Hosted by a fire breathing dragon.
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!
Perfect
[Trigger warning for ableist language; diet talk.]
Shaker Jabes emailed the link to an article at MSN entitled: "6 Lamest Excuses for Not Losing Weight."
Actually being lame is not, for the record, one of the six lamest excuses. I guess being fat as a result of physical disability is not a lame excuse. Or maybe it is, but it just didn't make the top 6.
Suffice it to say, able-bodiedness is not the only privilege on display throughout the duration of the piece, which I frankly don't recommended reading, anyway.
Quote of the Day
"While we agree that fundamental campaign finance reforms are needed, Karl Rove and the Koch brothers cannot live by one set of rules as our values and our candidates are overrun with their hundreds of millions of dollars. We will follow the rules as the Supreme Court has laid them out, but the days of the double standard are over."—Bill Burton, former deputy White House press secretary and current senior strategist for Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, two recently-launched fundraising groups established "to counter an expected tidal wave of money from independent GOP-leaning groups in the 2012 battle for the White House."
The two groups are structured "to accept the same kind of anonymous donations that Democrats criticized Republicans for accepting in the last election cycle."
"Principles schminciples! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"—FDR. Or maybe that was Gandhi. Whatever.
The point is that this is OBVIOUSLY a better idea than instituting strict campaign finance reforms when the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress would have been.
And the race to the bottom continues unabated.
Daily Dose of Cute
Here are four things you need to know about Matilda: 1. She is very fuzzy. 2. She doesn't like being groomed. 3. She doesn't particularly like grooming herself, either. 4. So she gets mats.
Although she's not good about letting me brush her, she is pretty good about letting me cut mats out of her fur with scissors, so that's the routine. EXCEPT. She won't let me get anywhere near the backs of her back legs and around her butt, and so she gets these huge-ass mats that are just impossible to deal with—and they are certainly no fun for her to have, either.
So I summoned her infinitely patient groomer, who continues to work with Tils despite Tils having bitten her once, and requested that she get rid of all those difficult mats by giving Tilsy a lion cut for the summer. It's the first lion cut she's ever had, and I cannot stop giggling at how ridiculously adorable she looks.
"Oh the humanity!"
I can't get over the fuzzy boots.
"It's all the rage in Paris, you know."
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Matilda's Mane Care, for all your grooming needs.
Recommended Reading:
Michelle: Little Girl Lost: Early Puberty Hides Environmental Injustice
Faruk: [TW for misogynist and ableist language] Translation of General Misogyny to Uncomfortable Truth
Andy: White House Hosts First Meeting with Transgender Activists
Helen: US Equal Employment Policy Updated to Protect Against Discrimination Based on Gender Identity
Echidne: Santorum's Stupid Comments. Nothing Changes.
Tami: When Will "Glee" Stop Ignoring Race?
Fannie: Barber: "Practitioner[s] of the Homosexual Lifestyle" Can't Judge Marriage Cases
Leave your links in comments...
Actual Headline
Fox News: EXCLUSIVE: Joey Lawrence Says Obama Didn't Bring Change, Endorses Donald Trump Run. Seriously.
"Whoa!"
This is all well and good, but can some responsible member of the media please find out who Small Wonder is endorsing?
Last Chance to Shrug
Attention objectivists, Randians, and lovers of cinema. This could be your final weekend to see Atlas Shrugged: Part I on the big screen. So hop to it! It's a thrilling tale of steel production and ungrateful relatives. Oh, don't believe me? Check out this clip, featuring the greatest dramatic tension this side of Dog Day Afternoon:
Transcript:
Henry Reardon passes through the gate at his home (Robber Baron Mansion). Inside his house, his family (Mother Reardon, Lillian Reardon, Phillip Reardon) entertains his guest (Paul Larkin). Henry enters his parlor (the parlor). Their idle chatter stops as they notice his presence.
Mother: Well, look who's finally home. Henry, Paul's been waiting here for hours.
Paul: Hello Henry.
Henry: Hey Paul. I know. I'm Late.
Mother: Could have called.
Lillian: Henry, do you mind holding the tenth of December open for me?
Lillian pours Henry a glass of his whiskey and brings it to him.
Henry: That's three months away; I don’t know what I'm doing next week. We started a major new pour today.
Lillian: It's our wedding anniversary, Henry. December 10th.
Mother: Henry isn't interested in anything that doesn’t tie in to his work.
Lillian: I know you're very busy but I would very much like for you to be there.
Henry: Of course, Lillian, I'll be there.
Lillian: Thank you dear. I want it to be special. Everyone will be there.
Mother: Have you had any dinner, Henry?
Henry: No. I was busy working. I'm not hungry anyway.
Phillip: That's the trouble with you, you work too hard.
Henry takes a jewelry box from his coat pocket and hands it to Lillian.
Lillian: (greedily) Oooh, what is this?
Henry: I had it made. From the first pour of Reardon metal.
Lillian opens the box, appears disappointed. She pulls out a bracelet that in no way resembles a railroad spike. She holds it gingerly between her fingers, as if it is made of dogshit.
Lillian: You're giving me a railroad spike? (Sighs) It's wonderful. It is. It's... It's original. I'll be ... the toast of the town wearing a piece of the same metal used to build railroads and bridges and sewer pipes and oil tanks and...
Phillip: You are so selfish, Henry.
Lillian: No, Phillip, it is not the gift, it is the intention.
Mother: The intention's pure selfishness, it seems to me. I mean, another man would have given his wife a diamond bracelet if he wanted to give her a gift. For her pleasure not his.
Lillian: No, a chain is appropriate. I think it's the chain by which he hold us all in bondage.
Henry sighs and turns away.
Lillian: Henry's poured his metal today and I have the first trophy. It's sweet.
Phillip: It's pathetic, Lil.
A servant interrupts, bringing refreshments. Henry takes a seat in his office. Phillips follows. The two exchange hellos.
Henry: What are you doing with yourself these days?
Phillip: I'm working for Friends of Global Awareness.
Henry: I know them. What do you want?
Phillip: Money. Doesn't everyone?
Henry: Call my office first thing in the morning I'll authorize a hundred grand for you.
Phillip: You really don't care about helping the underprivileged, do you?
Henry: No, Phillip, I don't. But it'll make you happy.
Phillip: It's not for me, Hank. It's for the benefit of the less privileged. You think I can have the money wired to my account?
Henry: A wire? Why?
Phillip: The thing is, it's a progressive group, they wouldn't appreciate your name on a check.
Henry: You're kidding me.
Phillip: No, it would embarrass us to have you on a list of our contributors.
Question of the Day
What would you say if you had hir in front of you?
Undoubtedly, people will wonder: Who? That's the beauty of the question. An ex-lover, an unrealized crush, a former boss, a dead friend, an estranged relative, that asshole who picked on you in 8th grade gym class, that poor kid you picked on in 8th grade gym class, a person whom you admire but have never met.... Who? That's up to you.
Identify hir or don't. All you've got to answer is what you'd say, given the chance.
[Suggested by Shaker Rachell Oct. 09.]
To the Daughters of the Angry Emailers
Occasionally, I get emails from disgruntled boyfriends or husbands who have been asked to read The Terrible Bargain We Have Regretfully Struck by their girlfriends/wives, sometimes as explanation for why they're walking out the door. They are men who need to be angry at someone, and can't quite bring themselves to express that anger to the woman who directed them to the piece (or can't because all avenues to express that anger to her have been blocked), and so they express that anger at me.
I understand why they do it: It's certainly more satisfying than directing it at the intangible, diaphanous abstraction of a culture that has socialized them with the reflexive arrogance of privilege that impedes empathy and inhibits intimacy.
Nonetheless, I don't engage with them, if for no other reason than because most of them have been asked to read it by a woman expressing a desire their partner engage with her, and I refuse to provide an easier alternative to that invitation. I read the emails, and then I hit delete.
Many of them are funny, in an unintentional way. Some of them are a little scary. And some of them are deeply sad.
But none break my heart the way the ones I get from fathers do.
Now, partly that's because I have a fraught relationship with my own father, particularly around the areas of gender and politics. But, mostly, it's because the emails I get from fathers are so determined to defend themselves against the accusation they are somehow certain I made that they don't love their daughters—even as they explain to me in exacting detail why it is, precisely, that they don't have to respect them.
"I don't think of myself as anti-feminist, although I have become exasperated at the unwillingness of many women, including my daughter, who won't cut men any slack," wrote one father to me recently. "When I dare say that men and women aren't equal, but they are equals, she can go crazy."
"Just telling jokes about females being inferior doesn't make me a woman-hater," wrote another. "I am being ironic. If I really hated women, I wouldn't tell those jokes in front of females."
"If I didn't love my daughter, why would I pay for her education?" asked another, following his question with the bitter complaint: "But now that's not good enough, unless I agree with those premises that she's entitled to be superior to men."
And so forth.
It is terrible—terrible—to be a woman in a relationship with a man who does not reflexively and uncompromisingly respect your inherent worth as his equal. It is terrible, too, to be the sister or friend or coworker of such a man. But there is something uniquely painful about hearing one's own father communicate you are less than.
There is something uniquely demeaning about being told by a man who brought you into this world, and/or brought you up in it, that it is not a world to which you deserve equal opportunity, equal access, your fair share, but a world in which you deserve less.
Less respect. Less dignity. Less agency. Less autonomy. Less opportunity. Less voice. Less ownership of self. Less of your humanity, because humanness is a zero sum game, and a little of yours must be given to him.
That feels like something less than love to a daughter.
Occasionally, these fathers copy their daughters on their emails to me. I think that's probably worse than never knowing your father embarrassed himself by raging in the inbox of the stranger who happened to give voice to your private pain.
I don't correspond with those daughters, either—unless they email me individually, which happens sometimes, usually to (needlessly) apologize.
But I do think about them. And I want them to know, even if their fathers never tell them, they are not less than. They deserve to be listened to, and respected, and loved without the condition they obligingly participate in their own marginalization, without being coerced to tacitly concede their own inferiority with silence to which the only alternative is tension and quarrel.
You may never get it, my sisters, but you deserve it all the same.
Fun with Zoning
Some Pennsylvania universities should consider drilling for natural gas below campus to help solve their financial problems, Gov. Tom Corbett said Thursday.
The Republican governor's proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts in July would cut $2 billion from education and reduce aid to colleges and universities by 50 percent.
Following the governor's statement, Slippery Rock University announced plans to spend this summer waiting on tables and mowing neighbors' lawns.
You just can't make this stuff up. Well, I suppose there's an exception for the part I just did. But still, the part about the Governor of Pennsylvania? That's totally for real.
I Need to Borrow a REALLY Small Violin, Please
TW for homophobia and transphobia, including use of slurs and references to violence
Via a university newspaper, I first became aware a couple of days ago of a proposed Texas state budget provision "requiring state colleges and universities that use state funds to support 'a gender and sexuality center' to spend an equal amount to promote 'family and traditional values'." The amendment was proposed by Representative Wayne Christian and passed by a margin of 110-24. Christian identified the source of his consternation as centers "for students focused on gay, lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, transsexual, transgender, gender questioning, or other gender identity issues."
Inside Higher Ed has more on the story, including the observation that "Lawmakers supporting the bill have said that they favor only equal time for all kinds of sexuality" (Because cisgender heterosexual people aren't getting their fair share of time or money... or something).
But the Inside Higher Ed article and the school newspaper make it clear that other supporters are honest about their ultimate goal--getting rid of centers "that serve gay and lesbian students": [T]he Young Conservatives of Texas, a group that worked with Christian on the legislation, did so with the hope that public colleges would respond to a law, if the bill passes, by ending support for existing centers. Tony McDonald, senior vice chairman of the group and a law student at UT Austin, said in an interview that "we could try to get these groups defunded" in a law, but that the equal funding approach was viewed as more likely to pass (perhaps with the same impact).
And from the school newspaper:"State funding and student fees should not fund any university minority or political group whether it be black, white, gay, etc," John McClellan, Christian's Chief of Staff, said. "This amendment is just one step in the process towards getting rid of these centers."
The argument seems to be that traditional family values,* whatever the hell those are, and heterosexuality are in danger because of a conspiracy to "promote" homosexuality. Wherein promoting homosexuality is roughly equivalent to daring to exist as a gay person.
Poor Tony McDonald of the Young Conservatives of Texas is distraught that ""If I were to walk through UT law school with a shirt on that said, 'Homosexuality is immoral,' if I were to do that, there would be an uproar. People would be upset, and it would be considered out of place and not acceptable to do that. I'd probably get a talking to. But if you go through campus to promote homosexuality, that is the norm."
See how equivalent these things are? Being gay or supporting a university gender and sexuality center is the same as walking around wearing a t-shirt that actively promotes a hostile climate and condemns/others people.
Again, I ask where does this shit come from--these ideas that the most privileged people in our society are persecuted simply by the presence of truly marginalized people who are refusing to stay confined to those margins?! According to the article, students indicated that they just want "to create 'an equal playing field' for those who may disagree with the gay center."
Because the playing field at universities is so obviously leveled in a way that unfairly benefits gay students.
Dear Mr. McDonald, despite your righteous indignation, as the Inside Higher Ed and the linked Texas Observer articles point out, there are things you will probably never have to worry about:
1. Grown ass lawmakers won't "crack jokes and guffaw" when discussing your sexuality or gender identity.
2. As the program co-ordinator for the center at Texas A & M notes, I have never heard of any student who took their life because their college roommate outed them as being a heterosexual student.
3. No one is ever going to accuse you of promoting heterosexuality just because you exist.
[snip]
I have never had a student come up and complain that someone comes up and out of the blue calls them a 'hetero' and slapped them, but that happens to my students, who are called 'dyke' and 'fag.'
4. I agree with the Observer that you probably won't have these worries on the first day you're on campus: How will he fit in? Should he tell his new roommate about his alternative hetero lifestyle? Will he be bullied, just like he was in high school, where he was mercilessly teased for being a sexual deviant? Where does a straight person turn?
No, you'll bounce through life willfully oblivious to the ways that heterosexuality is promoted, via everything from media outlets to tax benefits, imagining yourself egregiously put out and put upon.
But it's everyone else that has a "grievance-based" identity, right?
________________________________
*It would've taken another post to unpack the ongoing assumption that only people who are straight and cisgender (and to a certain extent, married/aspiring to be married) have family values and that "traditionally"/historically no one but those people have existed--I find the term "traditional" neatly and conveniently disappears the lives and experiences of a whole lot of people.
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning for racism.]
"We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that's tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don't want to study as hard in school? I've taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn't study hard because they said the government would take care of them."—Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern (R-OKC), expanding on what she meant when she said "minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative".
Rep. Kern was commenting on recently passed legislation to eliminate affirmative action in regards to state government.
Photo of the Day
The above photo [AP Photo/Birmingham News, Jeff Roberts] is taken from The Atlantic's collection of photos, which can be viewed here, documenting the aftermath of the tornadoes that have been devastating the US south and midwest: "Powerful storms swept through the South and Midwest regions of the United States over the past several days, bringing with them heavy rainfall, flooding, hailstorms, lightning, and hundreds of devastating tornadoes. As of this morning, the death toll from the storm system has nearly reached 200—at least 128 of those in hard-hit Alabama. Neighborhoods have been flattened, thousands are without power across the region, and efforts to aid the trapped or injured continue in regions where many roads have become impassable. As residents work to recover what they can, they are preparing for yet another storm system predicted to pass through starting Saturday."
We have had terrible storming here all week, but fortunately have not had any tornadoes touch down (yet).
My thoughts are with Shakers who live and/or have loved ones in the affected areas. It seems coarse to wish that you and your loved ones are all okay, when we know that there are people who are not okay, but there it is. I am hoping you are among the people who are physically unhurt, and you have my profound compassion and sympathy for the hurt you are all certainly feeling.
The American Red Cross is providing temporary shelters and other support to the thousands of people who have been left homeless by the storms. They are in need of donations, which can be made via their website, via phone at 1.800.RED.CROSS, or via text: Text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Also: There will be so many pets and livestock in need of help, shelter, medical aid, food, and protection in the wake of such devastating storms. Please consider making a donation to a southern/midwestern chapter of the Humane Society, ASPCA, or other rescue organization. If you live in the area, they will also be desperate for foster homes for rescued animals, so please consider volunteering if you can.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave other ideas for teaspooning opportunities in comments.
On Why My Governor Shouldn't Be President (Again)
As I mentioned yesterday, my state of Indiana was one of two states considering defunding Planned Parenthood. And then, as Misty reported yesterday, the state legislature passed the bill, sending it to Governor Mitch Daniels.
Which puts Daniels in a bit of a conundrum, since he's the one who keeps saying that we all need to leave aside social issues like abortion while we focus on fixing the economy.
Or, it would put him in a conundrum, if he had any principles.
(Don't worry—he doesn't!)
So until he figures out how to navigate this quagmire in a way that makes him look like he's got principles, while simultaneously sorting out what's the most politically expedient response for a bloke considering a presidential run, he's officially remaining undecided about what to do.
Gov. Mitch Daniels said this morning he does not know yet if he will sign House Bill 1210, which makes Indiana's abortion restrictions among the tightest in the nation while also defunding Planned Parenthood.Spoiler Alert: He will sign the bill.
"I haven't decided yet," Daniels said.
The defunding of Planned Parenthood "has been attached to a bill I strongly supported," he told The Indianapolis Star. "But we've got a little research to do."
...Gov. Mitch Daniels has not said whether he will sign the bill into law. But on a radio show earlier this year, he described his administration as "the most pro-life" in Indiana history.
And Planned Parenthood will lose funding, and low-income healthcare will be scarcer, and access to contraception and abortion will be tougher, and unwanted pregnancies will be more frequent, and pregnant women will be at greater risk, and the already-struggling residents of Indiana—which has an unemployment rate higher than the national average, ranks fifth highest in the nation in bankruptcy filings, and now ranks tenth highest in the nation in foreclosures, after spending years at number one—will have yet one more struggle.
Welcome to Indiana, the Crossroads of America 2.0.
Baratunde Thurston on the Indecency of Birtherism
I linked this video in the comments of Elle's post yesterday, but I didn't have the chance to provide a transcript. Shaker doubletrack graciously provided a transcript last night, so here's the video, with transcript. Video of Trump can be seen with Baratunde's original posting of the video, here.
[Haltingly] It's been a very… difficult morning… for me. Um, got the news, that President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, ah, due to the increasing media circus surrounding… claims that he is not one of us, that he is not an American, and it comes at an interesting time for many reasons, well… one of which is it's April 27th 2011, and this just happened. So that's really interesting to me.
Also, because I'm reading, right now, a book by Manning Marable; it's called Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, and he unearths a lot of amazing detail and correspondence around this exceptional American, but through this book you also get a window into the Civil Rights movement throughout this country's history, especially the forties, fifties, and sixties—and you are reminded, if you read this book, or see a documentary special, or know anything about the complete history of the United States, you are reminded of the extraordinary level of sacrifice that has been involved in allowing all Americans to exist as, be treated as, participate as… Americans. To be that which they are [chuckles mirthlessly]… took [shakes head]… a lot!… of work! A lot of tears, a lot of pain, a lot of death.
There were people who dropped out of their ordinary lives, sacrificed their personal safety, their reputation, their ability to earn money, to intervene on behalf of those who they also saw as American. They got on buses in freedoms rides, they sat in, they died… in waves and waves of domestic terrorism so that someone like me [pointing to self, voice breaking] could go to a voting booth and not be asked by some racist poll worker to pay a tax or prove that my grandfather wasn't a slave or pass a literacy test which got increasingly difficult the more I might pass it.
And today… the President of the United States [sniffs derisively] had to prove that he was an American to the satisfaction of the seventy-five percent of Iowa Republicans who doubt that, or the forty-three percent of national Republicans who doubt that, or the one, heinous, low-class individual who took credit for it after: Donald Trump. A man who was given every advantage, who inherited millions and lost it all twice, but had that opportunity because no one's ever had to ask him to prove anything. A man who lacks intelligence, compassion, common sense, respect, decency, or [voice rising] an understanding of what the FUCK it means to be an American, that he would come out, moments after the President of the United States, and I stress that, the PRESIDENT, released his long-form birth certificate, and Donald Trump comes out moments later and says "I'm really proud of myself… but! Shouldn't have taken so long. I wanna see the birth certificate for myself. I wanna test it for au-then-ti-ci-ty. I don't want the press asking me about birth certificates anymore!" [sniffs].
I find it hard to… summarize in mere words the amount of pain and rage this incident has caused. [tears up] It's… humiliating. Not just to Barack Obama, not just to the office of the President, not just to Black Americans who died and those who supported our quest for freedom; it's embarrassing to the entire nation that we would sit and let this happen. We have all been debased by this incident—by a charlatan, by a conman, by a mere promoter of himself.
And for him to take credit for this [chuckles] and for him to revel in it and yet and still not be satisfied makes him no better than a Klansman, no better than a Bull Conner, no better than an anonymous, privileged white man in the 1950's who, regardless of his position in society, knew his position was higher than that of the common nigger. And that is what the fuck Donald Trump has done… to the President of the United States. To the office, of the President of the United States. To me… and to you.
I am disgusted. I have cried, because I know my own ancestors paid a very high price, and never would ever have imagined that we might have the President that we do, but certainly part of their joy in the ancestral celestial skies right now has been greatly diminished by what has happened here today. I hope that eventually, not just in the post-mortal world of karma and spiritual justice, Mr. Trump pays an exceptional price; I hope that price comes during his life. To then be able to walk around, a super-free, super-white, super-privileged man, lording over all who would pay attention (which is far too many) at what you have done… [sniffs]… has got to cost you something in this life as well.
I don't wanna hear about The Apprentice. I don't wanna hear about your new cologne, I don't wanna hear about the new tower you're building in whatever fuckin' town. That cologne smells of racism, that tower is built on the blood of disrespected slaves and freedom fighters, and that show was merely a showcase… [sniffs]… for the dishonor you have brought among anyone who would call themselves an American.
My name is Baratunde Thurston, I'm heartbroken over this. [On the brink of tears, covers mouth, ends video.]
Happy Birthday, Scott Madin!
Questlove and I would like to wish Shaker Mod Scott Madin a very happy birthday!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday dear Scooo-oooott!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!
[Note: The handsome bloke on the cake is Questlove of The Roots. "Birthday Girl" is a track from their 2008 album, "Rising Down."]
Question of the Day
What is the most embarrassing thing you've ever worn of your own volition?
So many things. But on the first day of sixth grade, I wore a mint green polo shirt with mint green slacks, along with my bright blue sneakers. Ouch.
And I thought I looked awesome.
I did not.
Dispatches from the Two Americas
This is why the geniuses who populate the Beltway and Wall Street, and run the country, are completely AWOL while the rest of the country is in economic turmoil:
After waiting on the sidelines most of Wednesday in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's statement and Fed chief Ben Bernanke's first press conference, investors waded back in.Emphasis mine.
As expected, the central bank said it would keep interest rates low and end its $600 billion Treasury buying program in June, while Bernanke reassured investors that the nation's economic recovery is on track.
...The lack of news pushed the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) up 96 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 (SPX) rose 8 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) added 22 points, or 0.8%.
The gains put all three indexes at fresh multi-year highs. The Dow climbed to its highest level since May 2008, while the S&P 500 rose to its highest level since June 2008. The Nasdaq pushed to its highest level since December 2000.
There is a lot of metaphorical ink spilled (though not enough) about the increasingly vast chasm between rich and not-rich in this country, but most of it focuses on income disparity between CEOs and workers and tends not to address equity disparity. The fact is, the rich are exponentially more likely to be invested in the stock market than the not-rich—and they are incredibly likely to wrongly believe that holding investments in the stock market, even if just via retirement plans, is nearly universal among USians. Nope.
All of us are affected by the performance of the stock market, whether we're personally invested or not, because we live in a market-driven economy that can be fucked in an afternoon by panicky, reactionary, and/or opportunistic investors. But we're not all tied to its recovery after a downturn: The market can improve while unemployment stays high and personal debt increases to stave off bankruptcy and foreclosure.
It doesn't matter to Jane Blow in Cornville, Indiana that the stock market is doing AWESOME when she still can't find a job and can't afford her blood pressure meds because she's got no insurance and she's about to lose her house, because she's got not a single penny of equity in the stock market. Its immediate gains don't matter to her. They only matter to investors, whose profits ain't trickling down to Jane and never will.
Meanwhile, they look at their balance sheets and feel good that the market is up. And they use their belief that everyone's in the market, and their belief that the market will solve everything, to rationalize not doing a damn thing beyond feeling good that the market is up. Huzzah.
An unfortunate stream of my consciousness
[Trigger warning for gun violence and home invasion]
I took today off. I spent the afternoon running errands. Here's my brain between 3 and 5 local time:
[Ice-T is on NPR] "Law and Order is the worst. Why is everything on TV about violence?"
"Why the fuck is it always so hard to find tomatillos and corn tortillas in this town? How did I end up in such an awful place?"
[NPR is discussing the latest violent oppression in Syria] "What the fuck is it with those guys? And why are those guys in every country? Who the hell do they think they are?"
"Life is pretty good. Once I find tomatillos, I'm gonna try makin' some fish tacos. It's a nice day. Seriously, why do people have to be so mean to each other? Life is hard enough as it is, and it just doesn't need to be that way."
[I'm stuck in a massive traffic jam caused by an accident, listening to radio reports of another tornado watch.] "Bad things are going to happen, why not try to prepare for them, and help each other get through everything okay?"
[It turns out the accident wasn't.* I see the police have marked the locations of about ten shell casings. Presumably the shots were fired at whoever was riding what remains of the motorcycle under the guardrail.] "Fuck this shit."
---
Seriously though: What the fuck, Syracuse? What the fuck, Upstate New York? What the fuck, Rust Belt? What. The. Fuck.
It would be one thing if this was an unusual day. It wasn't.
Look, it's not just the little things, like having to go to multiple stores to find food I like, or being stuck in traffic because somebody probably died. Some days, it's a broken water main. (Actually, that's most days.) Some days, it's a reminder of how crappy our libraries are. Others, it's a reminder about our schools. Some days (lots and lots of days), it's some asshole breaking in to my car. Some days, it's being woken up at five in the morning by police officers, guns drawn, looking for the kids that are helping themselves to my apartment. Some days, it's my neighbor getting shot in front of my house. And then there are the things that happened more than six months ago.
It's hard to be optimistic about America when you live in a place like this. It's not that there aren't people here who are trying. There are. They are overwhelmed. They're trying, we're trying to create a place where people can live. A place where everyone can enjoy good food, diverse cultures, and nobody needs to get shot. We're failing. We're failing because those in power have abandoned us.
There are days, and this is one of them, when I feel like I'm living in Blade Runner, only with shittier food and better acting. I'd move, but have you been to America lately? It's hurting.
--
*UPDATE/CORRECTION 28 April: I've been looking for an official account of what happened on the interstate yesterday afternoon, and I haven't been able to find one. In other words, I can't conclusively say what happened. My guess is that it wasn't a shooting, but I can't say that with certainty, either.
Quote of the Day
"I have criticized members of my own party for making [President Obama's birth certificate] some kind of an issue and so I'm really surprised that the White House is actually doing the same. We've got a lot of things swirling right now—you've got gas prices over four dollars a gallon, you've got over fourteen trillion dollars in debt in this country we're trying to deal with, you've got unemployment that's still stuck up around nine percent. How in the world is this now the issue we ought to be focusing on? … There are much more important issues for us to be dealing with, obviously."—House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Eprehensible).
Perfect.
I can't believe he got through that with a straight fucking face.
[Via.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Mah eyez iz still irrimatated. I wuz feeling poopy yesterdayz.
Then I gotz a get well card from mah BFF, Van.
Thanks, Van! Now I feel much better!
The End.
I, Too, Am America
**Re: the title, Langston Hughes made that argument on behalf of African Americans decades ago (and of course, many other people made it before he did) and we're still being asked to verify?!**
When I first turned on the internet this morning and realized that President Obama had released the long-form version of his birth certificate, verifying that he was, indeed, born in Hawai'i, my first sarcastic thought was, "Bet some people are finally regretting how we stole Hawai'i now."
Beyond my sarcasm, though, I think the president has set a horrible precedent. I mean, on a grand scale, he just got pulled over and asked to show papers proving his citizenship. I could be optimistic, I suppose, and think, "Well, maybe now he'll take a firmer stand on the treatment of immigrants and other people of color who are harassed, badgered, interrogated and violated every single day over questions of citizenship. Maybe he'll have this as a reference point." But optimism is not my strong suit.
He is supposed to be, as we so smugly and arrogantly love to say, the most powerful man in the world. This should be a lesson as to how that power is negated? mitigated? birthergated? by race and the equation of "Americanness" with "whiteness." In releasing that birth certificate, President Obama not only validated current problematic (understatement!) immigration policies, he conceded to the historical demand for people of color to "prove" their citizenship and that they deserve access to political and civil rights.
And why? He can't really believe the people who even posit shit like this will ever be satisfied or accepting of his presidency. Instead of saying, "I'm tired of this shit, it's ridiculous, so here is proof," he should've been saying, "I'm tired of this shit, it's ridiculous, and I won't engage with it."
I don't understand how you validate the extremists in the "other" party while always scornfully chiding the so-called extremists (ahem, perhaps actual progressives?) in your own.
The Culture of Greener Grass
by Amber Leab, a writer living in South Carolina. In 2008, she and Stephanie Rogers co-founded Bitch Flicks, the feminist film review site that advances "the radical notion that women like good movies." In addition to her film analyses, her work has appeared at True Theatre and in The Georgetown Review. An earlier version of this piece was published by I Will Not Diet.
[Trigger warning for discussions of weight, diet, thin privilege, fatphobia, body policing.]
People have often told me how great I look.
I'm one of those women that other women are said to love to hate: I can eat anything, and as much of it as I want, without gaining weight.
People, especially girls and women, praise my thinness, exclaiming "How do you stay so skinny?!" or "You're so lucky."
I am culturally privileged for being skinny, and, because thinness is regarded as a positive attribute in our society, it generally hasn't mattered to people why I have spent a lifetime being underweight.
Other people envy me—a person whose thinness is due to cystic fibrosis, who has had regular, extended hospital stays since childhood, and whose daily medical regimen no one would ever envy.
In the summer of 2004, I weighed 92 pounds. I was very sick and doing everything in my power to put on weight. My doctor went so far as to prescribe an appetite stimulant, derived from cannabis, which was supposed to give me the legal munchies.
It may have helped me put on a pound or two, but that wasn't enough.
It wasn't just that I was too thin; I needed a lung transplant and had to weigh a minimum of 100 pounds before I would even be considered for the surgery. I was left with one option: a feeding tube for high-calorie protein shakes every night while I slept, in addition to a high-calorie diet every day. This was scary for me, not just in the way that a feeding tube (and serious illness) would be frightening for anyone, but because, in spite of the serious illness, I liked being so thin and was afraid of gaining too much weight.
I know now that these feelings had much more to do with control (and, specifically, the lack of it in my life at that time) than the actual numbers, and that they weren't rational or healthy attitudes to hold.
As much as I knew intellectually that I was too thin for me, I never felt too thin.
When I finally got beyond my fear of "fattening up" (which is how countless doctors and nurses, clearly not sensitive to issues involving body image, jokingly referred to my need to gain weight) and faced the reality of my situation, I scheduled the procedure to place the feeding tube.
I did so with reticence and anxiety.
There would be anesthesia, there would be an incision through the wall of my abdomen, there would be a tube permanently sticking out, there would be pain while my stomach healed from the surgery. I would be hooked up to a nutrition pump, much like an IV pole, every night.
On the operating table, I was prepped for the procedure by a female nurse and a male doctor. When the nurse lifted the hospital gown above my abdomen, she exclaimed, "Look at that pretty flat stomach!"
I processed this statement for a moment. A medical professional had complimented me on my thinness, which was so extreme as to prevent me from having life-saving surgery, while prepping me for a procedure intended to help me gain weight.
To his credit, the doctor quickly snapped, "That's the problem!" but her message couldn't have been clearer.
We live in a culture that so values thinness, that values such extreme thinness, that I received a compliment about my body when I was on an operating table, when I was so ill and weighed so little that doctors feared I might not survive major surgery.
While this might've been a single extreme incident, I can't say the same about a lifetime of these compliments, the envy of women, and the gaze of men directed at my ultra-thin (so thin because it was diseased) body.
I can forgive myself for enjoying these moments; I had a difficult life that inspired little envy, and I took the compliments and positive feelings about myself where I could find them.
When I received that comment on the operating table, though, I felt a tangled mess of emotions: I was happy to hear something—anything—uplifting during such a trying time, I was scared to lose that unscarred, flat stomach, and I was angry at the nurse for her inability to read the situation.
Later that same year I had a double-lung transplant and have since gained 25 pounds. I'm still thin, but curvier than before. I replaced my old bikinis. The regular "You're so skinny!" compliments are gone, but I've come to see those comments, even when they were meant in kindness, as all part of our toxic culture.
Depictions of very thin women in film, television, and advertising constantly bombard us, distorting the way we see one another and how we define a "healthy" body. Extremely thin bodies are often seen as the epitome of health and beauty, when the fact is that healthy, beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes.
Acknowledging and appreciating that diversity is the first step toward helping women have a better relationships with their bodies.
Random YouTubery
[Transcript below.]
With Bruce McCullough as Bobby Terrance, Mark McKinney as Bobby's father (Mark), Dave Foley as Bobby's mother, and Laura as Bobby's girlfriend.
[Outside Bobby's house, late at night. A car pulls up, and Bobby stumbles out. He's met at the door by his parents.]
Mark: Bobby Terrance, you get in this house! You're in a faceful of trouble.
Bruce: Hi.
Mark: Don't you "hi" me!
Dave: Gerald, the neighbors!
Mark: They sympathize, believe me.
[Front door closes behind them.]
Mark: You won't be smelling freedom's air for quite some time, my boy.
[Cut to Bruce pacing back and forth in his bedroom.]
Bruce: In a faceful of trouble-
[kicks at air] Unh!
[grabs his hair, grunting in frustration] Ooh!
[throws himself back onto the bed] Uh-oh, my bed is spinning. Hey, the whole world is spinning!
[sits up] I get it now. I understand.
[goes and sits down at his desk] Mom, Dad- I'm taking up my pen.
[Cut to the front page of a newspaper. The headline: "YOUTH - ANGERED BY WORLD WRITES FIRST POEM!!"]
[Cut back to Bobby, sitting at his desk.]
Bruce: Fire. Fire, fire, fire, fire on my brain. Fire!
[Newspaper headline: "POEM BOMBS! 'IT'S PERSONAL' DEFENDS YOUTH
Sub-head: "YOUTH VOWS TO ADD MUSIC - WORKS NIGHT AND DAY"]
[Cut to Bobby, standing in his room, holding a guitar and singing as he plays.]
Bruce: 1, 2, 1 2 3 4- Fire fire fire, fire on my brain.
[Newspaper headline: "'YOUTH SONG NOT MUSIC!' SNIFFS SYMPHONY HEAD"]
[Cut to Bobby, entering his bedroom holding hands with a girl.]
Bruce: This is my girlfriend, Laura. She loves me.
[Newspaper headline: "LOVE! BAD POET FINDS GIRL!"] [Cut to Bobby, as he puts a tape in his stereo and presses "play". He kisses Laura as the tape plays:]
Bruce: Ow! Fire, fire, fire, fire on my brain,
Fire, fire, fire- you're my water.
Fire, fire, fire, fire on my brain,
Fire, fire, fire- girl I'm thirsty for you.
Fire, fire, fire, fire on my brain,
Fire, fire, fire....
[fades out]
Going Galt
Yesterday I reported some very sad news about the free markets: the big screen adaptation of Ayn Rand's steaming pile of objectivist dogshit AKA Atlas Shrugged Part 1 is tanking at the box office. Sad face.
Now there's more bad news for Randians everywhere. First-time film producer John Aglialoro is taking his ball and going home going "on strike."
"I'm having deep second thoughts on why I should do Part 2," Aglialoro said. (Very sad face.)
Awwww....
"Why should I put up all of that money if the critics are coming in like lemmings?" Aglialoro said. "I'll make my money back and I'll make a profit, but do I wanna go and do two? Maybe I just wanna see my grandkids and go on strike."
Aglialoro is also pulling back on plans to have Atlas Shrugged Part 1 expand to 1000 theaters this weekend. As he noted, however, Aglialoro believes he'll recoup the $20M he flushed into this project, once TV, DVD and other ancillary rights are taken into account. So expect to see this at your local Redbox soon.
Oh, hey, speaking of Redbox: those machines do not come with a free pass to park in fire lanes when you use them. So stop that, okay? Ayn Rand didn't approve of parking in fire lanes. (It's in one of her books even.)
If you can't wait for Redbox, which probably won't even carry it because Liberal Conspiracy, there is always this (Plus, 68% off!) which stars Gary Cooper as a guy who likes to blow up waterfalls or something. I'm not sure, I've never seen it. But Gary Cooper, so, you know: manliness.
So... To recap: John Aglialoro, going Galt; parking in fire lanes, not good; Gary Cooper, manly. Discuss!
p.s. Hello objectivistnews Twitter feed bot!
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, shameless endorsers of Life Flashes By.
Recommended Reading:
Anita: Tropes vs. Women: #3 The Smurfette Principle
The New Black Woman: [TW for racism] Dilbert Cartoonist Doesn't Understand White, Class Privilege
Julia: [TW for transphobia] The Wrong Amount of Wrong: Barred for Life From The Cosmopolitan for Being Transgender
Renee: [TW for misogyny and body policing] Will.I.Am on Proper Women's Behaviour
Andy: DOMA Repeal Has Enough Support to Advance to Senate Floor
Atrios: Some People Say
Deirdra: Life Flashes By Team Interviews—Jon Rosenbaum
Leave your links in comments...
Indiana, again.
Back in March, I wrote about an Indiana bill that was a whole lot of fuckery with a great big lie ensconced into it. That bill has not yet passed but a Senate version passed last week:
The Senate voted 35-13 to approve the bill, which also shortens the window in which women can have abortions and mandates doctors make certain statements to patients seeking the procedure.Sorry, I don't think you actually know what "objective scientific information" means since the bit about abortions causing infertility? A LIE.
"It does, in my opinion, help women," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Pat Miller, R-Indianapolis. "It helps them with objective scientific information."
Anyway, the Senate bill had something new in it: ending Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood (sound familiar?). The House bill now has that added to it. Small (where "small" is really "ENORMOUS") problem with that being (emphasis mine):
[F]ederal law blocks states from choosing which organizations can provide family planning services to Medicaid patients, the measure could cost the state all federal funding for family planning.And:
Planned Parenthood of Indiana says cutting off its $3 million in government funding would put at risk the services -- including birth control pills, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted disease tests -- that it provides to 22,000 low-income Hoosiers. The group predicted the move would cost Indiana $68 million in Medicaid expenses for unintended pregnancies.Mitch Daniels is not commenting on whether he will sign it into law. Planned Parenthood is ready to sue the state if it does get signed. According to House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis):
[...]
Ending taxpayer funding would seriously jeopardize eight health centers that serve low-income Hoosiers around the state, Cockrum [Betty, president of PP of Indiana] said. It also would keep Medicaid clients from visiting any of Planned Parenthood's 28 Indiana locations.
...[T]here might be “some constitutional issues” about the measure to defund Planned Parenthood, but he didn’t elaborate. He said it is too early to tell whether the House will agree to the Planned Parenthood provisions, which were inserted in the Senate.Yes, I see you being there on record with having no problem otherwise lying to people and taking away their autonomy. Gotcha.
“If it does not weigh down the other provisions of House Bill 1210, I’m OK with it,” he said “If it does weigh them down, then we’ll have to take a hard look at it.”
Don't you worry though, Hoosiers! Sue Swayze, legislative director for Indiana Right to Life doesn't see any problems with any of it since she says there are other health clinics women might be able to go to--and she has a helpful suggestion:
"You can buy some types of contraceptive devices at Walmart," she said.Well, there you go. Walmart. Brilliant. Really.
Five years
[Trigger warning for transphobia and allusions to transphobic violence]
In case the world doesn't have enough autobiographical accounts of white ladies going through gender transition, forgive me for a few observations.
There's a glut of certain narratives, but aside from that, there's another reason I don't often write about my transition. It's hard to write about. In my experience, being a trans person involves a lot of pain and isolation. Seriously (not seriously) how the hell is it possible to write from a place of pain and isolation? Anyhow, let me be the first (not quite the first). Besides, it's a happy story. A greatly abridged happy story.
I remember my early days, the days of stealthily perusing the broccoli at the Waupaca Piggly Wiggly while wearing clear nail polish. I remember that was the biggest deal ever.
I remember pumping gas after dark while wearing a skirt. My therapist and I worked together in concocting that scheme. The darkness cut down on visibility. Pumping gas involved having a car within arm's reach, should “something” happen.
There were the long, dark drives between Madison and meetings in Brookfield, two safe havens separated by seventy miles of interstate. If it was absolutely necessary and I was up to it, I might catch a bite from a restaurant drive thru, but that was about it.
I remember clinging tightly to Becca while leaving a movie (a matinée, no less). Neither of us remembers the movie. That day wasn't about the movie.
Things have gotten better, happier, less scary, but I still carry around a little piece of that past terror with me everywhere I go. It's just there. I don't dare say it's reassuring, but it's grounding to be able to hold on to it, taking it out of my pocket from time-to-time just to know that I'm still here. I'm still here. I'm still Kate.
All of this seems to have happened ages ago, but my sense of time is blurred. Life starts with the assertion of an identity, which in my case is a relatively recent phenomenon.
I can tell you when things started to get better, good even. On April 27, 2006, exactly five years ago today, the Dane County Circuit Court granted my request for a legal name change.
I waited on the fourth floor of the county courthouse forever. The appointment was early in the morning, which was totally intentional on my part. I didn't have anywhere else I needed to be, and dammit, I was there on time.
The judge read some boring technical stuff to the empty courtroom. Then he asked me a series of questions. He asked me if I'd gain any advantage by changing my name. I laughed. No. No I would not gain any advantage by asserting my identity as Kate. The judge raised an eyebrow and asked again. Taking the hint, I rambled on for a bit about the advantage of having my papers match my person and so on and so forth. Then we were done. The bailiff wished me good luck, saying that they only got to do a few of these a year. Honestly, if you worked in a courtroom, what else would you rather be doing?
After the perfunctory gathering of notarized forms, I ran straight to the DMV. I was finished in time to make it to my Thursday afternoon ecology lecture. I sat through the professor's story for the day, and proceeded to flash my new license to my fellow graduate students. A group of my students saw what was going on and broke into huge grins.
I was out. I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter. Despite being at a large university, my world was really small. I also didn't have a notarized copy of a court order at the start of the semester. This meant I was necessarily out to my students.
I actually came out at work the semester before all of this. I hadn't settled on a name at that point. Since I didn't have the paperwork to back it up, there wasn't much point in outing myself to my students, though.
By the time the Spring term rolled around, I was tired of that. I had a name (Becca will tell you this was our first argument, but I'm not sure that's how it really went down) and I was determined to use it. I didn't have the paperwork to back it up. Thus, the semester of two names was born. As it turned out, most of the women in the class called me Kate, while a few of the men uneasily called me by my birth name. We all seemed to be pretty comfortable with the arrangement by the end of the term. An hour after electrolysis appointments, I'd show up to lead the class through the frigid woods to collect data, my face still angry and red. Fun times.
My newfound legal clout didn't change everything. I still got in the occasional argument about whether I was or was not Kate. There was the time I had to display my long form to a cashier at my Co-op to prove that I was in fact Kate and it was in fact my Co-op. He eventually relented, and I got ten cents off my cup of coffee, plus the whole dignity thing. Then there was that one time (three times) I visited the fertility clinic:
“We can't put you in the computer as Kate. Do you have a different name?”
“Why not?”
“Well, the computer won't take it, it won't make sense.”
I didn't win that one, but I was eventually able to convince the director of the program that I was, in fact, Kate. The “My name's Kate. I make sperm.” bumper stickers never came back from the printer. That's probably a good thing.
Nowadays, I still get in the occasional argument over whether or not my birth name is, in fact, my birth name. This typically involves my trying to cash checks from various bureaucracies. If it didn't involve money, I wouldn't bother.
In any case, this would appear to be a key facet of my transsexuality: getting in arguments with people who think they know me better than I know myself.
Legal recognition of my identity has been good to me, though. I can now carry around a limited amount of safety. I don't have to out myself when I buy groceries.
Especially considering that I've been able to get a drivers' license that reflects my gender, I've been increasingly confident (although not completely) that I won't get arrested for using the ladies' room. (Although getting arrested isn't the worst possibility.) Before I had my papers, I had to think long and hard over the circumstances surrounding each visit to the bathroom. Which room is safer? Am I sure I can't hold it? A correct driver's license isn't magic, but it sure doesn't hurt...
Not every trans person is as privileged as I am. I was able to scrape together the nearly three hundred dollars to pay for my name change. I had a friendly judge, and lived in what is typically a not-unfriendly jurisdiction. My court appearance went smoothly. There was no talk of my therapy appointments, my manner of dress, my genitals. Things at the DMV went equally smoothly- an exchange of paperwork followed by the issuance of an appropriate license. While I no longer have much patience for the need for all this paperwork, at the time I was grateful.
I don't think it's a secret that there are judges and jurisdictions that are hostile to trans people. There have been any number of cases here in New York where judges have refused to allow people to change their names. Sometimes it's about genitals. Sometimes it's about “confusing the public.” It's always about hate. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund have been successful in fighting for some clients seeking government affirmation of their name.
As for drivers' licenses and birth certificates, that's a whole secondary layer of bigotry and harassment. I, for one, get a lump in my throat every time I need to show my identification card to someone charged with upholding the law. There's no telling what might happen to me or my identity.
An identity is the least that society owes each of its members.
If I get a wish on this anniversary, I wish for us all to renew our commitment to fight for each others' identity. This fight is not about technicalities, it's about respect. Each and every one of us has a right, among other things, to be acknowledged as who we are, and to be respected accordingly.
That's my wish. Also, I like fish tacos, so if anyone has recipes, that's cool too. But mostly the respect for humanity thing. That's kinda important.
Crossposted at Duck! Duck! Gay Duck!
Swell
So President Obama has released his long form birth certificate, which, unsurprisingly, shows that he was born in Hawaii.
Even as he did so, he acknowledged "there would be a 'segment of people' for whom the full document is not enough to settle the issue," but he did it, anyway.
I know I'm just a dirty hippie who doesn't understand politics, but I fail utterly to see the point of legitimizing the Birthers, and thus tacitly legitimizing the rightwing strategy of propping up useful tools who will shriek indefinitely about total nonsense to divert national attention away from issues like the subversion of the social safety net and the erosion of reproductive rights.
Meanwhile, Obama, who has the biggest bully pulpit in the entire world and has the capacity to change the national conversation with a single soundbite, has still not expressed the first iota of concern about every state legislature in the union considering legislation to reduce access to legal abortion.
Giving time and attention to legitimizing the Birthers while ignoring a 50-state all-out assault on (mostly) women is unrelentingly infuriating, particularly given that Birtherism empowers the anti-choice movement.
This sop to the Birthers was not just stupid; it was actively hostile to progressive politics.
Kansas Moves to Defund Planned Parenthood
What Congress could not do for the nation, the Kansas State legislature hopes to do for the people of Kansas: Save them from the rampaging horror of (mostly) ladies who want to provide legal health services to (mostly) other ladies at an affordable cost.
Abortion politics could take a new twist in Kansas with a budget plan that would make the state the first in the nation to strip funding from Planned Parenthood.This trickle-down fuckonomics has trickled down to Indiana, too. Kansas and Indiana are only the first two states in what will almost certainly become a nationwide trend, part of the rightwing's chip away at Roe strategy.
Budgets winding their way through the Legislature would redirect about $300,000 in federal family planning funds from Planned Parenthood to state and local health clinics.
The move is similar to one in Washington that almost led to a government shutdown early this month, when Republicans wanted to shut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood in the belief that it provided indirect support for abortions.
Now, the battle is trickling down to the states.
The Planned Parenthood funding in question comes from federal Title IX funds and is thus earmarked for reproductive planning services. In Kansas, the funding amounts to $2.9 million, $300k of which is distributed between nine clinics in Wichita and Hays run by Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM), where a variety of services are provided to "nearly 9,000 people, of whom about 80 percent qualify for subsidized family-planning services," according to Peter Brownlie, president of PPKM.
While Planned Parenthood wouldn't have to shut its doors in those cities, losing federal funds would mean fewer low-income women would be served, Brownlie said.See, the great idea Republicans are proposing is to just redirect that funding to other clinics, without regard for where those clinics are. All they care about is defunding Planned Parenthood, because it provides abortions among its many services, and if they can't make abortion illegal, then they'll settle for making it inaccessible, despite the fact that reducing access to abortion does not reduce its numbers; it merely makes the procedure less safe.
It could be a bigger problem in Hays in western Kansas, where family-planning services are limited. Of the eight counties adjoining Ellis County, where Hays is located, four have no such services, Brownlie said. The four other counties have limited services.
While the stated intention may be to divert that money to other agencies, Brownlie questioned whether there were plans — or even the capacity — for others to meet the needs of women.
The evident reality is that anti-choicers don't care that women will die getting back alley abortions. As far as they're concerned, that's just desserts for being a baby-killing whore.
"If that money is taken away from Planned Parenthood, fewer low-income people would get family planning services in Kansas, more will get pregnant and more will have abortions," [Brownlie] predicted.But we're okay with causing the unintentional and preventable deaths of dirty sluts reads the subtext.
But abortion foes insist on eliminating money for Planned Parenthood from the state budget.
"We oppose the taking of innocent human life," said Kathy Ostrowski, state legislative director of Kansans for Life.
I've said before that I find the "pro-life" position to be inherently violent because it forces women to do something painful and bloody with their bodies that they don't want to do. Here, then, is another example of the inherent violence of the "pro-life" position: Criminalizing and/or reducing access to abortion will demonstrably result in the deaths of pregnant people seeking to terminate pregnancy through any means possible.
To know that and to not care is indecent and cruel. I can't say it any more plainly than that.
Panetta to Pentagon; Petraeus to CIA
As Obama's first term winds down, he's switching up some of the players in his administration: CIA chief Leon Panetta will reportedly be nominated to head the Department of Defense and General David Petraeus is his likely successor as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Shrug.
Quite literally everyone who would ever be seriously considered for either of those positions even by a Democratic president would support policies and strategies with which I disagree, so I'm never going to be thrilled by any selection. As far as these two go, could be worse.
Question of the Day
Inspired by Misty's tweet about her new date bread recipe: What is the last dish you created?
The last dish I created, which I made for the first time this weekend to take to my parents' house for dinner, was parsleyed gnocchi with lump crab in a gorgonzola-rosemary cream sauce. It was yummy.
Quote of the Day
"That is a mis-draft; that is not acceptable to me. That would make it too difficult to pass, otherwise."—Republican Louisiana State Rep. John LaBruzzo, addressing concerns that a piece of anti-choice legislation he drafted contains a provision that would subject any woman who has an abortion to the crime of feticide.
LaBruzzo, who describes himself as "unapologetically pro-life," stands behind the rest of the bill, which would, without exception, "ban all abortions in the state and subject the doctor who performs one to prosecution on charges of feticide." Sure.
If the name John LaBruzzo sounds familiar to you, that might be because he's the same dipshit who proposed, in 2008, "a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied" because: "We're on a train headed to the future and there's a bridge out."
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
"Should Christians spend a fortune on weddings?" Or, as it was promoted on CNN's front page: "Would Jesus spend fortune on nuptials?"
I just love everything about this article, but my absolute favorite is the concluding line after something like 9,000 paragraphs of torturous rationalizations and apologia about extravagant spending on a wedding: "Nonetheless, on a special occasion, Jesus might be down with a lobster profiterole."
LOL. Sure.
Listen, I don't have any interest in telling religious people how to do religion, but I have actually read the New Testament, and Jesus is pretty much a broken record on the whole poverty thing. I can dig that a big, lavish wedding can be fun—especially for people of the same sex long denied participation in the institution, for example. I'm not judging what people want; I'm just advising honesty about it. (Which, if I recall correctly, was another thing that old hippie JC was always harping about.)
If you want something indulgent, go ahead and want it. I don't give a shit. I find a relatively minor ethical inconsistency a lot less contemptible than publicly contorting yourself into philosophical pretzels to justify your participation "as a bride" (as if that is separate from your humanity) in a spectacle that is wholly unnecessary to commit to love and partnership.
Anyway, what do I know. My atheist self and my atheist husband got hitched at the courthouse with one witness and went out for burgers afterward.
Number of the Day
64%: The percentage of USians in the latest Gallup poll who are "worried that the Republican plan for reducing the federal budget deficit" will, in the long-term, "take away needed protections for the poor and disadvantaged."
And they are 100% right to be concerned.
No Doy He Is
Professor James Franco, who has received by my count approximately 37 different degrees in various creative arts in the last nine months, will continue his education in Houston because James Franco.
James Franco has won a spot in a University of Houston creative writing program.James Franco, who recently received a PhD in Ambition from The Universe, is also currently developing his own autobiographical cartoon series for PBS, SpongeBrain CollegePants. TRUE FACT!
The university confirms that the actor nominated for the 2010 Academy Award for best actor in "127 Hours" has been accepted for the school's doctoral program in literature and creative writing. Creative writing program director James Kastely tells the Houston Chronicle that Franco plans to enroll in September 2012.
[H/T to everyone in the multiverse, and thanks to each and every one of you!]
Daily Dose of Cute
As promised, here are some pix of Dudley and his BFF Van, who is the dog-in-residence at Blogginz Manor, at MamaBlogz's birthday party earlier this month.
The two of them are sooooooo cute together: Van is just this adorbz snub-nosed wrinkled tank, and Dudley is so the opposite. They are truly the Laurel and Hardy of dogs. They ran around the backyard together, play-bowing at each other and making dramatic snorty noises, and, inside, Dudley was rolling onto his back and pawing up at Van, who dodged between Dudley's gangly legs to give him belleh nudges with his big wrinkly nose. At dinnertime, they kept switching bowls. "What do you have over here? Oh! It's the same thing I had over there! NOM NOM NOM."
Van is such a good boy and such a gracious host. He even shared his toys and bed with Dudley. And Dudley is such a good boy and a perfectly behaved guest; he was even polite as could be with the Top Catz of Blogginz Manor!
The Market Has Spoken
And the market has said "Thanks, but no thanks" to Atlas Shrugged: Part 1.
In its second week of release, the critically panned adaptation of Ayn Rand's objectivist wank fantasy expanded from 300 to 465 theaters. And saw a significant drop in per-screen averages. Opening weekend brought in an average of $5600 per screen, for about $1.5M in receipts. That, I am told, is respectable for an indie film.
This weekend saw $1900 per screen, landing in 18th place. (Down from 14th last week.) That's a drop of over 60%, while in about 50% more theaters. Whoops!
Now, Randians everywhere are going Battlefield Earth, blaming the liberal media for trying to torpedo the film. Because liberal film critics "can't stand free markets." Which doesn't really make any sense. I mean, I'm not Joe Hollywood, so maybe I'm wrong, but don't those liberal critics rely on that free market for their livelihood? Or are Roger Ebert and Peter Travers hoping that someday all movie admission will be free? I guess they'd still need film critics if all movies were free. I dunno. Personally I don't think anyone should have to pay to see Fast and Furious Five, because it looks like garbage. That's not really the same thing, is it?
No word yet on how many theaters Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 will be in next week, if any. I suspect though, that this will be in Red Box sooner rather than later. And while we're on the subject, just because you're using Red Box (and you know who you are) does not give you license to park in the fucking fire lane at the grocery store! Knock it off!
Also, failure to recoup its $15M budget puts the sequels in jeopardy. Maybe Glenn Beck can have some sort of pledge drive. Oh, wait, he's been cancelled. Sorry. p.s. Pledge drives are Socialist. Nevermind.
Law Drama
No, it's not a new David E Kelley show. This is some real life dramaz right here. So remember a week or so ago, Boehner & cohorts lawyered up to defend the indefensible DOMA?
Right. Well, on Monday the firm, King & Spaulding, withdrew from the case.
"Today the firm filed a motion to withdraw from its engagement to represent the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives on the constitutional issues regarding Section III of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act," King & Spalding chairman Robert D. Hays, Jr. said in a statement. "Last week we worked diligently through the process required for withdrawal."So that seems like a good thing, right? The lawyer Boehner hired, Paul Clement, decided to up and resign from the firm (after 20 years) and join a new firm (one that, interestingly, has people from the Bush years working there) to keep on being the GOP's lawyer on this.
“In reviewing this assignment further, I determined that the process used for vetting this engagement was inadequate," he continued. "Ultimately I am responsible for any mistakes that occurred and apologize for the challenges this may have created."
In his resignation letter, Clement said:
And, of course, Boehner is very pleased:
Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), said House leadership were pleased that Clement would still be representing the House. "The Speaker is disappointed in the firm’s decision and its careless disregard for its responsibilities to the House in this constitutional matter," said Buck in a statement. "At the same time, Mr. Clement has demonstrated legal integrity, and we are grateful for his decision to continue representing the House. This move will ensure the constitutionality of this law is appropriately determined by the courts, rather than by the President unilaterally."I wonder if they will still be paying $520/hr--from taxpayer funds--to promote bigotry. Priorities!
Nah, That Can't Be It
So, I'm reading this GQ article about baseball wonderboy Derek Jeter, who famously dates famous women and also has the reputation of being a Very Nice Guy, and I find this passage:
Even those people whose job it is to dig up dirt on celebrities can only shake their heads in amazement. "Derek Jeter could be a guru," says Richard Johnson, the Los Angeles bureau chief of The Daily and legendary former editor of the New York Post's gossip column, Page Six. "There's never been any kiss-and-tell stuff where a girl breaks up with Jeter and then says what a creep he is. I don't know how he avoids it. He must have some sort of vetting process—maybe he makes them fill out a questionnaire or has a psychological profile done. He's incredible."Yes, what a mystery! Whatever he's doing, it's definitely not treating women with decency and respect, because that's just ABSURD!
Now, Richard Johnson is a [TW] world-class asshole, but Seth Mnookin is an asshole for including that shit in his piece, and the editors of GQ are assholes for printing that shit in their gentlemen's mag. And every dude who read it and shook his head and wondered what Jeter's secret could possibly be is an asshole, too.
And I'll note once again that it's feminists who have the reputation as man-haters, but it isn't me who can read about a man who's supposed to be a decent guy and not even consider the possibility that he is reputed to be a decent guy because he's actually a decent guy.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
The Cult: "Fire Woman"
TMNS Trivia: Deeky appears in this video, watch closely!
All In
[Trigger warning for violence, transphobia, transphobic hate crime, racism.]
Last week, Chrissy Lee Polis, a woman who is trans, was viciously attacked and beaten at a McDonald's in the Baltimore suburbs after she used the women's bathroom. Her attackers were two teenage young women, ages 14 and 18.
Polis is physically okay, despite the attack having triggered a seizure. Her attackers will be charged: The elder may face hate crimes charges. And should, in my estimation.
Here, you can see Polis address what the attack against her means for members of the whole community, how such vicious hatred reverberates. Which is, of course, the very raison d'être for a hate crime designation.
The details of the attack, including the video that was taken by a McDonald's employee and uploaded almost immediately to the internet, are available at Bilerico. Alex has a follow-up here, which includes responses from McDonald's, who has fired the employee who filmed and uploaded the attack and calls the incident "reprehensible."
I almost don't know where to begin discussion of this incident. It's so terrible—and yet to be shocked by a crime of this nature against a trans woman is a privilege. I am horrified and I am profoundly sad and I am angry—because this shit doesn't happen in a void. I am relieved that Polis is physically okay, but my heart hurts for the lingering psychological effects she may experience. And I ache for members of the trans* community, and their loved ones, who have yet another pointed reminder of the hatred and fear felt by so many cis people, socialized in a trans*-hostile culture that rigidly forces people into a gender binary and lazily relies on gender essentialism and arbitrarily privileges cisgenderedness.
And I am depressed that, because Polis is white and her attackers are black, white racists are using this incident to engage in despicable racism—which is, whether effectively or intentionally, just a way of silencing discussion of cis privilege.
And I am pleased that the police are taking this case seriously, and that much of the media reporting of the incident is actually decent and respectful, and that the local community is rallying around Polis, and that she has so much online support, and that McDonald's was unequivocal in denouncing the violence against her, all of which ought to be givens but unfortunately aren't.
And I am listening hard to the reminder, care of the elderly cis woman who stepped into the attack to try to help Polis, and who got a black eye herself for her trouble, standing between Polis and her attackers while Polis wrapped her arms around the stranger's leg, the importance of being All In.
And I am listening hard to the same reminder, provided by her attackers—and their tacit admonishment to be an active ally every day, to prevent shit like this from happening in the first place.
[H/Ts to Shakers Kay, Reba, and Lila.]
Paul 4 Prez
Joining his BFFs Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Willard Romney, and Rick Santorum, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, progenitor of the Toast of the Tea Party Rand Paul and the face that launched 1,000 2 tons of unconstitutional gold coins, will reportedly announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee in Iowa today.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul (R) will announce he is forming a presidential exploratory committee on Tuesday in Iowa, the congressman said Monday.Awesome. Can't wait to hear who will be helping him not win this time.
The two-time presidential candidate is scheduled to make his announcement during a press conference in the state capital of Des Moines at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. During the press conference, Paul will also name members of his campaign's Iowa leadership team, according to a source close to the congressman.
