Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Lott of Honesty
Matthews: I think [Vice President] Cheney had his thumb on the scale, do you agree? That they were pushing this war so hard, they were working to look at any evidence that backed the war and ignore any evidence that didn’t back the war.Paul Kiel: "Does anybody else find this to be a stunning admission from the Republicans' #2 in the Senate?" Yes.
Lott: They were pushing the evidence that justified going to the war, a lot of us, Republicans and Democrats, were concerned about what we were told, and we bought the packet.
The content, of course, isn't stunning at all—but the admission certainly is.
(Thanks to Cookie Jill for passing that along.)
Friday Blogrollin'
Engulfed Cathedral
Geeky Mom
The Gimp Parade
The Guns of Auguste
Petulant Rumblings
If your blog should be on Ye Olde Blogroll, let me know in comments. If I've said I'll add you, but haven't, just remind me. I've got a mind like a steel sieve.
Ooh, Big Bad Tough Guys
The Beefeaters are all bent out of shape because a woman's going to be joining their crew at the Tower of London for the first time this year.
While chomping on sirloin, wearing funny outfits and guarding the Crown Jewels, the Yeoman Warders have proudly maintained their tradition as one of the last preserves of masculinity."Preserves of masculinity" = Woman-Free Zones. Because, you know, masculinity can only be defined in contradistinction to, or in a total void of, the feminine.
This year, however, an unwelcome wind of change will blow through the Tower of London after the decision to appoint the first female Beefeater in history."Tradition" = Undeserved Privilege. "Political Correctness" = Equality.
…Staff at the Tower revealed yesterday that the woman's impending arrival has caused deep dissatisfaction and there are mutterings about sacrificing tradition on the altar of political correctness.
One member of staff, who wished to remain unnamed for fear of losing his position, said: "It's ruffled more than few feathers. The guards aren't happy that a woman will join them. There was uproar when she was first interviewed a few months ago.""Fear of losing his position" = Fear of being ridiculed by misogynist bullies for not being one himself.
Though Beefeaters on duty declined to comment directly on the appointment yesterday, many pointedly refused to welcome the news.And will no doubt be absolute assholes to their new female colleague, who was chosen "because she was 'simply the best candidate'," when she arrives.
This has to be one of the most obvious examples of how absurd virulent misogyny really is. The Beefeaters fancy themselves the quintessence of toughness and strength and brawny hetero manliness. But threaten to put a woman in their midst as their equal, and all hell breaks loose. They behave like weak, petulant, intimidated wimps whose very ability to do their job is threatened by putting them in such close proximity to estrogen. Apparently, they can defend the Crown Jewels against an onslaught of marauding Picts or some shit, but can't handle a single woman.
Ooh, impressive.
(Thanks Oddjob.)
Shocking
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know all that much about this story. (But hey, when has a blogger ever let that stop them from yapping about it?) Here's the quick & dirty version:
NEW YORK The Associated Press has just sent E&P the following dispatch from Baghdad, as it was about to be distributed on its wire. The existence of Jamil Hussein had been hotly disputed by conservative bloggers, some Iraqi officials and the U.S. military in recent weeks.Basically, conservative bloggers were climbing all over the AP like lice on a monkey, more or less accusing them of journalistic fraud. Well, guess what, friends and neighbors?
BAGHDAD (AP) -- The Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S. military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now faces arrest for speaking to the media.In case you're wondering, the biggest mouth leading this pack of yapping attack poodles was your friend and mine, Michelle Malkin.
But here's the shocking bit. The amazing, OMG no way!, you've-got-to-be-kidding-me bit.
Malkin and her ilk are refusing to admit they were wrong, or apologize.
Oh my goodness! I do believe I have the vapors! Be a treasure and bring me a mint julep on the fainting couch!
Snark aside, this is just obnoxious and dangerous; it shows how these foaming wingnuts will say anything and do anything, facts be damned, as long as it gets them a pound of flesh. Must... prove... Bush was right!!
In the meantime, an Iraqi police officer has been arrested because Malkin and her slavering followers couldn't keep their goddamn mouths shut. David Neiwart says:
In other words, Malkin and her friends have successfully criminalized the flow of any information outside of official Iraqi channels.For people that claim to "support" the war in Iraq, they sure seem hellbent to make everything worse.
Nice going, gang. I'm sure the reporters on the ground in Baghdad will thank you for that.
More, of course, by David Neiwart, Sadly, No!, Crooks & Liars, and Greenwald. (Update: Tbogg, too.) (More Update: More at the All Spin Zone.)
Roxanne, pointing to this story, wins the prize for Picture of the Year.
**Warning** Once you see it, you can't un-see it.
(By the way, Malkin's upcoming trip to Iraq was for the stated purpose of finding Jamil Hussein. Think she'll still be going?)
Class Act
"No back rubs." — President Bush, after a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, referring to this:
RIP Jasmine
Lovely girl. Deepest condolences from Matilda and Olivia and me to the Father of Catblogging.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
I think their "spaceship" was the model for Ace & Gary's.
Question of the Day
Fill in the blank: When the fuck is ___________ going to win an Oscar?
I say: Don Cheadle.
[No need to tell me how irrelevant the Oscars are. I know. It's really just a device to talk about underrated actors, k?]
Goode Times
TPMCafe: "It looks as if Virgil Goode's attack on Rep. Keith Ellion's use of the Koran for his swearing in hasn't gone over well with at least one of his constituents: Goode's district office in Charlottesville, Virginia, was vandalized. A local paper called The Hook reports that his office window sported a curious new addition: The word BIGOT stenciled on it in gold paint. Interestingly, the word was very carefully stencilled on, just under his name and title and in a similar shade of gold, so as to make the word BIGOT look almost like an official part of his job description. Asked by the paper if it might be a reaction to his anti-Muslim comments, a Goode spokesperson declined to comment."
(Thanks to Shayera for the heads-up.)
Pop Quiz
Does this video most remind you of:
A) The earliest bits of your childhood when learning was somehow both
immeasurably simpler and more complex, as you fumbled through your
discovery of things that you now can't imagine were ever a mystery?
or
B) The Bush administration trying to formulate the latest version of its
Iraq policy, fumbling through their discovery of things that only idiot
neocons and pants-pissing war hawks could have considered a mystery?
More to Rehnquist than met the eye, apparently
Really, he does look a bit like Uncle Duke, doesn't he?
Regarding the recently released FBI file on former Chief Justice William Rehnquist: We should be gravely concerned about the possibility that a federal law enforcement entity was used for such blatantly political ends as the investigation and possible intimidation of witness opposed to the nomination of a Supreme Court justice...just as we hardly surprised that once-UN ambassador and political hatchet man John Bolton may have played a willing role.
As if that wasn't enough, the file also conjures the startling image of a thoroughly unbalanced Rehnquist withdrawing from painkillers, trying to escape a hospital, running around in pajamas and ranting wildly of being a target of the CIA. It sounds like an excerpt from the work of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (whom Rehnquist somewhat resembled, come to think of it).
With material like that having been released, it makes you wonder at what hasn't been cleared to public viewing:
In one previously secret memo from 1971, an FBI official wrote, "No persons interviewed during our current or 1969 investigation furnished information bearing adversely on Rehnquist's morals or professional integrity; however ..." The next third of the page is blacked out, under the disclosure law's exception for matters of national security.
National security? This file is over thirty years old. There can be no rationale for the redaction of any of this information. In the light of possible strong-arm tactics intended to protect the Rehnquist nomination, the entirety of the file must be disclosed.
(Cross-posted here and there.)In Which She Makes History
Watch Pelosi officially accept the gavel here. Evan says he got misty watching it—so did I. Thank keerist there was that shot of Denny flopping his big hamhock hands together with all the enthusiasm of a teenager at Family Bowling Night to help me recover my wits.
You can also watch her get the official win here.
Keith Ellison Rocks
Not only was his gutpunch to Virgil Goode a thing of beauty, he continues to frustrate Republicans by not eating babies and blowing up National monuments; he's *gasp* a decent human being!
Behold: Video of Keith Ellison approaching Virgil Goode to shake his hand. I'm dying that I can't hear what they're saying.
Not pictured in video: Goode immediately using antibacterial hand sanitizer.
Transforming Television
Cool: "Candis Cayne, a trans actress, will take on the portrayal of a trans character on CSI: NY beginning January 24th."
Cue Mr. Shakes: "The liberal's greatest weapon, pop culture, remains sharp and potent... Until conservatives develop a sense of humor, we will continue to have an advantage in this area." Snap.
Exhibit A
Why is the discussion below so important?
Because people probably clipped out this cartoon and put it on their refrigerators. Or sent it to their daughters. Or laughed and said "damn right."
(This cartoon is from the Professional Cartoonist's Index 2006 Year in Review. Just to make it a little more clear, this cartoon was published around the time the whole "Plan B" pill controversy was swirling around, hence the "Plan A, Plan B" bit in the cartoon.)
CNN tries "teh funny"
Here is their headline for a story about Nancy Pelosi becoming the first-ever Speaker today:
First female speaker ready to grasp the gavel
Thoughts?
Amusing? Intentionally disrespectful? Clever double entendre regarding the glass ceiling phenomenon the article talked about? More evidence of CNN's total jackassery?
Take My Cunt, Please
AlterNet has a round-up of responses to the latest blame-the-victim article much-discussed yesterday in the femisphere. Mike the Mad Biologist also weighs in with Hemlines Don't Rape People, Rapists Do. Naturally, the immediate comments in both places were of the "compare women being raped with men getting mugged" variety. This was my favorite:
I think a lot of what is be considered "blaming the victim" in the feminist world is really just pointing out the obvious: that the behavior that leads up to it is sometimes flat out stupid and irresponsible. In an abstract moral sense, a woman certainly should be able to do whatever she wants, including getting drunk in the early morning hours and walking around inebriated in the streets of Boston and New York. And also in an abstract moral sense, I should be able to walk around those same places in the middle of the night with a $500 watch and $50 bills hanging out of every pocket. The thing is, if I do that, I'm a fucking idiot. And no one would hesitate to tell me.To which I responded: "It's always so charming to see the wanton and unwanted abuse of my body compared to property theft. Honestly, I can't even begin to tell you how much you don't get it if you can construe a woman walking alone and inebriated with a man walking alone with valuables hanging out of his pocket. If you want an honest comparison, here's one: And also in an abstract moral sense, I should be able to walk around those same places in the middle of the night and not expect to have someone incapacitate me and cut my dick off. The reason that doesn't leap to your mind is because men's bodies aren't considered community property for the taking as soon as they get drunk, like women's bodies. Or visible $50 bills."
That defenders of the "rape aversion advice rooted in women's behavior restriction" inevitably rely on the "guy getting mugged" comparison tells us two things. One: It shows how deeply ingrained the notion of women's bodies as property is. Comparing a woman's genitals to a $50 bill visibly dangling out of a man's pocket is laughable in both practical and intrinsic ways, and yet such associations are routinely cited with not a hint of awareness at their patent absurdity. Two: It illustrates how far removed men are from the real threat of rape. Invoking a mugging is evidently the closest thing many men can imagine to being forcibly subjected to an assault on one's sex organs, which has got to be a lovely world in which to live.
Apparently it doesn't occur to the conjurers of the "guy getting mugged" comparison that women generally try to avoid being mugged, too, and thusly might also be credited with concurrently trying to avoid being raped. Why on earth would they engage in high-risk behavior like walking home alone while inebriated then? one might ask, presuming, as are we all expected to do, that walking home alone while inebriated is, in fact, a high-risk behavior. Yet, considering that lots and lots of men and women go home alone after a few drinks every single night all across America, and the vast majority of them are not the victims of any type of crime, it seems to me that it should be properly considered a low-risk behavior. That, however, is ever a most scandalous thing to suggest, undermining as it does the ability to accuse women of engaging in high-risk behavior when they have the unmitigated temerity of doing something people do all the time without getting victimized.
Worse yet, someone might actually notice that women are three times more likely to be raped by someone they know than a stranger, and nine times more likely to be raped in their home, the home of someone they know, or anywhere else than being raped on the street. We might be forced to start talking about this stuff in a place vaguely resembling reality, instead of inside the shared delusion that the biggest problems for women are their own silly behaviors and crazed strangers.
Also: The Rape of Mr. Smith.
