If this video isn't viral yet, I imagine it will be in short order. Enjoy!
10,001
Technically, with the other posts at the WordPress blog, we passed 10,000 awhile ago, I guess. But still. Cool.
Thanks to Space Cowboy for noticing. Rock on, Shakers!
Recommended Reading
Stephen @ The Thinkery:
[I]t doesn't help for people to be surprised that a particular person is depressed, or bipolar, or suicidal. On the surface it seems like a compliment, and surely that's how people always intend it to be. But to have everyone express shock and wonder that you've got a mental illness only serves to increase your sense of alienation. That it was my wife who first spoke of depression to me, who insisted that I seek help has been an immense comfort to me, because it showed that she knew me, the real me, and knew there was a problem, and she cared enough to want to fix it.Go read the whole thing.
Zuh?
Shaker LarkOhio just emailed this to me, which I'm sharing with her permission:
Last night I was talking to a young man who works with me at my night job. On Sunday he told me he was going to go talk to the National Guard recruiter, as he was thinking of joining. Last night, he told me that they had turned him down because he has a felony on his record. He said the recruiter told him that before the election last fall, they would have taken him, but because the Democrats won the election, we might be pulling out of Iraq. Therefore, word has come down to no longer accept felons.No word on whether they told him, "But hey—come on back if we start bombing Iran!"
I don't even know what to say anymore.
We Wants Another War
So we raises the specter of a nuclear holocaust, Precious:
Bush branded [Iran] "the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism," citing its backing of Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Shiite fighters killing US troops in Iraq.What—no mushroom cloud?
"And Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust," he told the American Legion veterans group.
Meanwhile, a new analysis written by British scholar and arms expert Dr. Dan Plesch, Director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, and Martin Butcher, a former Director of the British American Security Information Council (BASIC) and former adviser to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, asserts that the US "has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch without warning a massive assault on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, as well as government buildings and infrastructure, using long-range bombers and missiles."
Superb.
[Thanks to Constant Comment for the second link.]
I Got Mine
Drum, firing off a spicy little morning rant against an editorial in the LA Times in which its author, L.J. Williamson, whines about part-time cafeteria workers in Los Angeles schools who have the temerity to want the district to provide them with healthcare benefits, says he would "happily pay for universal healthcare just so I never had to read an op-ed like this again."
It's not that Williamson doesn't have a point, it's just that this beggar-thy-neighbor attitude is enough to make me retch, and I see it all the time. I don't get dental coverage, so why should grocery workers? My copay went up last year, so why shouldn't everyone else's? I don't pay for healthcare for my housecleaners, so why should I pay it for school cafeteria workers? Our wretched private healthcare system has turned us into a nation of spiteful and small-minded misanthropes.Spot fucking on. But instead, we see workers turning their ire on one another, with the despicable underlying attitude that "everyone else only deserve as much as I've got and no more." We see workers who would rather see other people denied a benefit they don't have than see as many benefits extended to as many people as possible.
…[T]heir annoyance would be better directed … at the mahogany row executives and conservative politicians who pretend that the only possible use for the mountains of cash generated by decades of economic growth is to give it all to mahogany row executives and the billionaires who contribute to conservative politicians.
And, worse yet, we constantly hear Social Darwinists with great benefits pontificating about how workers in crap jobs with crap benefits are only getting what they deserve—and if they want better, they should work harder. Because it's just oh-so-easy to say that people deserve what they get once "I got mine." And once "I got mine," then it becomes all about protecting "me and mine"—and oh what an extraordinary capacity the Social Darwinists have for suffering all manner of indignity being imposed upon others to preserve themselves.
Sending other people to fight and possibly die in a war of choice is fine. Wiretapping other people without a warrant is fine. Holding other people indefinitely without access to an attorney or due process is fine. Torturing other people is fine. Maligning other people for dissent is fine. Cutting federal funding for programs that benefit other people is fine. Rewarding corporations for moving jobs filled by other people offshore is fine. Using other people as a wedge issue is fine. Denying bodily autonomy to other people is fine. Disenfranchising other voters is fine. Destroying the environment for other generations is fine. Letting the infrastructure rot in other places is fine. It's all just fine and fucking dandy as long as it's not being done to me and mine, and you tell me it's keeping me and mine safe.
What generous souls, to sacrifice the rest of us for their zero-sum American Dream, in which one's success is contingent upon others failing—or, at minimum, having less. But who cares about those losers? I got mine.
The Future's so Blight, You Gotta Pull the Shades
Mosquitoes, vandals, and squatters—oh my!
Houses abandoned to foreclosure are beginning to breed trouble, adding neighbors to the growing ranks of victims.Ominous. The fun part is that now you not only get to worry about your ability to keep up with your own mortgage, but also about your neighbors' ability to keep up with theirs, lest they foreclose and their property fall to shit, undermining your equity! Wheeeeeee!
Stagnant swimming pools spawn mosquitoes, which can carry the potentially deadly West Nile virus. Empty rooms lure squatters and vandals. And brown lawns and dead vegetation are creating eyesores in well-tended neighborhoods.
…More than 100 houses a day are being foreclosed on in Southern California, up from 13 a day last year. That's still a relative handful for such a populous area, but even the optimists predict that the problem will soon get much worse.
If the foreclosure trend continues on its current pace, experts warn, communities will need to act decisively to avoid blight.
"We know it's coming," said Tina Hess, the assistant Los Angeles city attorney who handles housing enforcement and problem properties.
Of course that's always a concern with a home ownership, but the more foreclosures there are, the more reason there is for genuine concern. The last thing anyone wants to be is the owner of a home with two vacant properties on either side.
[H/T Atrios.]
Question of the Day
Another one suggested by Mama Shakes, who always manages to come up with great QotDs: What was your "age of awakening"—when you discovered Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy/other childhood icon wasn't real?
I remember clear as a bell the exact moment of my awakening. It was Christmas Eve 1977, so I was three and a half years old. I'm fairly certain I rarely, if ever, got out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or ask for something, but, for some reason, that night I woke up and decided I needed a glass of water. So I walked out into the living room and saw my parents putting together a spring horse for me.
I still remember how they froze like deer in the headlights—Papa Shakes rockin' the 70s porkchop sideburns and Mama Shakes majorly pregnant and about to pop out my sister two weeks later. It's like a Polaroid picture jammed in my brain. They just stared at me while I took in the situation, and I can honestly still remember the realization that they were Santa Claus slowly washing over me—and just how it felt. I totally wasn't disappointed. I thought it was pretty cool that I'd figured the whole thing out, actually.
I also remember a subsequent "talk" Mama Shakes had with me to not tell the other kids at nursery school, lest I ruin Easter (and next Christmas) for them. Heh.
Recommended Reading
Digby at Campaign for America's Future with "Katrina: Slow As Molasses." Passed on by Shaker Pat.
Gray Rape is Bullshit, and Saying You Were Raped is Brave
There's no such thing as gray rape. Period.
1. Waking up "to find him sticking it in" after having said no "a bunch of times" is rape. It is not "fuck[ing] that guy you didn't really want to fuck." It is not "gray rape." It is rape, which is defined by a lack of consent.
2. It doesn't matter if the situation wherein a dude "sticks it in" without consent is "nonviolent" and/or "collegiate." Rape is not determined by the existence of force, but the nonexistence of consent.
3. "I remember that sexual experience a little more vividly than most of the consensual sexual experiences I've undergone in a similar state of intoxication, but neither sentiment makes it RAPE, does it?"—No, your lack of consent makes it rape.
4. "It's something, 'date rape' I guess, but it's not rape unless I say it was, right?"—Wrong. If you didn't give your consent, and especially if you said no "a bunch of times" and then fell asleep, then it was rape. And it really, really doesn't matter if you inform your rapist that you're not putting him on 'your list,' or if he kisses your ass the next day, or if you've "found that when a guy demeans you in a drunken state, it is more likely to stick with you and haunt you if you give anything resembling a shit about his opinion." You were still raped.
5. "And come to think about it, how gross do you have to be to fuck someone when it's, like, three Goldschlager body shots away from being necrophilia?"—Someone who does that isn't gross; someone who does that is a rapist.
All right. I'm done. I can't say anything I haven't said before about a thousand times, most relevantly here.
Except maybe this: I'm pissed that the woman who wrote the Jezebel piece has decided to go after feminists who are angry about the original "gray rape" piece in Cosmo, sniffing: "[I]f you're reading Cosmo for purposes other than to revel in its unique special brand of inanity you have bigger issues with your sexual identity than what to call that time you fucked that guy you didn't really want to fuck."
But I also feel profoundly sorry for her, because I've rarely seen an example of a woman so desperate to dissociate herself from the stigma of rape, so willing to engage in such pitiable semantic gymnastics to redefine a rape as something else, so clearly resolved to the notion that to admit victimization is to admit weakness.
And that's why this silly, contemptible feminist spends so much of her time blogging about sexual assault, saying over and over that to be a survivor of rape does not have to mean shame and brokenness and guilt, that it is brave, not weak, to say, plainly: "I was raped."
The GOP Tea Room Gets Another Member
Via Roll Call via TPM Election Central:
Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.The police report states:
Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.
Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.Sen. Craig has consistently voted against gay rights, including voting for the Federal Marriage Amendment. I guess he's just one of those guys who likes to play the field...
“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”
Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.
“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.
Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”
Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.
“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. ... Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”
In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig “either disagreed with me or ‘didn’t recall’ the events as they happened,” the report states.
Craig stated “that he has a wide stance when going to the bathroom and that his foot may have touched mine,” the report states. Craig also told the arresting officer that he reached down with his right hand to pick up a piece of paper that was on the floor.
“It should be noted that there was not a piece of paper on the bathroom floor, nor did Craig pick up a piece of paper,” the arresting officer said in the report.
Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.
Assvertising: My Uterus Ain't a Keg Edition
The first time I saw this ad, it was because Mr. Shakes had already seen it and made me watch it just because he wanted to see my reaction. The slack-jawed, knitted-browed, what-the-fuck face with which I was left gave him a good belly laugh: "I thought you'd like that," he chortled. "Fooking unbelievable, right?"
Um, yeah:
Today, Bob Garfield of AdAge, a self-proclaimed "one-man gland," calls the ad "arguably the most sexist beer commercial ever produced."
Bearing in mind the historical competition, which Garfield notes includes the Swedith Bikini Team among others, it really is fairly fucking amazing that "this spot from Berlin Cameron United, New York, finds an unprecedented new way to be a gender offender."
We shall explain this presently. First, a misogynistic joke:Indeed that was my reaction when I took in with horror this new spot, contemplating the "new woman" for the 21st century beer-drinking dude on the go: Brainless, heartless, and soulless, she has none of those pesky "thoughts" and "emotions" to complicate a relationship, and her reproductive system has been conveniently replaced with a keg, from which she'll dutifully dispense beer on demand with a pleasing smile on her ever-content and lovely face. Oh, and by the way, she can self-replicate to serve you and your pals, if you're feeling extra frisky or having a party.
The perfect woman: a mute nymphomaniac whose father owns a brewery.
We'd argue that this is almost a perfect punch line, at least in the crystalline purity with which it reduces women to sex objects with no redeeming quality save their capacity to keep your mug overflowing. Here's a variation:
The perfect woman: She's yay high with a flat head for you to rest your beer on.
Please note that "yay high" is accompanied by a gesture indicating waist level. Even more degrading, even more pure. Yet neither of those two jokes -- i.e., the gold standards of female objectification -- manages to trivialize the essence of femininity quite as egregiously as Heineken. And why don't they?
Because they don't portray a woman's uterus as a beer keg.
Heineken does.
Are we, one wonders, being not only hypocritical but hypercritical here? Are we reacting (excuse the expression) hysterically? Maybe. But we believe that Berlin Cameron United has essentially animated the "perfect woman" joke. Whether intentionally or out of pure animal instinct uncivilized by the most basic notion of respect, they have reduced half the world to a man-servicing beer tap.Sing it, brotha.
That isn't futuristic. It's retrograde.
And, once again, I'd like to note that what this ad says about men is rather despicable, too.
Bush Presser on Gonzo
Bush takes a moment to lay out all the reasons he loves Gonzo and any American with two brain cells still knocking together hates him, thanks him for his service, and whinges about the "months of unfair treatment" that the poor, lying shitbag has suffered at the hands of filthy partisans.
Also confirms Solicitor General Paul Clement will serve as acting Attorney General.
Thanks, Petulant. Transcript below.
Bush: This morning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he will leave the Department of Justice, after two and a half years of service to the department. Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle. And I have reluctantly accepted his resignation, with great appreciation for the service that he has provided for our country.
As Attorney General and before that, as White House counsel, Al Gonzales has played a role in shaping our policies in the war on terror, and has worked tirelessly to make this country safer. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act and other important laws bear his imprint. Under his leadership, the Justice Department has made a priority of protecting children from Internet predators, and made enforcement of civil rights laws a top priority. He aggressively and successfully pursued public corruption and effectively combated gang violence.
As Attorney General he played an important role in helping to confirm two fine jurists in Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. He did an outstanding job as White House Counsel, identifying and recommending the best nominees to fill critically important federal court vacancies.
Alberto Gonzales's tenure as Attorney General and White House Counsel is only part of a long history of distinguished public service that began as a young man when, after high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. When I became governor of Texas in 1995, I recruited him from one of Texas's most prestigious law firms to be my general counsel. He went on to become Texas's 100th secretary of state and to serve on our state's supreme court. In the long course of our work together this trusted advisor became a close friend.
These various positions have required sacrifice from Al, his wife Becky, their sons Jared, Graham and Gabriel, and I thank them for their service to the country.
After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.
I've asked Solicitor General Paul Clement to serve as Acting Attorney General upon Alberto Gonzales's departure and until a nominee has been confirmed by the Senate. He's agreed to do so. Paul is one of the finest lawyers in America. As Solicitor General, Paul has developed a reputation for excellence and fairness, and earned the respect and confidence of the entire Justice Department.
Thank you.
Happy Blogiversary...
...to Rachel's Tavern, celebrating two years of race, gender, and sexuality from a sociological perspective!
Oh, Owen!
One of my favies, Owen Wilson, is in the hospital after a purported suicide attempt, although he's evidently in good condition. Big time suckage. It hurts in my chest when I think about anyone so young being so unhappy (and/or untreated) that ending it seems like the best possible option.
