If you don't understand why it's funny,
the answer the is below the fold...
Original image via PZ.
Photo of the Day
If you don't understand why it's funny,
the answer the is below the fold...
Original image via PZ.
In Godlessness
By way of PSoTD, I end up at Irregular Times, which reports that "the Secular Coalition for America has revealed that in just one week, it will unveil the name of the first open 'non-theist' member of Congress in history," who has agreed to be identified and may "come out" at a press conference. Seriously? That would be nutz!
Meanwhile, Dan Savage finds a fun tidbit: "An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including 'In God We Trust,' and made it past inspectors and into circulation, the U.S. Mint said today." Oh lawdy—the end is near!
Hey—did you know that atheists are the reason crime is rampant? They so are. Why just…15 years ago, I got a speeding ticket.
Why?
Why? was the first word that came to mind when I first started seeing advertisements for Bravo's reality series The Real Housewives of Orange County. What could possibly be the purpose of this show? The thing is, I don't like to form opinions about shows I haven't seen, especially based on just the marketing, which is often deliberately misleading. A good case in point is Beauty and the Geek, which is more purposeful and sweet than one might expect—which I never would have known (or suspected) if I hadn't tuned into an episode. It's not exactly noble, but we can probably safely leave it off the list of signs of the apocalypse.
So, okay, I finally gave The Real Housewives of Orange County a chance. And, within 15 seconds, I wanted to gouge out my eyes. Between one ninny, who evidently went to the George W. Bush School for Talking Good, going on about "reindependisizing" herself, and another ninny, who maybe needs to reindependisize herself, waxing political about being a Republican because her parents were and now her husband is, I honestly began to wonder if the show had been conceived as a weapon against feminists, in the hopes it would just make our heads explode.
The women on this show could not be more cartoonish, which one might credit to editing, except for the fact that the Housewives are back for a second season, clearly pleased with the results of the first. They—and their various men—enthuse about not having to be nice, because they're rich, and sigh about how easy is it to forget about all the things about which "the rest of the world" has to worry. Honey, thought I, last time I checked, Orange County was still on the globe, and a global climate crisis won't skip your house because it's got a six-car garage.
The depth of vapidity and avarice are enough to make me weep, as is the sickening realization that we're meant to hate these women. The Housewives sort of seem to know that, too, but they're too silly to realize we don't hate with envy, but disdain. Don't hate me because I'm rich and beautiful and fabulous, they seem to say—and all I can think is, "Okay. How about I hate you because you're a hopeless, facile, gluttonous imbecile?" And, you know, I really don't actually want to hate people I don't even know, especially cardboard cutouts of women who quite likely feel immeasurably worse about themselves than I do, even in spite of their being closer to the arbitrary lifestyle and beauty ideals that are supposed to make us happy than I could ever hope to be.
The Real Housewives betrays the illusion of those promises—which I suppose could be an answer to my Why?, although I can't imagine anyone who hadn't yet twigged that the American Dream is so much glistening, gossamer codswallop would find enlightenment in the O.C.
Someone out there is being entertained, apparently, but I couldn't count myself among them. It's all too sad, too infuriating, too pitiful, too American. Not authentic America, the America of diversity, and struggle, and humor, and pain—it's not American enough that way—but apathetic, voracious, materialistic, consumerist, privileged America; the America of Grover Norquist's dreams and my nightmares. I get enough of that shit reading the news and the latest social Darwinist machinations of the rightwing; I don't need it or want it in my escapist pursuits. So after I gave The Real Housewives a fair shake, I put on The Big Lebowski for the ten millionth time. Because, ya know, the Dude abides.
[The image above, perfectly capturing the hierarchy of the Housewives, is from Pretty on the Outside—a blog showcasing the original art of David Gilmore, who critiques our celebrity culture and obsession with vanity. I know there are a bunch of Shakers who dig Gallery of the Absurd, and if you like 14's work, you'll like DG's.]
Oh, Pardon Me
Ahem.
Libby requests a new trial. No one is surprised.
The request for a new trial is the first move in Libby's uncertain future. He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced June 5, but his federal sentencing guidelines are much lower. His lawyers promised to ask for a new trial and said they'll ask that Libby remain free while any appeals are fought.But of course.
Meanwhile, I am amused by this:
Libby had better get started making that moonshine.Press secretary Tony Snow brushed off questions about whether Bush would entertain a pardon for Libby, saying the case remains under legal review. Snow also said Cheney's stature within the administration has not changed or waned as a result of the verdict.
"All of this conversation, speculation about a pardon, I know, makes for interesting speculation, but it's just that," Snow said. "Right now, Scooter Libby and his attorneys have made clear that they're going to try to get a retrial and if they don't get that, they're going to get an appeal."
Snow said Bush is not necessarily stingy, but "careful" about giving out pardons. "These are not things to be treated blithely," Snow said, stressing that Bush takes the pardon process very seriously. "He wants to make sure that anybody who receives one — that it's warranted, but I would caution against any speculation in this case," Snow said.
Gay Bashing Update
I blogged back in January about a group of Yale Chorus members that were attacked by a group of gay-bashing thugs after leaving a party where they had performed. Finally, charges are being filed:
(San Francisco, California) San Francisco police have issued arrest warrants for two men accused of a New Year's Eve attack on members of an all-male a capella group from Yale University.Only two of the attackers are being charged, as the men attacked had difficulty identifying their attackers. Not surprising, when you're jumped by a gang of them.
Richard Aicardi and Brian Dwyer were charged with assaulting two members of the Baker's Dozen outside a party held in honor of the 16 student singers. Witnesses at the time said the trouble started after the vocalists, wearing sports jackets and ties, sang "The Star Spangled Banner."
Evan Gogel, one of the two most seriously injured chorus members, suffered a concussion when Aicardi, Dwyer and others repeatedly kicked him while he was on the ground, police said. Aicardi also was charged with punching Baker's Dozen member William Bailey as he tried to get away.
"This was a cowardly attack on defenseless victims," District Attorney Kamala Harris said in a statement. "We are going to hold accountable those who have been identified as responsible."
Aicardi was charged with two counts of felony assault by means of force and one count of battery, charges that carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison. Dwyer, who was charged with one count of assault and one count of battery, faces a maximum prison sentence of seven years, if convicted, according to Harris.
And people wonder why we get so upset when media personalities throw around homophobic slurs, then dismiss them as "jokes."
(Energy Dome tip to Pam.)
In Which I Write Letters
Dear NAACP,
Why, pray tell, are you giving an Image Award to Isaiah Washington, immediately after he famously launched a nasty, homophobic epithet at one of his co-workers?
I know it was an award for acting, not for being a stand-up guy, except the awards are ostensibly to "celebrate diversity in the arts," so it's nevertheless painful and disappointing to watch the award be given to someone who himself clearly doesn't celebrate said diversity. I wouldn't have guessed that hatred of gays was the sort of image your Image Awards hoped to project.
What were you thinking?
Sincerely,
Shakespeare's Sister
--------------------------------
Dear Isaiah Washington,
Congratulations on your Image Award. I understand from your acceptance speech that it's the second one you've won.
"The first time I was up here I felt deserving of something. This time I feel privileged."Privileged. That's an interesting word choice, Mr. Washington—because, in fact you are privileged. You're privileged with the undeserved advantage conferred upon straight people, just like I am. And also just like me, you've got membership in privileged groups while simultaneously being a member of a non-privileged group. You're straight and male…and brown. I'm straight and white…and female.
Being brown, like being female, and being gay, puts a person at a disadvantage in our society, as I'm sure you know—and, if not, perhaps you could talk to some of the people from that organization who gave you that nice award. From that (disad)vantage point, we have choices. We can choose to unite against those who would oppress us all, or we can snipe at each other in pathetic, desperate, and ultimately futile attempts to ingratiate ourselves with our oppressors via the sycophancy of imitation.
Mr. Washington, whaddaya say? Let's get united. Demeaning others will only, in the end, strengthen those who would do the same to you, and me, and the man who was the victim of your bigotry. We'll all be stronger if you give up the easy self-flattery of trading on your privilege.
Best regards,
Shakespeare's Sister
P.S. H/T to Oddjob.
Axis of Evil, Part Deux
A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.Why do 27 countries hate America?
It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.
The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.
Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.
'Traditional divides'
In January, the BBC World Service revealed polling results that suggested most people think the US has a mainly negative influence in the world - and that the numbers had increased significantly in the last couple of years.
This latest GlobeScan survey, mostly of the same people, confirms those findings.
But it also suggests that two countries are viewed even more negatively - first Israel, and then Iran.
North Korea is just behind the US.
(Energy Dome tip to Chet, who's #1!)
More Geography-a-Go-Go
Following on the heels of "How many US states can you name in 10 minutes?" is "How many UN Member States can you name in 10 minuites?" Click here.
I got 118 and left 74.
These are the ones I left: Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Djibouti, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Namibia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Okay, some of them I have no excuse for forgetting. Some of them I've never heard of (Djibouti?!—I need more time with the Atlas, I guess). I might have gotten a couple more if I had more time, but I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out precise names (just "Netherlands" but "The Bahamas") and trying to remember how in blazes to spell Azerbaijan.
The Award So Nice, He Won it Twice
Michael Savage obviously has a secret hidden agenda to drive this blog of the intertubes, by bankrupting us. How can we possibly afford all of these solid gold "Big Boo-Hoo Awards?"
For those of you that missed Savage's tantrum, I invite you to take a look at this post. Well, Savage wasn't done whining over this, not by a long shot. It's time to break out the big guns; known fondly to the rest of the world as the pointless, threatening email! Dun, dun dunnnnnn!
Stop that. Stop rolling all over the floor, laughing. You'll ruin those nice slacks. We just bought those slacks; those are your good slacks! My goodness, we can't have nice things.On March 5, Media Matters for America received the following email from radio host Michael Savage:
From: ****************@aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 5:55 PM
To: *******@mediamatters.org
Cc: *****@****.com
Subject: Re: Savage continued attacks on Etheridge & HollywoodIf you ever harass me again I will have you prosecuted under California's anti-stalking legislation. This indicates malice and intent to harm on the part of media matters.
Remember how I mentioned that Savage would let fly with an insane, spittle-flecked rant? Apparently he was just building up to it.
On the March 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, which aired at 6 p.m. ET, five minutes after the email was sent, Savage lashed out at "[t]hose scum-sucking vermin. Those left-wing rats" who he claimed "won't be happy until we're all on prayer rugs waiting to have our heads cut off." He continued: "You ought to be happy, you liberal SOBs, that I am only a talk-show host. You ought to thank God that I have no avariciousness in my soul. You ought to thank God that I'm not power mad like you liberals, because if I ever ran for office, I can guarantee you, you wouldn't be in business too long. I can guarantee you you'd be arrested for sedition within six months of my taking power. I'd have you people licking lead paint, what you did to this country."Wow.
So. Let's review, shall we? Media Matters reporting Savage's own words = Stalking and harassment.
Savage, flinging insults and threats, and throwing on-air temper tantrums = Being a talk-show host.
It's all yours, Mike. Hang 'em above the fireplace!Oh, and by the way:
On Savage's website, there is a poll that asks, "Should Michael Savage Run for the Presidency?" According to the site, there are more than 2.8 million "yes" votes. Savage has said that once he reaches 5 million, he will make a decision on whether or not to run.Please do. We all need the laughs.
Libby, Libby, Libby has been Labeled, Labeled, Labeled
In spite of the verdict, and going hand in hand with the predictable, yet bewildering conservative reaction, I've really got to agree with August on this one.
I can't see him spending a single day in prison. There will be enough nonsense flying around to keep him out of a box until Bush manages to throw him a pardon. I'm just assuming he'll avoid the Ken Lay tactic of staying out of jail.
(No, I don't really think Lay died as a way of escaping prison.)
Me-too Dems throw a whine and jeez party
I should probably have more sympathy for these guys than I do. But the run to the White House is a hard row to hoe.
At a recent house party in the early voting state of New Hampshire, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Chris Dodd became exasperated as he talked about being overshadowed by front-running Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama."At one point, if I'd stood here with 25 years experience in the U.S. Senate, that would have been the end of it," Dodd said. The presidency, he added, was no place for "on-the-job training."
Another Democratic hopeful, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, was similarly frustrated campaigning in Iowa last week. Iowans, he said, "resent that the media has created a myth that two candidates are the only serious ones."
The experience argument isn't one to be dismissed, and one can understand the frustration over seeing the limelight focus on the relative neophytes: Clinton, Obama, and (to a lesser extent) John Edwards. But if running on one's resume was all it took to win the White House, we'd be well into the second term of the Al Gore administration, or the first term of John Kerry's.
Advice to the underdogs: hammer the issues, not the c.v.
Prepare to say goodbye to one or two of the second-tier guys come the middle of April, when it becomes clear who's got the cash necessary to attract...well, still more cash.
(Cross-posted.)
Pity Party
Oh. Mah. Gawd. This piece by Matt Yglesias about the GOP's search for a viable presidential nominee is hilarious. By the time he declared that McCain's website "makes it look like he's campaigning for Führer" (totally), I was in stitches.
Knowing the GOP, and fearing that some heinous wingnut will sweep in from right field as the second coming of George Bush, I figure we'd better laugh now while we've got the chance.
Leading the Way (One Hopes)
Good on John Edwards for skipping out on the Nevada Democratic debate which is, insanely and inexplicably, being hosted and aired by Fox News. I wish the rest of the candidates would follow suit, because it's nutz to reward that backwater of journalistic sewage for continual bad behavior.
Background and petition at MyDD.
BFF: Ann Coulter and Rod Majors
LYLAS!
Joe. My. God., with a little biographical background on Cpl. Matt Sanchez, a third-year Columbia University student and USMC reservist who has been making a name for himself on the right-wing circuit and was recently honored at the CPAC where his BFF Coulter called John Edwards a faggot:
Now, if you're like me, you might think, "Hmm, 36 years old and he's a junior in college and only a corporal in the Marines?" Odd, but not totally implausible. But Sanchez' face tinkled a few gay bells out there in fairyland, and last night I began to get emails letting me know that his rather late appearance on the Ivy League scene was because Sanchez has had a lengthy career in gay porn, working under the names Rod Majors and Pierre LaBranche, starring in such art films as Jawbreaker, Donkey Dick, and Glory Holes Of Fame 3, where his "11-inch uncut monster cock" earned him a devoted following.Sanchez shares a lot in common with Jeff Gannon: he's an escort, too! More on Dirty Sanchez from Tom Bacchus (NSFW) and from Andy Towle—who briefly dated Sanchez pre-porn. Hot!
Now, porn stars are entitled to enter the miliary, although Sanchez obviously had to do it on the downlow. Porn stars are entitled to have a right-wing ideology, even though the very people he supports would love to see gay porn stars strung up by the nuts. (Wait, have I seen that movie?) But, Oh.The.Irony. of Sanchez appearing with Bill O'Reilly who only a couple of days [ago] went apoplectic over San Francisco's "Colt Studio Day." And OH, the irony of Ann "Faggot" Coulter happily posing with Sanchez for a photo-op. The right-wing has gobbled this porn hunk up with a spoon, never knowing that tons of men have gobbled up his monster cock ON FILM.
Seriously, can anyone think of anything more hilarious than a Conservative Political Action Conference that has Ann Coulter calling a Democratic presidential contender a faggot and a gay porn star/escort being feted? Oh—and here's the most awesome part: The Republican presidential contender (Romney) who introduced Coulter has been running away from his gay rights record. Meanwhile, the Democratic presidential contender (Edwards) supports the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, which would have allowed the celebrated soldier to serve openly in the military—and then his background wouldn't have bitten his new conservative friends in their collective butt, because they never would have associated with an openly gay soldier in the first place, which makes their presumably unwitting association with a gay porn star and escort (for the second time!) all the more bloody delightful.
Brilliant stuff. Truly.
Question of the Day
What movie scenes always make you cry?
(For those of you who don't cry at movies, scenes that would make you cry, if you did, will suffice.)
I am an easy weeper, although there are certain things that "get me" more than others. Anything about a kid who feels unloved or unaccepted—forget it; I'm done. Anything about someone who takes an interest in struggling kids and tries to inspire them—forget it; I sobbed right through Gridiron Gang, and I only wish I were joking.
But there's one scene in one film that makes me sob, and it's the scene in The Piano in which Alisdair cuts off Ada's finger as punishment for sending the engraved piano key to George. Ada (Holly Hunter) pulls her bleeding hand to her chest and sort of slumps to one side, her skirt billowing around her. Silently, she rocks forward with this almost unwatchable expression of utter disbelief on her face. Anyone who's been profoundly hurt by someone whom they trusted knows that look, feels it. And it makes me cry, every time I see it.
[We originally did this question back in October of 2005 (I can't believe it was that long ago), and it quickly became by far the most popular QotD, and one of the most widely linked posts, at Shakes to that point—which was oddly touching; it's somehow reassuring to know that so many people like to talk about being moved.]
Hey, Ya'll
Seriously, who GIVES A SHIT about whether Hillary affected a southern drawl when she's reading a hymn?!
I really don't care if a candidate speaks with a Klingon accent if what they're saying is worth listening to, and neither should anyone else who actually cares about not lowering even further quality of our public discourse.
Which, naturally, excludes professional pearl-cluther High Drudgeon, since dragging us all into the muck is how he puts food on his family or wev. But still. This seems pathetic even for him.
[Steve seems to agree. "Better smears, please" indeed!]
The F-Word
Sully's got a good post on the latest Coulter kerfuffle, rightly pointing out that "faggot" only works as a slur if one accepts "the premise that gay men are weak, effeminate, wusses, sissies, and the rest." In fact, it's an excellent post, until the last line, in which Sully says, "As members of other minorities have been forced to say in the past: I am not a faggot. I am a man."
That's a play on "I am not a boy. I am a man," which refers to, as Sully references, "white men [calling] African-American men 'boys'." The thing is, reappropriating it as I am not a faggot. I am a man. doesn't work quite as well.
Boy v. Man is the denial of whole adult personhood, belittlement via maturity and gravitas. It's much more poignantly and pointedly offensive but is nonetheless akin to the whole idea that antiwar folks aren't "serious" enough to sit at the adult table, and is distantly related to Bill Donohue attempting to diminish Amanda and me by calling us "brats." Boy foremost impugns the very notions of equal personhood, and impugns masculinity second-hand—and only then because we conflate masculinity with seriousness.
Faggot v. Man, however, impugns masculinity directly—and, like Coulter's slur itself, it only works if one accepts "the premise that gay men are weak, effeminate, wusses, sissies, and the rest." It's deeply unfortunate that after Sully passionately breaks down why Coulter's slur is such bullshit, he only reinforces that bullshit at the end, by feeling obliged to say, "I am not a faggot. I am a man." It's not personhood he's asserting, but manhood—defined quite deliberately in contradistinction to faggotry and femininity.
More's the pity, from my perspective, that he thusly also reinforces the misogynist smear-by-association implicit in demeaning men by calling them "faggots," based on the understanding of "faggot" as feminine, and hence, less than.
After making so beautifully plain that "there is nothing wrong with effeminacy or effeminate gay men," that "gay men whose effeminacy may not make them able to pass as straight" are in fact courageous and tough, and that "gay men are not all effeminate," it would have been brilliant to see Sully instead say: "Yeah, I'm a faggot. What of it?"
----------------
Related: Chet finds more examples of "how difficult it can be to keep right-wing frames from taking over."
Also: Tom Watson just finds a party of bigots.
Halliburty Fun
Cernig: Halliburton In Iran Despite Sanctions
NBC's Investigative Unit has video of a Halliburton drilling operation with Halliburton logos everywhere - but it's in Iran, where the company gained a contract in January to drill in the massive Pars gas field.More at Cernig's place.
I would say this is unfuckingbelievable, but, of course, it isn't.
