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And you thought all the hot guys were on Manhunt.net or Adam4Adam...
I guess he couldn't get on Jeff Gannon's site.
Question Of The Day
What kind of food were you most deathly afraid of trying, but then actually liked once you gave it a go?
For me, it was sushi. I recall not understanding what the attraction was to fish rolled up in rice and seaweed. So, I started off with the training wheels version (i.e. Kappa Maki) and then eventually worked my way to the evil tuna roll. I steadied myself, grasped the roll, did the obligatory soy dunk, and was off to the races. I've never looked back.
Now, I have sushi at least three times a week and I just never get sick of it. Of course, I love Japanese cuisine as a whole. But sushi is now a beautiful thing.
Q: What's the going rate for indisputably proving to the world that you are a tiny little man who is profoundly afraid of women?
Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional
A federal judge today struck down portions of the USA Patriot Act as unconstitutional, ordering the FBI to stop issuing "national security letters" that secretly demand customer information from Internet service providers and other businesses.Good times.
Long-time Shakers will no doubt remember I've had a bug up my ass for, like, ever about those fucking "national security letters," which are the feds' equivalent of Bush's "presidential signing statements"—i.e. Get Around Teh Law Free cards. And U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero appears to agree:
Marrero wrote in his 106-page ruling that Patriot Act provisions related to NSLs are "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."Right on, brotha.
President, Shmezident
Dubya is really breaking out his A-list material on this Aussie trip. Prior to trotting Condi around as his main squeeze, he got off the money quote of the day:
[Bush] believes success is being achieved in Iraq and told the Deputy Prime Minister, Mark Vaile, upon arrival on Tuesday night that "we're kicking ass".I know that we're not short on examples of Bush completely making a fool of himself (and us, by proxy) on the world leadership stage, but this one's off the charts. Apparently, those pesky GAO reports simply don't exist. If they're not in the bubble, they're just harmless vapor. Of course, maybe I'm just misreading the report title. Let's see:
Securing, Stabilizing, and Rebuilding Iraq: Iraqi Government Has Not Met Most Legislative, Security, and Economic BenchmarksI don't see anything there remotely resembling kicking of any ass, unless Bush secretly declared today to be Opposite Day. Heck, that would even explain the Condi remark ("Heh heh... When I say she's my date, she's really not my date! Heh heh.").
For the end of his routine, Bush knocks it out of the park wishing all of his Jewish supporters a happy new year. A week early.
President Bush issued a statement last night that sends "greetings to those around the world celebrating Rosh Hashanah." Unfortunately, that holiday doesn't begin this week.Forget lecture circuits, George. With material like that, you should be headlining the Friars roast.
The Jewish new year -- 5768 -- begins at sunset on Sept. 12. In prior years, the president's message was released within a day or so of the holiday. This year, perhaps because they're in Australia, a day ahead of the rest of us, they sent out the greeting a week in advance.
Animal rights, Slavery and Feminism
Hi all. Zuzu here, of Feministe (yes, I'm back) and Kindly Póg Mo Thóin. Thanks to Liss for letting me cross-post this here. A note: I wrote this on the fly, in a state of shock. It's a bit, um, sharp. There are far more dispassionate responses to this by Jill and Kali, both of which are very much worth reading, and both of which address the essential difference in worldview that allows someone to believe that comparing people of color to animals isn't offensive because animals are equal to humans. Onward!
**********
I can't believe I just read this. From a thread on Feministing responding to a cute video of Jessica's puppy Monty, in which several people excoriated Jessica for getting Monty from a breeder, and demanded she justify her decision because she's a feminist and dog breeding is somehow a core feminist issue:
There is absolutely no need to breed animals for profit, be them for pets or meat. It's slavery and it's wrong.I just -- that's offensive to me on so many levels; I simply can't imagine how that feels to someone whose ancestors survived the Middle Passage only to be sold at auction and kept in bondage for the rest of their lives; someone whose relatives in living memory were denied civil rights, equal access to education, and subject to lynching for nothing more than looking at a white person funny.
That's just so willfully blindly privileged, and tin-eared, and utterly cruel, and racist all at the same time. But I suppose, given PETA's history of racist and anti-Semitic ads, where images of black slaves and Jewish inmates at extermination camps were set alongside images of cattle going down a chute or chickens in battery cages, that this is not so uncommon an attitude among the animal-rights set. From Steve's* post about Ingrid Newkirk's dismissive response to the objection of James Cameron, the director of America's Black Holocaust Museum, to PETA's "Slavery" campaign: (my emphasis)
Remember, [Dr.] Cameron almost died at the hands of a lynch mob. They were screaming "get the nigger" and had yanked him out of his cell. Only the lone voice of a woman saying "leave that boy alone" saved his life. But this harrowing experience means nothing to Newkirk, his pain is irrelevant to her. I thought I had seen cruel responses to Mrs. Sheehan. But this tops them. By a mile.Somehow, it's even crueler when the animal in question is not a steer being led to the slaughterhouse, but a well-loved puppy from a responsible breeder.
It's the same kind of ignorant cruelty Cindy Sheehan is facing. Newkirk is simply incapable, like most fanatics, of seeing any side but her own. And she is blind to the outrage this will cause. She has no idea of how her response is not going to go over with black people. Even her explaination is as tone deaf as George Bush. That may go over well with her donors and allies when she makes a mistake, but it will fall on deaf ears with black people. I dare her to defend this on any black radio show, or even Air America.
Now, not only is PETA refusing to apologize, as they did with the Holocaust ad, they intend to continue the tour, well until they're denounced on Tom Joyner and from church pulpits. To compare black people to animals is the gravest insult a white person can do, and no matter how "liberal" PETA says it is, this will dog it until their tour is cancelled. Because she is fucking with something she does not understand in any way, shape or form. Angry isn't the word. I'd be surprised if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton aren't outside PETA HQ at the end of the week.
So, given that this is the mentality of PETA's leadership, do you think it's fair to call them racist, now?
I'm just gobsmacked.
And after I originally wrote this, the commenter explained herself:
Regarding Zuzu's comments about slavery: Only people who think their lives are more important than non-human animals' lives can be offended by the comparison of human slavery to animal slavery. The definition of slavery is to treat another as property. Property is the essential concept of slavery. Property. The only way you can be offended is if you think it's OK to treat non-human animals as property. I've had this discussion on my blog before: http://www.elainevigneault.com/politics-of-power-and-peta.htmlI just really don't know how to respond to that.
so you can read more if you're truly interested in understanding my perspective. Or you can just ignore my criticisms and right [sic] me off as a loon, like you normally do.
You?
(cross-posted here)
_________
* God, I miss Steve.
Secretary of Date
Goddammit. I really wish people would stop creating the need for me to have to defend Condi flippin' Rice:
Laura Bush's decision to stay home from this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Australia [is due to a pinched nerve]… Her doctors advised her not to travel overseas to avoid complications; this is the first time she's skipped a major trip since injuring the nerve while hiking in April.Last time I checked, Condi Rice was still the Secretary of Fucking State, not Bush's personal assistant who schedules his appointments with the chiropodist and picks up his dry cleaning. (And even if she were, the term "office wife" would still be demeaning and sexist.)
Without the first lady at his side, the president is escorting his office wife—Condi Rice—to official events. At last night's dinner hosted by Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney, the president posed with Rice and told photographers, "She can be my date."
And what a cad Bush is for reinforcing this marginalizing horseshit by calling her his "date." For years, he's defended her credentials against critics who assert she didn't earn her position, but, even having granted it to her, Bush won't defend, or even honor himself, the notion that holding the position earns her some basic respect.
On another note: Can you imagine the ruckus it would have caused (and would probably cause still!) if Bill Clinton had attended an official event with another woman and referred to her as his "date," even jokingly? Oy. Good thing Bush restored dignity and honor to the White House, eh?
[Thanks to everyone who gave me the heads-up.]
Michael Palin: Fish-Slapping Funny
Last evening, Mrs. Cowboy and I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Palin chat with Lorne Michaels at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. The event is part of Michael's tour to support his new book, Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years.
The evening's format centered around Lorne asking Michael about his perspectives before, and during, Python. In addition, audience members were given the opportunity to write questions for Michael on index cards, which were handed to Lorne during the course of the evening. I was pleased that one of the submitted questions asked Michael to cover George Harrison's relationship with Python, which manifested into Lorne Michaels recalling his own interaction with George when SNL offered $3000 for a Beatles reunion. It was such a joy listening to Michael recount some hilarious tales, throwing in some funny quips here and there.
Everyone was enjoying what he had to say. Whether it was talking about pressure during the writing of The Frost Report, Python dealing with BBC censors, or donkeys mating on the set of Life Of Brian, there was an enthusiasm in his delivery that left all of us hanging on every word. At times, I missed some follow-up joke because we were all laughing too hard at one he just made, almost like when I watched Python for the first time without any VCRs that I could rewind to catch every single thing!
I heartily recommend to all the Shakers to check and see if Michael Palin will be stopping by your town on his book tour. My only complaint, if any, was that the night was too short. We could've stayed there and listened to him for hours.
Hillary: Christian Warrior
Mother Jones has a really disturbing article on Hillary Clinton's 15-year-history with The Fellowship (aka "The Family), a secretive religious group that has, at its core, shades of Dominionism. They're the ones who organize the National Prayer Breakfast every year, at which the president speaks, which is their only public event.
Clinton's been an active member of the Capitol Hill cell of The Fellowship ever since arrived in D.C. in 1993, and her "collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) grow in part from that connection." Given its Dominionist leanings, the group naturally appeals disproportionately to Republicans—although there are Democratic members, too, in addition to Clinton (like Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, who believes "the separation of church and state has gone too far").
The secretive group has its roots in anti-Communism and anti-unionism, has members associated with the anti-union Christian management movement, and is comprised of "a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to 'spiritual war' on behalf of Christ… The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan."
If you're starting to think something along the lines of "The more I hear about this group, the less I like it" (or, perhaps, "What the fuckity fuck?!"), you're not alone—and it's about to get worse.In an interview with the United Methodist Reporter, [Clinton] expressed regret that her church had focused too much on social gospel concerns in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, "to the exclusion of personal faith and growth." The spirit, believe theological conservatives, matters more than the flesh. Clinton added that she was happy to see her liberal denomination becoming more salvation centered in the '90s.
In case you can't easily extract the important political sentiment from that mélange of garbled godspin, let me translate for you: There's no point wasting all our energy on "social gospel concerns" like poverty or equal rights, because "the spirit matters more than the flesh," so eternal salvation is the key, not "having stuff" (like food, or rights) on earth.
In other words, it's the same crock of total shit the rightwing's been selling their ignorant base for years—that it's more important to vote for the guy who loves the Baby Jebus than the guy who's going to make sure your kids have healthcare.
Put that in a mixer with anti-unionism, pro-corporatism, and sex-segregated Christian warriorship, with a twist of manifest destiny, and it makes for a rather nasty concoction that I'm none too disposed to drink.
I keep wanting to like Hillary; I keep wanting to feel like it won't be a terrible disappointment if (when?—sigh) she gets the eventual nomination. But it's just not happening.
Bleh.
[Thanks, Lauren.]
Another Asshole Running for President; Other Assholes Debate in New Hampshire
Talk about your breaking fucking news: Fred Thompson finally officially announced he's running for president on The Tonight Show last night. Here's the less-than-two-minute clip uploaded to YouTube by NBC, which, lucky us, includes the tired ethnic and sad gay joke that have collectively become the hallmark of Jay Leno's "comedy."
Thompson also aired a "pre-announcement" commercial yesterday, with lots of his signature head-bobbing to [bob] punctuate the [bob] important [bob] words. It is truly a terrible spot, which Petulant hilariously described in an email to me as "some cheap ass windows movie maker ad... I MEAN CHEAP LOOKING. ARGHHH!" Totally.
I would provide a transcript, except I keep falling asleep every time I try to provide one. So here's a paraphrase: "Blah blah [head bob] blah blah blah [head bob] blah blah blah [head bob] blah blah—" zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. OMG, see? I can't even paraphrase it without practically falling into a coma.
Meanwhile, the collection of nincompoops collected in New Hampshire on the Lite-Brite Stage of the Damned for their latest debate were generally unpleased with Thompson's decision to hang out with his cool celebrity friends like Jay Leno instead of them.
(Transcript here; the bit about
Thompson is right at the beginning.)
I dig the Playboy centerfold stats that Fox decided to give the candidates, btw.
Turn-Ons: George Bush, DADT, South Dakota, Monkeys, The Federalist Society, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Basketball, Rudy Giuliani, John Kerry, and The Donkey.
Turn-Offs: Ethics Bills, Losers, Bad Ideas.
Anyway, as regards the rest of the debate, it was so horrendous, I couldn't even watch it. Mr. Shakes declared he'd "prefer to be booted in the balls than watch a fooking second oof thoose wankers," so we watched Top Chef instead.
If you're looking for some hott commentary, especially of the rightwing persuasion, on the debate, however, there's plenty to be had at Memeorandum.
Bush Knew There Were No WMD's in Iraq
Remember that joke film clip that President Bush made for the Radio and Television Correspondents' dinner in 2004 wherein he made a mockery of the search for WMD's...looking under a chair in the Oval Office and so forth? Well, it turns out that that was about as seriously as he took the CIA and their intelligence that there were no WMD's in Iraq before he sent us to war. This is according to an exclusive in Salon.com by Sidney Blumenthal.
On Sept. 18, 2002, CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again.Here's the money quote:
Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD. No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD as the House of Representatives and the Senate voted, a week after the submission of the NIE, on the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. The information, moreover, was not circulated within the CIA among those agents involved in operations to prove whether Saddam had WMD.
On April 23, 2006, CBS's "60 Minutes" interviewed Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA chief of clandestine operations for Europe, who disclosed that the agency had received documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD. "We continued to validate him the whole way through," said Drumheller. "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."
Now two former senior CIA officers have confirmed Drumheller's account to me and provided the background to the story of how the information that might have stopped the invasion of Iraq was twisted in order to justify it. They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri's intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell. According to the former officers, the intelligence was also never shared with the senior military planning the invasion, which required U.S. soldiers to receive medical shots against the ill effects of WMD and to wear protective uniforms in the desert.
Instead, said the former officials, the information was distorted in a report written to fit the preconception that Saddam did have WMD programs.
"The president had no interest in the intelligence," said the CIA officer. The other officer said, "Bush didn't give a fuck about the intelligence. He had his mind made up."The distorted report was also used as the basis for briefing members of Congress in the debate over the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, basically cooking the books to convince even the skeptics that Saddam Hussein had WMD's.
Even a leading opponent such as Sen. Bob Graham, then the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who had instigated the production of the NIE, declared in his floor speech on Oct. 12, 2002, "Saddam Hussein's regime has chemical and biological weapons and is trying to get nuclear capacity." Not a single senator contested otherwise. None of them had an inkling of the Sabri intelligence.So when the supporters of the president claim that even Democrats voted for the war, we now know that they were doing so based on fraudulent evidence and that the president knew it.
On Sept. 8, 2006, three Republican senators on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- Orrin Hatch, Saxby Chambliss and Pat Roberts -- signed a letter attempting to counter Drumheller's revelation about Sabri on "60 Minutes": "All of the information about this case so far indicates that the information from this source was that Iraq did have WMD programs." The Republicans also quoted Tenet, who had testified before the committee in July 2006 that Drumheller had "mischaracterized" the intelligence. Still, Drumheller stuck to his guns, telling Reuters, "We have differing interpretations, and I think mine's right."The Bush apologists will now blame the CIA and George Tenet for getting it all wrong, and Dick Cheney will mutter something about Syria and secret caves.
One of the former senior CIA officers told me that despite the certitude of the three Republican senators, the Senate committee never had the original memo on Sabri. "The committee never got that report," he said. "The material was hidden or lost, and because it was a restricted case, a lot of it was done in hard copy. The whole thing was fogged up, like Curveball."
While one Iraqi source told the CIA that there were no WMD, information that was true but distorted to prove the opposite, another Iraqi source was a fabricator whose lies were eagerly embraced. "The real tragedy is that they had a good source that they misused," said one of the former CIA officers. "The fact is there was nothing there, no threat. But Bush wanted to hear what he wanted to hear."
We've gone beyond ridiculous to the criminally insane.
Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.
Question of the Day
If you could ask the GOP candidates one question at their debate tonight, what would it be?
D. James Kennedy, Noted Gay-Basher, Dead
Noted South Florida preacher and rabid anti-gay activist D. James Kennedy has died.
The 76-year-old pastor died "peacefully, in his sleep, at home" around 3 a.m., according to the Rev. Ronald Siegenthaler, executive minister at the 10,000-member church. By his side was Anne, his wife of five decades.Some of his more choice anti-gay quotes, courtesy of AMERICAblog and Right Wing Watch:
The pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale had suffered from several ailments since a cardiac arrest on Dec. 28. He underwent treatment at Holy Cross Hospital, then rehabilitation in Michigan, but never returned to the pulpit.
One of the best-known ministers in the nation - indeed, the world -- Rev. Kennedy affected politics and social movements through a combination of measured intellectual prose and a tough conservative philosophy. In so doing, he rallied thousands who aimed at "Reclaiming America for Christ," as one of his organizations was called.
He also angered others: gay leaders, religious and political liberals, those who sought to limit religious involvement in government.
"With other dangerous and contagious diseases, all sorts of efforts are made to identify those carrying the disease, and to minimize their contact with the public. And yet, here we have homosexual rights groups working day and night to make sure AIDS victims ARE NOT IDENTIFIED! ? Until action is taken, AIDS victims are free to infect anyone ?" (Newsletter, 1989)As I said when Jerry Falwell boarded the Stygian Express, I hope he's greeted at the Pearly Gates by Matthew Shepard.
Another newsletter item featured a photograph of very young children under the headline, "SEX WITH CHILDREN? HOMOSEXUALS SAY YES!" The newsletter went on to assert that "Adult sex with children has been a crucial component of the homosexual movement all along."
"Whatever four members of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts may say, the intimate coupling of two men or two women is not marriage. It is a pale and misshapen counterfeit that will only serve to empty marriage of its meaning and destroy the institution that is the keystone in the arch of civilization. ? If homosexuals win the right to 'marry,' expect further similarly argued claims challenging legal barriers to polygamy, bestiality, and child marriage." (Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, 10/2003)
Impossibly Beautiful
Part Wev in an ongoing series…
This is a picture of Real Women Have Curves and Ugly Betty star America Ferrera at the Teen Choice Awards on August 26:
And this is her on the cover of this month's issue of Glamour:
You can star in a movie celebrating women with curves, and you can star in a television show celebrating nonconformity, but you will be allowed to demonstrate neither on the cover of Glamour, upon which you will instead be airbrushed to the verge of total unrecognizability, where only your familiar and lovely grin remains to identify you.
Wednesday Conchords
Well, the last episode of the season (sob!) still hasn't been uploaded to YouTube yet, so I can't post it. In the meantime, here's my favorite bit from the episode, in which we find out that when Bret's angry, he dances!
Tres Footloose.
Just Watch
MediaCurves.com had 300 Americans watch Michael Vick's apology and rate his sincerity as they watched. Make sure you watch the whole thing, because the best bit is at the very end.
Transcript is below for my Shaker Deafies (and I apologize, as always, for the crappy bits in the transcript, but I am, of course, a half-deafy myself). Thanks again goes to Shaker Kate.
Vick: You know, I understand it's important, or not important, you know as far as what you say, but how you say things, so, you know, I take this opportunity just to speak from the heart. First I want to apologize, you know, for all the things that I've done and that I've allowed to happen. I want to personally apologize to [Commissioner Someone, Someone Else, Coach Somebody,] my Atlanta Falcons teammates, you know, for our previous discussions that we had, and I was not honest and forthright in our discussions, and I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself, to say the least. I want to apologize to all the young kids out there for my immature acts, and, you know, what I did was, what I did was very immature, so that means I need to grow up. I totally ask for forgiveness and understanding as I move forward [to something better for?] Michael Vick the person, not the football player. I take full responsibility for my actions. For one second will I sit right here, not for one second will I sit right here and point the finger and try to blame anybody else for my actions and what I have done. I'm totally responsible. Those things just didn't have to happen. I feel like we all, we all make mistakes; just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and making bad decisions, and those things, you know, just can't happen. Dogfighting is a terrible thing and I did reject it. I'm upset with myself, and, you know, through this situation I've found Jesus and I asked him for forgiveness and I just turned my life over to God. I think that's the right thing to do as of right now.
Thanks to an Obama supporter, and a question about Hillary Clinton
It is a pleasure to note that The Barack Obama Report - a campaign blog independent of the senator's official presidential effort - has written about LaVena Johnson. The post, the concern it evinces for soldiers and their families, and the attention it will bring to LaVena's story, are all greatly appreciated.
However, the blog post does bring a question to mind regarding another presidential contender: Senator Hillary Clinton.
A convergence of circumstances places the junior senator from New York in a unique position. She is one of the most prominent members of the majority party in Congress. She is the leading Democratic presidential contender. She is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee - one of the two legislative bodies to which the LaVena Johnson petition is addressed. These factors make for a compelling argument that Senator Clinton should bring her support to the Johnson family and its efforts to launch a new investigation of the circumstances surrounding LaVena's death in Iraq.
Of all the presidential candidates, Democratic or Republican, only Senator Clinton is in an official position - right now - to bring influence to bear on the Army. Even in purely political terms, the opportunity to demonstrate support for military families and their loved ones in service should be clear to all.
It is to be hoped that the senator from New York has sufficient concern for soldiers that she will lend the Johnsons her support in the name of all service families who have given so much, and whose search for the truth about their daughters, sons, fathers, and mothers is too often lost in the fog of war.
Constituents of Hillary Clinton who share this hope are invited to express their feelings to the senator herself by way of email, or via the addresses (district office recommended) or phone or fax numbers below:
District office
780 Third Ave
Suite 2601
New York, NY 10017
Phone (212) 688-6262
Fax (212) 688-7444
D.C. office
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone (202) 224-4451
Fax (202) 228-0282
