What’s your greatest fear about the Bush administration?
Be honest or be funny. And if you’re feeling feisty, follow it up with any suggestions about how to prevent it from becoming reality.
Question
“Bush to UN: Bend over, bitches!”
…So says John at Blogenlust, adding:
I wonder if Bush had nominated a pacifist to head the DoD whether the media would find it relevant to note the ideological conflict of interest. They sure seem slow to point out that John Bolton, Bush's nominee for UN Ambassador, thinks the work of the UN is irrelevant. I'm sure he'll be able to leave his personal opinions at home.I’m sure he will. Because if there’s one thing you can say about Bush and his buddies, it’s that they’re not ideologues.
And Dave at Seeing the Forest notes:
President Bush has nominated "hardliner" John Bolton to be Ambassador to the United Nations. "Imagine Jerry Falwell being placed in charge of marriage in Massachusetts."That’s a mighty interesting coinkydink.
This is where Bush has apparently been getting his ideas about how the country should work with the rest of the world. (Hint: scroll to the lower right hand corner.)
Just a coincidence, look at who provides the core funding of the modern right-wing "noise machine" that put Bush into office.
Being Helpful
In reporting on the latest lunacy being advanced about gays and lesbians, this time the rather bizarre contention by a Florida Juvenile Welfare Board Member that PFLAG and GLSEN (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) promote pedophilia, Ms. Julien asks:
What I want to know is where in the HELL do they come up with these comparisons?I do believe the Welfare Board Member in question, Cecilia Burke, may well have her head up her ass.
Being in the midst of a long-term anthropological study of “asshatters,” I’ve found that apparently there are all kinds of bizarre opinions up there just waiting to be discovered and summarily spewed into the public discourse without a moment's hesitation about whether ass-generated ideas are perhaps not the finest or wisest one might share with the rest of the world.
My research is still ongoing, so I can’t really say anything conclusively, but at this point, Ms. Burke definitely shows telltale signs of asshattery.
A Woman on the Man's Field
"His accusers were relentless and, as always with feminists, humorless."--Harvey Mansfield, on Summers vs. Harvard feminists.Well, I did come across an animal rights’ activist in Edinburgh who wore a picture of a tiger ’round his neck, at which he pointed, then pointed at me and made a rather amusing growly face accompanied by clawing gestures in the air. I thought it was funny, although Mr. Shakes didn't seem to; he had a face like thunder.
Writing in that well-known Onion rival, the Weekly Standard, the anti-PC professor Harvey Mansfield declares feminists--all feminists--"humorless." I'm wondering, then, which political subgroup Mansfield finds more amusing. And no, unintentionally amusing doesn't count.
I also have a great pal from Nottingham, who was head of his local Greenpeace chapter, and is now teaching English to children in Taiwan. He can make me laugh as hard as just about anyone else alive, and I him. Although, it occurs to me that when we’re talking specifically about environmental, educational, or feminist issues, the laughter tends to die down a bit. A-ha—I think we’re on to something here…
Dear Mr. Mansfield,
I suspect that perhaps because of your unbridled chauvinism, many women don’t enjoy speaking to you unless compulsory. For that reason, you might rarely have an opportunity to be engaged with women outside of an academic arena. I can assure you that many feminists are great big balls of giggly fun in their free time. (I know I am!)
Also, when you talk to women in future, try not to say anything sexist and/or condescending. This will allow you to have a conversation with a woman without triggering an understandably humorless lecture on why you’re a giant, useless, stinky taint.
Instead, consider the women with whom you converse your equals; after 10 minutes of conversation sans highly offensive misogynism, try a little joke, and see if that otherwise unfunny feminist doesn’t give ya a wee chuckle. We modern sassy broads tend to laugh more with people who don’t seek to belittle us.
Good luck, Mr. Mansfield! I’m sure you’ll have the ladies laughing in no time.
Sincerely,
Shakespeare’s Sister
He's Lost His Bloody Mind
Democratic Underground’s Top 10 Conservative Idiots this week features at #3 none other than Jeff Gannon. Their reason for Jeff’s inclusion is that he’s losing it big time, evidence of which is broken down into two subcategories, the first of which is funny, but the second of which will just leave you shaking your head in disbelief:
Second, Gannon appears to be attempting to transform himself from "Bulldog," the 8" cut hot military m4m stud, into a red-blooded womanizing good-ol'-boy. On his blog, Jeff says "My faith and my ideology are rock solid" (interesting choice of words). And picking a bone - if you'll pardon the pun - with Maureen Dowd, Gannon refers to her as "this gal who probably needs a bit of the old Jeff Gannon to relieve some of that pent up whatever." Uh, sure thing, Jeff (wink).Okay, so if a gay prostitute making it within yards of the pres wasn’t cause for concern, according to the White House, how about someone who is seriously, seriously delusional?
Mitch Daniels is a Horse’s Patoot (Part of an Ongoing Series)
Last week, the Indiana State House Democrats did something really cool—they left the House floor shortly after the chamber convened and refused to return to vote on pending legislation.
Democrats, upset about several bills they consider partisan power grabs, left the House floor shortly after the chamber convened Tuesday and didn't return to vote on pending legislation. Republicans have a 52-48 majority in the House, but at least 67 members need to be present to conduct business.So who exactly was calling Bauer “certain things” that aren’t true? Governor Mitch Daniels, of course:
House Democrats said they had legitimate, philosophical reasons for blocking votes on bills before Tuesday's midnight deadline to advance the bills to the Senate. Among the bills derailed by the tactic was a provision to put all of Indiana on daylight-saving time.
[House Minority Leader Pat Bauer] was ill Wednesday and wasn't at a press conference held by House Democrats. But Rep. Russ Stillwell, D-Boonville, said Democrats had exercised their rights as the minority and representing their constituents.
"I'm offended that some people would call the leader of the Democrat caucus certain things when it's absolutely not true," Stillwell said. "Pat Bauer has served the state of Indiana admirably for 30 years."
Daniels also took a swipe at House Minority Leader Pat Bauer, calling him a "throwback politician" who would put his party over jobs and reform.With a solidly Republican-majority State government, it’s amazing that all of Indiana’s problems come down to the House Minority Leader, isn’t it? I think that maybe the solution to our problems in Indy might be passing a bill that takes all that power away from Pat Bauer and gives some of it back to the statehouse!
"If you want to know why Indiana's economy fell behind, why state government is broke, broken, and awash in scandal, just look at Mr. Bauer," Daniels said.
But back to the legislation that prompted such a reaction from the Dems, which included, as an example:
a bill giving Daniels' inspector general power to prosecute government crimes when local prosecutors fail to file charges are among Daniels' top priorities.I can’t begin to imagine why Hoosier Dems might feel their GOP governor might be interested in partisan witch hunts. I mean, he never acts like a raging paranoiac and always speaks respectfully of his opposition:
Daniels said the inspector general bill is needed to help root out government corruption, but House Democrats say it would give the governor unprecedented power to stage partisan witch hunts.
Daniels, reading a prepared statement at the Statehouse, said he believed Tuesday's floor boycott was planned from the start of the session.I’m not embarrassed for them; I’m proud of them. Way to go, Dems!
[…]
The governor said it was hard for him to understand why House Democrats didn't have "the courage or conscience to stay at work" when Bauer led them off the floor.
"I guess they were just following orders," Daniels said. "I'm embarrassed for them, but it was their choice."
What I do find embarrassing, however, is my governor’s insistence on being an unadulterated jackass. You see, I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. Daniels, aka Pouty McPouterson, was so unhappy with the Dems for not directly and utterly complying with his partisan agenda that dignified discourse just wouldn’t suffice. Instead, Daniels, in a prepared statement to the media, said:
"Indiana's drive for growth and reform was car bombed yesterday by the Indiana House minority. "Car bombed. Car bombed! That’s right. They’re terrorists.
I once questioned the wisdom of turning “terrorist” into a catch-all phrase invoked to denigrate anyone with whom one disagrees. Since the, the practice has only proliferated, with Bill O’Reilly referring to the ACLU as terrorists being the most public recent example. And as despicable and inexcusable as I find O’Reilly’s bloviations, I am more dismayed by a state governor who utilizes the same repellent tactic.
It’s divisive, at a time when the last thing we need is even more discordance; it’s unproductive; it’s small-minded and spiteful; and, most importantly, reducing something as heinous as a car bombing to a political metaphor is insulting to our troops who have been maimed by real car bombings, and to the families of troops who have been killed by them.
Support the troops ought to, by any reasonable interpretation, also include showing them a little respect, too.
Action / Reaction
Ugh.
(Link via Court Fool. Warning: Graphic images.)
Does anyone else find it bitterly ironic that in our attempts to protect ourselves from Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction,” we ended up polluting their entire country with depleted uranium?
Let me just reiterate this one more time: things like 9/11 don’t happen in a fucking void. Our actions have consequences.
The Four-H Club
Corrente’s Lambert says:
I keep trying to think of a catchy name for the party of Lincoln, who must be spinning in his grave, and the one I keep coming back to is...My suggestion was Hegemony, of course. Other suggestions included homophobia, hubris, and horseshit. Whatcha got?
The Four-H club. The party of
1. Hypocrisy
2. Hysteria
3. Hate
4. ...
And I keep not being able to come up with the fourth H. Readers, ideas? Better ideas for renaming The Partei?
Poverty of Ideas
Via Matthew Yglesias, we find a link to this insightful post from Phoebe examining an irreconcilable tension between defining one’s social consciousness by what’s fashionable and defining it by reality—often unpleasant, almost never chic. The story Phoebe references features an attempt to stave off gentrification that is more likely to reinforce the divisions between the rich and the poor than diminish them in any way.
Even activists with the best of intentions don’t always take the best course of action; it’s hardly uncommon for plans meant to alleviate poverty to have the opposite (and unintended) affect. It’s truly frustrating how inept we continue to be, across the board, in effectively dealing with endemic poverty. We’re the richest nation on earth, yet U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations (only Mexico scores lower), and:
Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million.We’re not even very good at acknowledging it, no less solving it. One of the things that has always bothered me about the reception of Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 as a Democratic polemic is that it simply wasn’t one. F 9/11 was about classism; Moore was (rightfully) angry about the rich bitch powerbrokers who have control of everything in the Beltway (and everywhere else, for that matter) and their willingness to perpetuate a classist system that ensures a volunteer military will always seem like an attractive solution for youth in poverty-stricken communities.
If a Democrat with the same ties to Saudi royals were president and led our troops into the same war under the same circumstances, Moore would have made the same film. Liberals just conveniently overlooked how hard Moore was on the Senate Dems (especially Daschle and Gephardt, who looked like total asses) at the beginning of the film. I understand why ignoring the complicity of Dems in a lot of what was covered in F 9/11 was attractive; if the Dems hadn’t been such a pathetic, capitulating excuse for an opposition party for the preceding four years, but instead had given their constituency something around which to rally, Moore’s film wouldn’t have been immediately embraced by a nation of angry liberals who were just so fucking glad to have someone finally be willing to take on Bush. (And because Moore is an inveterate attention whore, he gladly played the role of liberal mouthpiece when his film was received thusly.)
Ultimately, it was a very effective film about classism (and associated racism), but it shouldn’t have been the rallying point for Dems in the manner it was. That it filled that role so easily speaks to the void left by our elected representatives, and they deserve the blame for its status as liberal battle cry eclipsing its more important message of the wrenching dichotomy of the Haves’ America and the America of the Have-Nots.
The one man who was able to clearly articulate the real message of F 9/11 was John Edwards, whose “Two Americas” stump speech was roundly castigated by conservatives as contrary to the American spirit (which should have been our first clue that he was really onto something). Genuinely dedicated to finding solutions for lifting Americans out of poverty, Edwards now heads the Poverty Center at the University of North Carolina. And although none of us really want to hear his son-of-a-millworker story ever again, it is surely no coincidence that the candidate who has truly known poverty was the one who was best able to communicate its ugly, oppressive reality.
One of America’s most unattractive—and dangerous—habits is our collective inability to be self-critical, and although we on the Left tend to be better at it (thereby eliciting continual charges of anti-Americanism from our less reflective opponents), we’re still far too reluctant to stare our underclass in the face.
We want to protect Social Security and the 40-hour work week, we want to raise the minimum wage and provide universal healthcare, and we believe that every child should get a quality education from teachers not hampered by unfunded mandates. But a comprehensive strategy to eradicate the worst poverty—the kind that is beyond struggling to pay the gas bill; the kind that means hunger, or homelessness—eludes us. It is in no small part because we are reluctant to talk about the reality of Americans who are living as though they were in a third-world country.
There will likely always be working poor in America; capitalism all but demands it. But beyond the working poor are those who have fallen off the edge, those for whom the safety net in which we believe and for which we fight so passionately was not enough. Where are the nearly four million American families that went hungry at some point last year, and what are we going to do about it?
Hellfire and Brimstone!
Mr. Shakes’ favorite comic book hero is Captain America. Do you think Jesus will make an exception for that, since he loves America best?
(Image via Trust Me, You Have No Idea How Much I Hate Bush—a blog that will never be accused of ambiguity.)
[UPDATE: Okay, I'm an idiot. This is a fake. Scary how easy it was to believe, though. And if you follow the link, there are pictures of real church signs that are just as loony!]
You Can't Claim to Love America if You Hate Americans
The tired conservative contention that liberals hate America is never supported by anything other than vague allusions to alleged contempt for things that aren’t even uniquely American (the free market) or historically accurate (the founding of the country on Judeo-Christian principles), and by deliberately misconstruing legitimate philosophical differences (believing national security is bolstered by strong global alliances) to attempt to frame them as somehow traitorous.
But between a conservative agenda that seeks to undermine protections for average Americans such as Social Security and the 40-hour work week, and the increasing visibility of shockingly rancorous conservative hate groups, I think there is mounting reason to ask the question why so many conservatives seem to hate Americans.
Topeka-based anti-gay protestors show up in Cleveland
Topeka group goes to Dover
The leader of the Topeka group, crypt keeper Fred Phelps
More anti-gay protesters
Neo-Nazis rally in D.C.
The Neo-Nazi group National Alliance takes their message roadside
Protestors show a unique brand of ignorance while hurling insults at undocumented workers who were promoting their reform agenda
A member of the National Socialist Movement, which calls for a "greater America" that would deny citizens to Jews, nonwhites, and homosexuals
That these extreme attitudes are becoming mainstream conservative values is evidenced by the frequency with which polarizing figures such as Pat Buchanan are becoming regarded as reasonable spokesmen of the conservative movement. Pat Buchanan is a regular conservative commentator on a variety of news shows, despite his appalling attitudes on gays and lesbians:
civil rights:The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.
-- discussing AIDS in 1983, quoted from Political Amazon's "Quotes from Hell"
the Holocaust:[For President Nixon to visit King's widow on the anniversary of King's assassination because it would] outrage many, many people who believe Dr. King was a fraud and a demagogue and perhaps worse.... Others consider him the Devil incarnate. Dr. King is one of the most divisive men in contemporary history.
-- while working as a White House adviser to Nixon, reported in the New York Daily News, October 1, 1990, quoted from Political Amazon's "Quotes from Hell"
[Despite Hitler's anti-Semitic and genocidal tendencies, he was] an individual of great courage.... Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.and women:
-- in a 1977 column, The Guardian, January 14, 1992, quoted from Political Amazon's "Quotes from Hell"
Rail as they will about "discrimination," women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism.Even the bow-tied broadcaster Tucker Carlson, not known for being inflammatory nearly as much as being stupid and annoying, has an abysmal record:
-- November 22, 1983, quoted from Political Amazon's "Quotes from Hell"
While co-hosting Crossfire, Carlson referred to crossdressing as a "Democratic value" (7/16/03); accused Begala of being homophobic for pointing out that Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) was a cheerleader at the University of Mississippi (9/25/02); regularly made snide remarks about the transgendered community being a constituency of the Democratic Party; and mocked outreach by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) community. Regarding goals to increase GLBT delegate representation at the Democratic National Convention, which Carlson ridiculed, he said, "And if you don't find them at least mildly funny, you're probably a Democrat," while falsely claiming the efforts included the establishment of quotas (5/19/04).The truth of the matter is, conservatives hate lots and lots of Americans—anyone who isn’t like them, or fails to share their condemnation of people who aren’t like them. Liberals may be roundly perplexed and frustrated by Americans who seem to vote against their own best interests, but when was the last time card-carrying ACLU members were seen marching down Main Street Red State America after a devastating flood, carrying signs declaring that Mother Nature had gotten her revenge against those who sought to pollute her with the exhaust of their behemoth SUVs? It just doesn’t happen.
We need to get tough and brutally honest in our response each time we’re accused of hating America from here on out. We don’t hate America, and we don’t hate Americans, either…but we’re damn sure our accusers can’t say the same.
Yawn
Further evidence Dem strategists pay absolutely no attention to the blogosphere…
Senior Democrats in Washington are privately expressing stinging rebukes of the mainstream media’s lack of coverage on recent issues concerning what Democrats see as systematic media manipulation and partisanship, RAW STORY has found.
While few were willing to speak by name, aides and strategists alike made harsh attacks on large media organizations.
For the first time, one Democratic strategist even singled out a specific publication, The Boston Globe, for failing to reprimand reporter Hiawatha Bray. Media Matters for America, a watchdog group, revealed that Bray had made online attacks on Sen. John Kerry and praised President George W. Bush during the presidential campaign.
The same strategist, who spoke only on condition that his name not be used, even went so far as question the “courage” of Democrats in Congress for failing to respond to what he described as a myth–that major media outlets are liberal.
“We’re living in the post-Jeff Gannon era where the left can finally show we know how to fight back and hold the media accountable,” the strategist told RAW STORY.
“The right wing spent 30 years telling America about the liberal media, it’s time Democrats found the courage to set the record straight.”
If they did, questioning media bias and Congressional Democrats’ courage wouldn’t be “news.”
What's the Matter with Texas?
Pam has an excellent post up today about the the 40th anniversary of Selma's Bloody Sunday and its role in the Voting Rights Act, in which she reminds us that the president might be in need of some civil rights education.
I know he’s the president and all, but maybe we’re being too hard on him. It might just be Texas’ fault, which is still so rife with racism that even in the “liberal” oasis of Austin, the police cheer on the burning down of a nightclub with a predominantly black patronage (link):
Five police officers and four dispatchers were suspended for sending computer messages after a nightclub caught fire joking about the blaze and quoting a line from the song "Disco Inferno" -- "burn baby burn."That’s some seriously old school racism they’ve got going on at the Austin PD.
Witnesses at the Midtown Live club saw the "burn baby burn" message on the computer screen inside an officer's patrol car during the February 18 fire. Police Chief Stan Knee said a commander and corporal who responded to the scene worked to calm angry witnesses.
The club has a mostly black clientele, and there were suggestions after the fire that the messages revealed racial bias in the department.
Documents released Friday indicate that after hearing a transmission about the fire, officer John Lengefeld sent a message from his patrol car to fellow officer Josue Martinez that said "burn baby burn."
Martinez replied that he was laughing, and "Those were my exact thoughts." Other officers chimed in with more than two hours of messages.
Among those receiving 15-day unpaid suspensions was officer William White, who sent a note that said, "U can smell from (Interstate) 35. It is the smell of victory."
Dispatcher Susan Negron wrote, "I have some extra gasoline if they need it," according to the documents, and "My nite is made. I just had a lady ask me if it was burning. I said yep. She was upset. I was enthralled."
Dispatcher Ashlye Bauerle wrote, "You hear that Midtown is on fire!! The roof of a club . . . That's funny! Gives a whole new meaning to the roof, the roof is on fire," the documents said.
Knee called the messages "inappropriate." All the suspended dispatchers and officers said they regretted their actions and that their messages were intended as jokes. A sixth officer received a written reprimand.
The messages also indicated that the officers were tired of responding to calls at the establishment. Statistics show that police responded to 129 calls last year for reports that included a stabbing, gunshots and public intoxication. The calls made Midtown the fifth busiest club for police response citywide, according to police statistics.
Knee said a sergeant and an additional dispatcher remain under investigation.
Get a clue, wankers. Yeesh.
Give Me Quality, or Give Me Death
Majikthise has an interesting, and comprehensive, post on the myths about the Terri Schiavo case. (If you’re not familiar with it, the short story is that Terri is a woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, and her parents are trying to keep her alive, while her husband is fighting to let her die, which is what he says she wanted.)
I personally believe that Terri should be allowed to die. Those who are in a permanent vegetative state do not have any higher cognitive function, which frankly, seems like a blessing, as having self-awareness while trapped inside a totally nonfunctional body seems a fate worse than death.
This case seems to pit those who believe we should have the right to die with dignity at our own choosing, should we be faced with a terminal affliction (barring extraordinary measures) that allows no chance of recovery, with those who believe in a right to life at all costs—that "culture of life" our president (who signed the execution orders on over 100 people while governor of Texas) is so keen on talking about. However, what’s always missing, it seems, from right to life arguments is the concept of quality of life. Is a child that would be born into a life of atrocious abuse, for example, really better off being born? Is a person who will suffer endlessly until an inevitable death really better being off forced to endure unrelenting agony until their final day?
Quality of life means something; that’s what “pursuit of happiness” is all about. In a perfect world, parents who have no will or ability to properly care and love a child would give it up for adoption into a suitable home, and the practice of medicine would be so exact as to never leave anyone hanging in an earthly purgatory between life and death. But we don’t live in a perfect world, and so we must be responsible in our approaches to managing that imperfection.
In a perfect world, the gift of life should always be the answer, but in the flawed world in which we live, sometimes it isn’t.
Here's What's...
...Left. I'm doing some more housesitting over at Ezra's this weekend, and this time I'm sharing duties with Heather and Michael of Here's What's Left, a nifty site that I've added to the blogroll. Check 'em out!
The Curse of "Freedom"
In a radio address today, President Bush said:
[T]he trend is clear: In the Middle East and throughout the world, freedom is on the march…The women of Iraq might beg to differ (hat tip Green Knight):
The women at Nasar's beauty salon were Christian and Muslim, Sunni and Shiite, but they spoke with one voice on an issue that worries them all.This situation makes my blood boil. That the administration seeks to declare a victory of democracy in a country whose women are fearful that will never live freely is indicative of a sexism that knows no shame. Freedom means everyone. It is notable that in the same address, the president also stated, “Freedom is the birthright and deep desire of every human soul.” Every human soul. That means women, too, dammit.
"I'm sure they will form an Islamic government and our freedom will be gone," Suzan Sarkon, 30, said as she settled in to get her long black hair trimmed. "We've never lived freely in Iraq, and now I think we never will."
As Iraq embarks on its uncertain journey toward crafting a new constitution, Iraqi women have perhaps more to win or lose in the process than anyone.I am also curious as to how Christian and atheist Iraqis, of which there are a sizable number, can be considered “free” if they will be beholden to Shariah as well.
Since the election results were confirmed, many women have expressed deep concerns about the direction in which they see their country headed. A coalition of Islamist Shiite parties won the largest share of the seats in Iraq's new National Assembly. The parties have nominated an Islamic scholar to be prime minister, and though they insist they do not want to impose a religious government on Iraq, they have made it clear they expect Islam to feature in the new constitution.
[…]
At a minimum, that likely will mean applying Shariah [or Islamic law] to civil and family laws, according fewer rights to women than men in areas such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, said Joyce Wiley, an authority on Iraqi Shiites at the University of South Carolina. "I'm afraid it's not going to be very good for women," she said.
The marked increase in the number of women wearing head scarves these days is only the most outwardly visible sign of the creeping Islamization of society that has already taken place since the U.S. invasion, leaving many women living under a de facto form of Islamic rule, she said.How is this freedom? This is abject oppression, right down to the very clothes against their skin. Is this the result for which we hoped when we set out to “liberate” Iraq—that its women would end up with fewer personal freedoms than before our arrival? The right to vote is a futile right indeed if one cannot even wear the clothes of one’s choosing when heading out to the voting booth.
"There are armed men everywhere. If you go without the protection of the scarf, they can stop you and you may get assaulted," Mohammed said. "And there's pressure from husbands and fathers. Being good and chaste means you put a veil on. They tell you it's voluntary, but how can it be voluntary when there's that much pressure on you?"
The liberation promised by the U.S. invasion has so far eluded most Iraqi women. With gunmen roaming the streets and kidnappings a daily occurrence, protective fathers and anxious husbands keep their daughters and wives at home. Women have been targeted for failing to cover their heads and for expressing views such as those of Mohammed, who has received several death threats.
[…]
"If there is Islamic law, it will be worse," [Tara Husham, 22, whose Muslim father and Christian mother say she must be home by 5 p.m.] said. "Islamic law is very traditional--women must obey everything men say. It means democracy will be denied to us."
As she spoke, a figure cloaked in black entered the salon, striking a stark contrast with the other women dressed in jeans and tight sweaters.
Tearing off her head scarf and shaking loose her blond-streaked hair, Anwar Sobhi, 30, explained that she traveled from a neighborhood overrun by radical Sunni insurgents, where graffiti on the walls threatens death to women who don't cover their hair and where the beauty salons were forced to close months ago because they are deemed un-Islamic.
"Of course, I don't want to dress like this. ... I want to wear what I like," said Sobhi, who is Shiite. "When I was a child, my parents used to try to make me wear hijab to school, and when I got around the corner I would take it off. It was just like suffocation."
She only began covering up last month, after she was threatened by armed men.
"Where I live, not even one lady can go out without completely covering her hair," she said. "It's just too dangerous."
"If George Bush thinks this is liberation, then he should make his own wife and daughters wear hijab," said Hanan Azzawi, 36, one of the salon's stylists.No, if Bush thinks this is liberation, then he needs to get himself a fucking dictionary.
Spiders, Man
Mr. Shakes was sitting next to me as I was doing my blog rounds, and saw this picture at the Poor Man:
Camel spiders. Eugh.
Somehow he had missed seeing it when it was going around before. He has a wee bit of arachnophobia (if wee = massive).
“Ahhhhhh! What the fuck is that thing?! Those are the grossest fucking things I’ve ever seen in my life!”
And he’s eaten haggis.
My Hero
That “old Arab,” Helen Thomas
I’ve always revered Helen Thomas, and today I dig her a little bit more (via WTF Is It Now??):
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is on book tour.Love her.
Howard Kurtz writes: "Fleischer's book, 'Taking Heat,' is out today, and while his style isn't to smack people around, he is the first Bush administration insider to offer a sustained indictment of the media. White House correspondents, he says, are mostly liberal. Mostly negative. Mostly opposed to tax cuts. Mostly unwilling to give his president a break. Mostly interested in whipping up conflict. . . .
[…]
In the book, Fleischer criticizes Hearst columnist Helen Thomas for asking loaded questions. Here's what Thomas tells Kurtz:
"'The questions I asked should have been asked by 10 more reporters in the run-up to war, which proved that everything they said was not true.' She says Fleischer was not only a spokesman for the president but 'owed credibility to the American people. I'm sure he got mad at me. He had to defend what was indefensible, in my opinion.'"
