval of a women's history museum because they're not sure it will conform to their dudely ideas of what a women's museum should be.
Without a trace of irony.
Two Facts
1. When I wrote passionate criticisms of a Republican administration and Republican Congressional majority who failed to champion LGBTQI equality, assailed women's bodily autonomy, treated Roe as a suggestion, refused to disclose lobbyist visits to the White House, invoked the separation of powers to protect themselves, called for spending freezes on social programs, legitimized rightwing extremists, advocated for offshore drilling, pushed HSAs, escalated a war, thumbed their nose at due process, engaged in black ops, treated scientists with contempt, expanded the executive's extrajudicial powers, demeaned liberal activists, and invoked state's-secrets privilege for bullshit reasons, I was a principled progressive.
2. When I write passionate criticisms of a Democratic administration and Democratic Congressional majority who fail to champion LGBTQI equality, assail women's bodily autonomy, treat Roe as a suggestion, refuse to disclose lobbyist visits to the White House, invoke the separation of powers to protect themselves, call for spending freezes on social programs, legitimize rightwing extremists, advocate for offshore drilling, push HSAs, escalate a war, thumb their nose at due process, engage in black ops, treat scientists with contempt, expand the executive's extrajudicial powers, demean liberal activists, and invoke state's-secrets privilege for bullshit reasons, I am a stupid ingrate who doesn't understand how politics works.
Always with the Misogyny
[Trigger warning: Sexual Harassment]
If you've been hanging out in Feministville for any length of time, there's a good chance that you've noticed the propensity of many activists to treat women as objects. While this is a problem on the left, conservative activists seem to have a particular knack for treating women as means to an ends, or merely as objects for their own sake.
Last year, neo con man James O'Keefe released videos of what appeared to be ACORN employees helping prostitutes get loans to finance brothels. The subsequent scandal, which involved O'Keefe posing as a pimp and subsequently editing the bejeezus out of secret tapes, brought down ACORN. Apparently using the sex class is a much more direct way to bring down progressive organizations than, say, discussing predatory lending.
You may or may not remember James O'Keefe from his role in disseminating heavily edited videotapes of an actress portraying a 13 year-old rape victim seeking assistance from Planned Parenthood.
Earlier this year, O' Keefe was among the folks who broke into Senator Mary Landrieu's office to tap her phones, for reasons unknown.
He also launched a campaign against Representative Maxine Waters.
O' Keefe's friend, Andrew Breibert, went after the Obama administration's “racist” ways by editing a video (um, CNN?) of longtime Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod, who is also a woman. I'm not sure how much the racism charges against Obama stuck, but I do know that Sherrod no longer works for the USDA.
What a sad, sorry, and frightening pattern. What could possibly come next?
CNN investigative reporter Abbie Boudreau was working on a story about O'Keefe and company, who were none too pleased to be the target of some woman's criticism. Naturally, O'Keefe responded with a heavy dose of sexual harassment:When I [Abbie Boudreau] showed up [to interview O'Keefe], there was no office, as promised. Instead, he wanted to get me on a boat, which we later learned, was staged as a "pleasure palace." One of his colleagues, Izzy Santa, who was in Maryland that day, told me about the plan and stopped the punk before it happened.
Izzy told me he had "strawberries and champagne" waiting for me on the boat, and that he planned to "hit on me" the entire time. She said it would all be captured on hidden cameras that had been set up on the boat and in the back yard. She said the sole purpose of the "punk" was to embarrass me, and to make CNN look bad.
Yes, because when men harass women and hit on them the entire time, it's the women and their employers who look bad.
Even on a boat, we're swimming in rape culture:James was supposed to tape the following script before the meeting on the boat.
"My name is James, I work in video activism and journalism. I've been approached by CNN for an interview where I know what their angle is: they want to portray me and my friends as crazies, as non-journalists, as unprofessional and likely as homophobes, racists or bigots of some sort…"
"Instead, I've decided to have a little fun. Instead of giving her a serious interview, I'm going to punk CNN. Abbie has been trying to seduce me to use me, in order to spin a lie about me. So, I'm going to seduce her, on camera, to use her for a video. This bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who comes on at five will get a taste of her own medicine, she'll get seduced on camera and you'll get to see the awkwardness and the aftermath."
"Please sit back and enjoy the show."
It explains very simply what "the joke" is.
"The joke is that the tables have turned on CNN. Using hot blondes to seduce interviewees to get screwed on television, you are faux seducing her in order to screw her on television."
I just don't know what to say to that.
Homophobia? Well, now that you mention it Mr. O'Keefe, sure, why not?
Confusing the work of a woman with seduction? Honestly, when's the last time Wolf Blitzer was accused of seducing anyone? Of course, Blitzer's not a bleach-blonde. I'm not sure that look would suit him.
And the screwing. Always with the screwing.
Always with the screwing because rape culture is alive and well. Always because this is the nth time the same man has tried to get away with using similar tactics. And conservatives will hail him as a once and future hero in three, two, one...
H/t: Shaker JMonkey
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, proud sponsors of the upcoming Vegas showdown Deeks v. Beck. Mezzanine tickets are still available.
Recommended Reading:
Peter: Liberal Bloggers Are Bringing Down Obama, Part II
Echidne: The Care and Feeding of the Political Bases
Andrew: Joint Chiefs Chairman Stands by DADT Repeal, Pentagon Review
IWHC @ Akimbo: Women First: The Global Health Initiative's Women- and Girl-Centered Approach
crunktastic: The Evidence of Things Not Seen: Sex and Power in the Black Church [TW for discussions of sexual violence and clergy abuse.]
DeeLeigh: Fat Kids Targeted [TW for fat hatred]
Jo: Did you know people with artificial legs shouldn't go hiking? [TW for disablism.]
Esra'a: Geek Feminism and Mideast Youth
Leave your links in comments...
Daily Dose o' Cute
When no one's looking, Vincent reverts back to his normal deity form and takes a well deserved nap.
In the Lost final episode thread, I commented that with all the Egyptian mythology, it seemed to me that Vincent was actually Anubis getting ready to escort Jack to the next "plane", as it were.
Between Alfie's coloring being an almost spot-on match with Vincent and his ears relaxing in perfect Anubis fashion, I think we just found our Lost pup. :)
This is a real thing in the world.
Ya know, for kids!
"Teaches children (and parents) about the origins of the Tea Party and what it involves. A very pleasant song, coloring and activity book on Liberty, Faith, Freedom and so much more!"
Guess what Deeky's getting for Christmas!
[Via Margaret.]
23 MacArthur Foundation Awards Announced
The MacArthur Foundation "Genius" awards list for this year has been announced. Among those chosen is UCSD's Carol Padden, the first Deaf person so honored. Carol Padden is a leading figure in the study of sign languages, and has co-authored, with husband Tom Humphries, a number of texts which have been widely used in the teaching of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies.
Annette Gordon-Reed, author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, was also named. Recipients recieve $100, 000 a year over five years, and Ms. Gordon-Reed said her award will, in part, fund research for another book she is planning on the family of Sally Hemings, the slave woman owned by Thomas Jefferson, by whom she had several children.
Fans of The Wire and Treme will be pleased to know that writer/producer David Simon has also been awarded one of this year's MacArthur's. I have seen neither, as I don't have HBO, but I know a lot of Shakers have expressed love for Simon's widely-admired work. Twelve men and eleven women, among them thirteen scientists and ten artists, were named fellows.
Theatre actor/director David Cromer is one, as is Jessie Little Doe Baird, a preservationist of the Wopanaak language of the Wampanoag Indians of Massachusetts; Aussie Drew Berry, who works in biomedical animation; and Emmanuel Saez, a professor of economics, one of whose studies was on the economic impact of outstanding kindergarten teachers (No, srsly; turns out those greedy public employees might actually be contributing to the economy, as well as the education of our children).
Oh, and Amir Abo-Shaeer, a public high school physics teacher in Goleta, CA, who directs an engineering program which includes a robotics competition. Says Abo-Shaeer,
I want to change the whole culture of what an engineer looks like and what an engineer does.Abo-Shaeer said that he is particularly proud that half of his students are female.
The next time, in a seemingly endless series of next times, that some member of the Obama administration starts whining and finger-jabbing about the shocking lack of appreciation for their splendid array of accomplishments, I think I'll suggest they contemplate the accomplishments of the people on this list, that they might be moved to perform the important public service of STFUing and getting on with all those badly-needed works which remain undone.
Collectively — even after the awards — the MacArthur awardees have far less money and power to draw on than a group of 23 Democratic Representatives, Senators, and top administration officials. Not devoting themselves to speechifying about what they are owed, how unappreciated they are, and what they will accomplish in a magic someday over the rainbow when the Republicans have graciously given their permission, has probably saved them a lot of time and energy, though.
It's inspiring what human beings can accomplish when they commit themselves to real public service, to the honest pursuit of knowledge, and to creating solutions rather than to careerism.
All Right, Let's Just Get This Over With
The President's much-discussed interview with Rolling Stone ends thus:
[Signaled by his aides, the president brings the interview to a close and leaves the Oval Office. A moment later, however, he returns to the office and says that he has one more thing to add. He speaks with intensity and passion, repeatedly stabbing the air with his finger.]As I said in comments yesterday, I regard the vote-for-any-Democrat-to-keep-a-Republican-out-of-office position as a legitimate and perfectly understandable position. I've frequently voted on that basis myself, especially when the only other alternative was not voting, because there were no candidates further left of the Dems on my voting ticket.
One closing remark that I want to make: It is inexcusable for any Democrat or progressive right now to stand on the sidelines in this midterm election. There may be complaints about us not having gotten certain things done, not fast enough, making certain legislative compromises. But right now, we've got a choice between a Republican Party that has moved to the right of George Bush and is looking to lock in the same policies that got us into these disasters in the first place, versus an administration that, with some admitted warts, has been the most successful administration in a generation in moving progressive agendas forward.
The idea that we've got a lack of enthusiasm in the Democratic base, that people are sitting on their hands complaining, is just irresponsible.
Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election and if they want to move forward over the next two years or six years or 10 years on key issues like climate change, key issues like how we restore a sense of equity and optimism to middle-class families who have seen their incomes decline by five percent over the last decade. If we want the kind of country that respects civil rights and civil liberties, we'd better fight in this election. And right now, we are getting outspent eight to one by these 527s that the Roberts court says can spend with impunity without disclosing where their money's coming from. In every single one of these congressional districts, you are seeing these independent organizations outspend political parties and the candidates by, as I said, factors of four to one, five to one, eight to one, 10 to one.
We have to get folks off the sidelines. People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up. Bringing about change is hard — that's what I said during the campaign. It has been hard, and we've got some lumps to show for it. But if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place.
If you're serious, now's exactly the time that people have to step up.
But I also regard as a legitimate and perfectly understandable position the reluctance to vote affirmatively for candidates and/or policies that one cannot endorse in good conscience. And the president of a democracy should recognize that, too.
It's Glenn Greenwald's principled opposition to the Obama administration's national security and civil liberties policies that gets the attention and respect, but, of course, that is not the only principled reason a progressive voter might feel unable to make the "perfectly logical calculation" to cast a vote for the Democratic party when that vote implicitly endorses an agenda inconsistent with one's own dignity and autonomy.
That feminists/womanists and queer activists are not regarded (or even discussed) as having a legitimate reason to feel alienated, demoralized, and conflicted about casting an affirmative vote for a party that has failed utterly to protect and/or extend their basic civil rights, underlines the very marginalization that creates disaffection in the first place.
Every election, that snake eats its own tail again. And 'round and 'round we go.
But this time, we've also got the president himself jumping into the fray to make noise about "what's at stake." As if we don't know.
Our "lack of enthusiasm" is "irresponsible," he admonishes us: "Everybody out there has to be thinking about what's at stake in this election."
Well, Mr. President, what if thinking about what's at stake in this election is exactly the cause of one's lack of enthusiasm? What do you recommend to the people whose very bodies and lives are still treated as bargaining chips by your administration and your party? How much do you think "the other guys are even worse" really matters when your "better" alternative is failing to defend and champion equality (and fail even to react to encroachments on our rights) instead of actively opposing it?
That's the sort of distinction that makes a difference to people whose own lives aren't affected by the Democrats' disinterest. Someone who isn't personally invested in the legalization of same-sex marriage might appreciate the philosophical difference between a party who endorses codifying discrimination into the Constitution and a party who merely declines to pursue equality because it's not politically expedient right now. But to someone who's not allowed at their dying partner's bedside because they're not "family," that's a distinction without a meaningful difference.
Either way, they're standing out in the hall like a second-class fucking citizen.
And the people who tell us to vote for the Democrats because the other guys are worse are frequently people who have never had to stand in a voting booth and cast a vote for someone who they know is likely to treat their bodies and/or lives as a point of compromise.
Even when you know the other guys are worse, that shit ain't easy to do.
And progressives/Democrats really need to stop pretending like it is.
The president frames our disillusionment as "standing on the sidelines" and "sitting on their hands complaining" and "taking their ball and go home," which he says "tells me folks weren't serious in the first place." Which is as clueless as it is insulting (and it is extremely insulting). It's also a fine bit of projection.
It isn't feminists/womanists and queer activists who are standing on the sidelines and sitting on their hands complaining: It's the Democrats—who have opportunities to stop Roe from being rendered an impotent statute, and opportunities to be allies to the LGBTQI community, but choose not to take them. (Even when 75% of the population supports equality.) And then complaining about people who aren't axiomatically inclined to support them, forgiving for the second, fifth, tenth, twentieth election in their lives the alleged necessity to have "played politics" with their identities and rights.
There is indeed someone who wasn't serious in the first place, but it ain't us.
The Overton Window: Danny's Big Speech
Whenever you're on a long trip, it's nice to stop every once in a while and stretch your legs. Maybe get a Slim Jim and a Fanta. It helps break things up a bit.
And after ten chapters, including one long-ass speech about the evils of taxation, I thought we'd pull over for a piss. Proverbially speaking, of course.
So instead of me reviewing chapter eleven, Danny Bailey's big speech, instead of you having to slog through reading the big speech, I thought I'd let you hear it. [Transcript in comments.]
Below is my recreation of Danny Bailey's speech at the rally, with authentic sound effects. It's just like being there, without Hollis looming over your shoulder all night.
Let me set the scene for you:
Tonight's headliner, the illustrious Danny Bailey, now took to the stage in a swell of heavy-metal music and an ovation that rattled every shelf of glassware behind the bar.
I couldn't find a sound effect of rattling barware, so you'll just have to imagine that bit. The rest, however, remains true to the description in the book. More or less.
Give it a whirl. Download it. Put it on your iPod. Play it in your car. Hold your own teabagger rally. Or just turn out the lights, close your eyes, and pretend you're at the Stars 'n Stripes.
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In today's episode of The Overton Window, Danny Bailey is played by James Daniels. Produced, directed, edited, folded and fluffed by me.
Question of the Day
I'm relocating. Selling my house and getting out of town. Except I have no idea where I am going. Perhaps someplace I can find a cute boyfriend or two.
So, Shakers, I ask you: Where should I move to?
No More Strawpeople, Please
Greg Sargent lays out for the White House "the various arguments that people on the left are actually making."
I would personally argue that there are, in fact, only two groups—Sargent's second and third categories. His first category falls into the same trap Biden et. al. have, which is assuming that rank and file Democratic voters are insufficiently enthusiastic for vague reasons, instead of the same reasons that "high-profile commentators" and "progressive operatives" are.
Otherwise, good stuff.
U.S. Chamber of Turd
In opposition to the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act, the Chamber wrote the following to Congress:
"Replacing a job that is based in another country with a domestic job does not stimulate economic growth or enhance the competitiveness of American worldwide companies."I'm glad that the rocket scientists at the Chamber have figured out that putting more unemployed Americans to work who would receive a paycheck and subsequently buy goods (i.e. consumers) would not stimulate economic growth.
Such award winning economic logic cannot go unnoticed.
[H/T to ThinkProgress]
The Event Open Thread
Last night's episode will be discussed in what I imagine is going to be slightly less than the infinitesimal detail in which Lost was discussed, but, nonetheless, if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, move along...
What I'm Listening To
[Lyrics here.]
There is a lot I love about this song, but the thing I love most about it is that it feels like a fat sexy woman to me. That ba-dump, ba-dump just conjures a big, voluptuous woman spilling out of a tight dress on a hot day, walking with her chin up, swinging her hips and her boobs as she walks with purpose, looking lustfully at her man or woman with narrowed eyes. Ba-dump, ba-dump. It makes me feel like that fat sexy woman every time I listen to it.
Maude, how I love Nina Simone.
The Best Thing You'll Read All Day
The Wrestler and the Cornflake Girl: Mick Foley explains how Tori Amos changed his life and turned him into an advocate for survivors of sexual violence.
Blub.
[H/T to Susie.]
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.]
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Actual Title: Why Men and Woman Can't be "Just Friends."
Actual Subtitle: Can men and women really be "just friends?"
My brain now has actual whiplash. It's like if the tagline for the twentieth century's most important documentary, When Harry Met Sally... had the tagline, "When Harry Met Sally?"
Someone in the headline division of Psychology Today's Gender Essentialism, Evo-Psych, and Farts department is getting lazy.
And WTF is this? "Remember: Think well, act well feel well be well!" Whoops your commas fell down a well.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Love and Rockets: "Yin and Yang (the Flowerpot Man)"
(This video may not be safe for anyone who experiences photosensitive epilepsy.)
Now Biden Doubles Down
After telling disillusioned progressives to "stop whining," Vice President Joe Biden doubled-down on the scold-your-base strategy last night:
"And so those who — didn't get everything they wanted, it's time to just buck up here, understand that we can make things better, continue to move forward," Biden said during an appearance on MSNBC, "but not yield the playing field to those folks who are against everything that we stand for in terms of the initiatives we put forward."The Obama voter who's "angry because we didn't get every single thing they want" is a damnable strawperson. Joe Biden is mistaking ideological purity for what, in reality, is consistent principles—and the expectation that the administration have them, too.
Biden was asked by MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell, in the debut of the host's new program, "The Last Word," whether he'd like to retract his admonition to liberals to stop complaining.
"There are some on the Democratic base, not the core of it, that are angry because we didn't get every single thing they want," the vice president said.
"They should stop that," Biden explained. "These guys, if they win, the other team, they're going to repeal healthcare [reform] and I want them to tell me why what we did wasn't an incredibly significant move that's progressive and helping people."
This is getting really old. The Press Secretary, the Deputy Director of Public Engagement (har), top advisors, the Vice President, and the President have all gone on the offensive against their own base, and then they wonder why the fuck the base isn't on their side. OMGLOLWTF.
And, as Maud pointed out in comments, the hyperbole is ridiculous:
This reminds me of the tired line, recently used by Biden in his interview with Rachel Maddow, but trotted out frequently by the usual suspects, "As much as I wish we had a magic wand..." Yes, that's right. People expect magic. The only two possibilities are selling-out completely, and the magic wand. Expecting anything but the first is the equivalent of demanding the second.Which reminded me of this comment Obama made at a fundraiser last week:
Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty. If we get an historic health care bill passed -- oh, well, the public option wasn't there. If you get the financial reform bill passed -- then, well, I don't know about this particular derivatives rule; I'm not sure that I'm satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven't yet brought about world peace and -- I thought that was going to happen quicker.Yes, that's right. Because expecting a healthcare reform bill in the richest nation on the planet to guarantee healthcare to all its citizens is the same as expecting world peace. Jesus.
This is so infuriating. Forget legislative failures or policy disagreements for a moment: I just want my Democratic president to be better at politics than this.
Best Email Ever
[Click to embiggen.]
If you can't view the image, it's an email from a gentleman named Tony, with the subject line "VOTE OUT ALL LIBERALS, ALL DEMOCRATS, ALL RINO'S, ALL MUSLIMS, ALL NON-BELIEVERS AND ANYONE ELSE TRYING TO BRING AMERICA DOWN!" followed by a picture of an American Eagle in front of a US flag, labeled "GOD BLESS AMERICA" in gold text.
You've convinced me, Tony. I renounce feminism, atheism, progressivism, and my beliefs in social justice and a robust social safety net.
Well played, sir.
Absolutely Backwards
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life recently conducted a survey* of US-ians about their knowledge of religion. CNN finds the results "surprising."
US-ians didn't do too well on the quiz, especially, uh, religious folks. On average, atheists and agnostic people answered the most questions correctly.
CNN theoblogger Stephen Prothero argues that because "all careful observers" know religion is a major force in politics, the US should institute mandatory school courses in "the Bible and the world's religions."
Here's the thing....
When I was a student at a public high school, we learned about the world's religions (and the Bible) in a mandatory course on world history. In my paying gig, I spend a lot of time examining students' college transcripts. A lot of students take 100-level courses in civilization that include material on religion (even the Bible), and general education requirements typically encourage this behavior.
In other words, I'd appreciate it if Prothero didn't imply that the government is enforcing ignorance about religion, an argument so hackneyed it makes Jenny Lind look like ABBA. The sad truth is that people, including religious people, aren't actually paying attention to the historic and scriptural bases of religion, and all the Jars of Clay concerts in the world aren't going to change that. That's a "surprising" narrative, I suppose, if one is used to constantly hearing about how secular America is.
Here's yet another thing...
If a religion we don't know anything about is a major driving force behind policy, we could rectify things by learning more about Christianity in the public school classes we're already attending or the Sunday sermons many US-ians are attending. Alternatively, we could make a concerted effort to make the US secular. You know, stop basing policies on misconceptions of one of the world's five major religions, especially since, you know, some of us live in the US, too.
Sure, you could argue that the U.S. is the only place on Earth where folks' knowledge of religion is deficient, but I doubt you'd succeed. Besides, religion isn't about knowing things, it's about believing things. If we're interested in global politics, I'd argue that the right answers are the answers people are giving us; cultural studies, and not history holds the key to understanding what's going on.
Ultimately, I suspect that Prothero is simply terrified at the prospect that Christopher Hitchens knows something about religion. At the very least, I agree with him on this point. It is indeed scary to admit that Hitchens knows anything about anything.
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*The survey is here, but the Pew's servers are presently unable to handle my mad theological skillz.
This is a real thing in the world.
[Click to embiggen.]
The image is a screecap from a new site called "She's Hot, But" (to which I won't link, but you can find it easily if you're so inclined). The purpose of the site is to provide straight/bi men (and ostensibly women attracted to women, although suffice it to say I wouldn't expect to find many lesbians and bisexual women participating in such a wantonly woman-hating site) with an anonymous outlet for broadcasting the flaws of women they find hot.
The three examples in the screencap are: "She's hot, but her ass is flat as a pancake," "She's hot, but her breath smells like pure ass," and "She's hot, but she's a HAG (hairy arm girl)."
Many of the submissions are much more objectionable. Some of them include jokes about sexual violence. Some of them are transphobic; some are racist; some are homophobic; some are disablist; some are fat-hating. It's basically a clusterfucktastrophe of misogyny, in all its intersectional forms.
And CBS will almost certainly option it for a sitcom in no time.
You're Very Stupid; Now Vote for Me.
Yesterday, I mentioned that President Obama was launching a campaign to get the youth vote reenergized for the midterm elections. Well, he started with a conference call yesterday with college media, the audio and transcript of which is here.
Reading/listening to it, the first thing one notes is how earnest and engaged the young journalists on the call are. Which is what makes this admonishment from Obama, as part of his answer as to why he chose Wisconsin as a stop for his GOTV tour, even more contemptible:
Now, I've been in office for two years; we've been in the midst of this big financial crisis. I've been having all these fights with the Republicans to make progress on a whole bunch of these issues. And during that time, naturally, some of the excitement and enthusiasm started to drain away because people felt like, gosh, all we're reading about are constant arguments in Washington and things haven't changed as much as we would like as quickly as we'd like — even though the health care bill got passed, and financial regulatory bill got passed, and we've brought an end to our combat mission in Iraq. But still it seems as if a lot of the old politics is still operating in Washington.That is some condescending shit, right there.
And what I want to do is just to go speak to young people directly and remind them of what I said during the campaign, which was change is always hard in this country. It doesn't happen overnight. You take two steps forward, you take one step back. This is a big, complicated democracy. It's contentious. It's not always fun and games. A lot of times, to bring about big changes like, for example, in our energy policy, you're taking on a lot of special interests — the oil companies and utilities. And some of them may not want to see the kinds of changes that would lead to a strong green economy.
And the point is, though, you can't sit it out. You can't suddenly just check in once every 10 years or so, on an exciting presidential election, and then not pay attention during big midterm elections where we've got a real big choice between Democrats and Republicans.
…And so even though this may not be as exciting as a presidential election, it's going to make a huge difference in terms of whether we're going to be able to move our agenda forward over the next couple of years.
And I just want to remind young people, they've got to get reengaged in this process. And they're going to have to vote in these midterms elections. You've got to take the time to find out where does your congressional candidate stand on various issues, where does your Senate candidate stand on various issues and make an educated decision and participate in this process — because democracy is never a one-and-done proposition. It's something that requires sustained engagement and sustained involvement. And I just want to remind everybody of that.
Young people are not disengaging from politics because it's "not exciting" or "not fun," or because they don't understand the gravity of elections, or because they're suffering from the misapprehension that politics is easy.
They're disengaging from politics for the same reasons that older people are: Because they're disillusioned. Because they've been betrayed.
Young people aren't stupid. Telling them their "enthusiasm drained away" because of all the fighting with Republicans doesn't make it so. (Try: Because of all the capitulation to conservative policies.) Telling them "Politics is not always fun and games," as if they're fucking dipshits who don't understand that our democracy is "big and complicated" doesn't change the fact that people are pissed because they know what you're doing and don't like it, not because they're clueless rubes with sponges in their brainpans designed to soak up patronizing rhetoric.
The Obama administration continues to act mystified by the proposition that progressives could have anything less than undiluted enthusiasm for their agenda and accomplishments, despite the fact that they are continuing many of the Bush administration policies progressives explicitly rejected. (No less after campaigning on a message of "hope and change.") And their official response continues to be berating disgruntled progressives for being too goddamn stupid to understand the sophisticated game of twelve-dimensional chess being played, and too goddamn ungrateful to appreciate everything being done for us.
Obama campaigned on the promise to bring back accountability to Washington, but he refuses to even entertain the possibility that his administration is accountable for the endemic disappointment among the voters who helped elect him.
Peter Daou sums it up thus: It's the moral authority, stupid.
The astounding collapse of Democrats and the rightwing resurgence of 2009 and 2010 is a direct result of the squandered moral authority of Barack Obama and Democratic leaders. I say "squandered" because it is something Obama possessed during the campaign and something Democrats prioritized as the antidote to Bush and Cheney's radicalism.He adds: "From gay rights to executive power to war to the environment, the left increasingly believes the Obama White House lacks the moral courage to undo Bush's radicalism. If anything, the Aulaqi case is an indication Obama will go further than Bush to 'prove' his strength."
Pundits put forth myriad reasons to explain the GOP wave (jobs and the economy topping the list), but they invariably overlook the biggest one: that Obama and Democrats have undermined their own moral authority by continuing some of Bush's most egregious policies.
...Everything flows from the public’s belief that you stand for something.
Dude, it's not us; it's you.
And berating us as stupid ingrates, or casting us as naïve simpletons, or accusing of us losing interest in anything that isn't "fun," or whatever other defensive approach that deflects back onto us the sole responsibility for this yawning chasm of enthusiasm, isn't helping. Put down the shovel.
You're not entitled to our support. You have to earn it.
And if you don't understand how failing to vociferously champion the repeal of DADT, and asserting "that presidential assassination orders of American citizens should be treated as a state secret, and thus not reviewable by any court anywhere," and erasing choice from the party platform, and utterly failing to defend Roe for years, as but a few examples, aren't the sorts of policies that earn progressives' votes, then you've really got some nerve implying we're the daft ones who don't understand how politics works.
The Overton Window: Chapter Ten
This one hurt.
It was like my own personal hell.
My own personal, badly written, nonsensical hell.
Eight of the nine pages in chapter ten are Molly's mother's speech at the teabag party. Oh Maude, what a speech it is. Pure neocon bullshit. I read the whole speech, and I hated every word of it. Empty, self-aggrandizing, pseudo-patriotic claptrap.
Beverly Emerson, Director emeritus, Founders' Keepers, according to Molly's flyer, takes the stage and lets go with a James Madison quote, as if to prove her patriot cred. She then sets about railing against corruption and power and Carrol Quigley's Tragedy and Hope. She continues, lambasting big government and the nanny state, lying the blame for that at Herbert Croly's feet.
His writings lived on, and they influenced every fundamental change brought on by what became known as 'the progressive movement' in the first half of the twentieth century, from the Federal Reserve Act and the income tax to the spiral into crushing debt and dependence that began with the New Deal.
Yeah, fuck the New Deal! The whole Depression was designed to weed out the weak, amirite? But seriously? Who pisses about the New Deal, for fuck's sake? Oh, yeah: Libertarians, neocons, and social Darwinists.
Beverly again sets her sights on corrupt politicians.
Danger comes when good intentions are hijacked and perverted by the culture of corruption—when those elected to represent us begin to act not for your own good, but for their own gain.
It’s the same today. People who, for their own gain, would replace equal justice with social justice, trade individual freedom for an all-powerful, all-knowing central government, forsake the glorious creative potential of the American individual, the beating heart of this nation, for a two-class society in which the elites rule and all below them are all the same: homogenized, subordinate, indebted, and powerless.
Oh, those elites and their tricksy homogenization. They wish to stomp on the heartbeat of America, what with their regulations and their rules that impede "the glorious creative potential of the American individual."
Out of kindness here, I am going to try not to quote too much. (Feel free to thank me by buying me something off of my Amazon wish list.) Noah looks around the room now and notices there are a few more interlopers, all with video cameras, recording Beverly's speech. There is more about lobbyists and elites and republics. But then it really gets good.
Beverly compares the size of the U.S. Constitution to the Federal Tax Code. Oh my! The tax code is 67,000 pages long! The Constitution just a few. So, I think what Beverly is getting at here is that the tax code is unwieldy, compared to the lithe little Constitution. Umm, okay. Fair enough. I'm not sure what that proves. But it is certainly something.
I do think I am beginning to understand what the teabaggers want: Lower taxes. Does that make Steve Forbes the Godfather of Teabaggers. There's more here about imbalances in power, different classes, fairness.
Our message of equal justice is impossible for any honest person to refute. How do I know that? Because it was the message of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Umm... what?
Let that settle for a moment.
Yeah, that's right. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now, remember a while back when Beck was saying his rally of angry white folk just happening to be on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech was nothing more than a coincidence. Well, at first he said it was unintentional, then he said it was "divine providence."
And maybe that could be believable. Maybe. (The part about it being unintentional, not the bit about providence.) Except that Beverly goes on for a whole page about Dr. King, finishing up with this:
All we must do is find the strength and the wisdom to awaken our friends and neighbors, take back our power under the law, and restore what’s been forgotten. Restore. Not adapt, not transform ... restore.
Beck's Restoring Honor rally echoes too closely Beverly's speech in his book to be mere coincidence. It's branding. It's a tie-in. It's a marketing and PR coup. That last bit reminds me of something, now that I think about it.
Americans are still a fair and just people. They know the difference between racism and race-baiting, between violence and accusations of violence, between hatred and patriotism. Let them weigh the evidence for as long as they need, because when the verdict comes down, we will once again be on the right side.
Ah, yes. Americans know "the difference between racism and race-baiting." We're so post-racial. America is a multicultural paradise! Wait, no. White people aren't racist! That's what she meant.
This, perhaps (though I am open to suggestions otherwise) is the most ridiculous moment of the chapter:
Just like Dr. King, we aim to eliminate evil, not those who perpetrate it. To speak of violence in any form is to play right into the hands of those who oppose us. They’ve already invested countless hours into portraying us as violent, hateful racists, and they are just waiting for the chance to further that story line. Don’t give it to them. Instead of Bill Ayers, give them Benjamin Franklin. Instead of Malcolm X, give them Rosa Parks. Instead of bin Laden, give them Gandhi.
As an exercise, go ahead and parse the comparisons made by Beverly: Bill Ayers and Benjamin Franklin. Malcolm X and Rosa Parks. bin Laden and Ghandi. If you're not laughing you've more mettle than I. And if you're incensed, well, that's perfectly natural too.
Noah notes how Beverly has the crowd "in the palm of her hand." It's one of those expository moments that shouldn't need to be said, wouldn't need to be said if all the pages leading up to it were at all compelling. If the author needs to tell us the speech was electrifying, then it probably wasn't.
Beverly asks god to bless America (duh!) and exits the stage "as a Toby Keith song began to play over the sound system." Really.
Maude help me, that was brutal. And I feel as though I should apologize for quoting as much as I did. Eight pages and nothing was said, really. Not so much. Nothing anyone with even a passing understanding of Beck's worldview wouldn't already be aware of. This is one thrilling thriller.
All that is left now is for Noah and Molly to discuss the presentation.
Needless to say, PR weasel that he is, Noah is noncommittal. He doesn't like to discuss politics. Molly, for her part, has had her fill of Noah for the evening, and storms off.
Awww, Noah, you blew it!
Question of the Day
What's your favorite short story?
Mine is Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." If you've never read it, it's here.
There's the Old Wingtip-Breathed Biden We Know and Love
Although, I guess he can't be accused of sticking his foot in his mouth when telling alienated progressives to shut the fuck up is official administration policy.
Vice President Joe Biden on Monday urged Democrats to overcome their differences and support their candidates at the polls by telling them to "stop whining."Stop whining and look at the alternatives, huh? Well. I'm pretty sure Vice President Joe Biden just told me to vote for the Green Party.
During a fundraiser for New Hampshire Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, Biden said that Democrats should "remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This president has done an incredible job. He's kept his promises," according to a pool report.
You got it, chief.
Daily Dose o' Cute
For BrianWS.
Video Description: Footage of Dudley being playful at home, and at the dog park this weekend, both with Iain and with other dogs. Set to The Rescues' "Break Me Out," because Dudley continues every day, since he's been rescued, to break out of the shell that dog racing created around him.
My sincerest thanks to Shaker BrianWS who not only bought me the breathtaking CD whence this amazing song comes, but also bought Dudley an awesome new rainbow gayhound collar, and who lives for videos of Dudley at the dog park.
"Oak Is My King"
[Trigger warning for transphobia.]
The bad news is that Oakleigh Reed, aka Oak, a transgender honors student at Mona Shores High School in Muskegon, Michigan, has been stripped of his Homecoming King title because school records still identify him as female.
The good news is that he won in the first place, his fellow students are rallying to his defense, his friends have started a Facebook page titled "Oak is My King," his mom is awesome, his teachers support and respect him even if the school administration doesn't, and the ACLU may champion his case. And the article about the whole thing is pretty damn good, to boot.
It's always shitty to have to post something about someone being denied some basic bit of equality, even something as "meaningless" as a homecoming title. (The fact that someone is being denied the title shows how not meaningless it really is, when it can still be used as a weapon of marginalization.) But damn if doesn't make me a wee bit blubby that the administration's fuckery seems to be getting the most support from transphobic internet trolls who don't even live in the state and bravely hide behind anonymous IDs.
The people who matter are (mostly) standing up for Oak.
[H/Ts to Shakers PeggySue and KathleenB.]
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.]
Photo of the Day
Deeky, in a self-portrait he just texted me from work, published with his permission.
Gee, that look of bored contempt, cut with a steely bolt of exasperation, is awfully familiar. Where have I seen that before?
Oh. Right.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
I don't even know where to begin with this New York Times article about Isaan, the northeastern region of Thailand which has become a destination for Western men who are "drawn by the low cost of living, slow pace of life and the exotic reputation of Thai women." And, of course, the fact that it's a lot easier to be a misogynist fuckhead to a woman who has far fewer options for financial independence:
"Thai women are a lot like women in America were 50 years ago," said [54-year-old Joseph Davis of Fresno, California, who is married to 30-year-old Nui Davis], before they discovered their rights and became "strong-headed and opinionated."Endemic extreme poverty, an economy in which even a small US pension makes you a rich man, and a vulnerable and easily exploitable population of women whose education, if there was any to speak of, didn't exactly introduce them to feminist concepts. Just your basic MRA paradise.
"The women now know they are equal," said Mr. Davis, a retired Naval officer who has been divorced twice, "so the situation is not as relaxed and peaceful as it is between an American and a Thai lady."
[H/Ts to Shakers somebodyoranother and Kim.]
