Aunt B's written a great post about day laborers who loiter outside a Jack in the Box being targeted by an undercover police sting to expose undocumented workers, an operation which the officers justify by saying:
Would you want your wife or daughter to walk through this gauntlet of a dozen or more men to get a breakfast biscuit?I'm not going to get into all the various aggravating connotations of that rhetorical, because Aunt B covers all that nicely, particularly how the police are policing gender norms. I just want to note that none of the day laborers have been accused of, arrested for, or convicted of assaulting a women while she was trying to get into the Jack in the Box—which means that "the men in blue" posing as contractors and running the sting are presuming these male day laborers to be sexual predators just because they're men. (Also because they're swarthy men, but the emphasis here is on the "men" part.)
There are a lot (I mean, a lot) of substantive reasons for me not to like Mike Huckabee, but I also simply cannot abide his particularly contemptible brand of Folksy Conservative Aphorism, like: "The fact that I am being attacked is a good sign. It's a sign of life. This is hunting season. I'm a hunter. You don't ever point your gun at a dead carcass."
Ugh. Linguistically torturous, gross, and vaguely creepy.
"You know, I can actually remember a time when 'saw it on the Drudge report' wasn't an automatic license to run with just any unsourced horseshit."—Atrios.
Those were the days, eh?
In today's installment, we take a look at what the Ministry of Homeland Security thinks about the nuclear aspirations of those sneaky Iranians:
Barely two months after U.N. inspectors in Iran failed to find evidence of an active nuclear weapons program, the Department of Homeland Security uncovered new information Monday proving the Middle Eastern nation has obtained literally trillions of atoms—the same particles sometimes used to make atomic bombs—for unknown purposes.Which is it, Shakers? Answer below the fold.
"We have no doubt that Iran now possesses an alarming number of atoms within its borders, despite countless warnings from the international community," Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said at a press conference Monday afternoon, as he pointed to a satellite image marked with dozens of locations where his office claims the unauthorized atoms are being held. "The Iranians maintain the atoms are only being used to form the building blocks of all existence, but we cannot afford to take that risk."In this lovely day and age of cherry-picked (or manufactured) intelligence, it's nice to know that we're not as far from The Onion as we might like to think.
The first part of the campaign involves a pilot experiment to begin defining progressivism in the public's mind through a series of distinct advertisements that explain the progressive movement's core values and policy ideas, its historical accomplishments, and its philosophical differences with conservatives.This campaign reminds me of my now-ancient post Liberals Will Save America, in which I noted that conservatives have "been on the wrong side of every issue since the Revolution—including the Civil War, the New Deal…even rural electrification," and said that as soon as progressives learned to effectively communicate the message "The Conservative view ultimately benefits a very small minority; the Liberal view benefits us all," we'd save America.
Progressive reformers in the 20th century paved the way for a more humane society that ensured decent working conditions; fought corporate abuse and corruption; provided support for the elderly and unemployed; protected our natural resources; and expanded democratic opportunities for all citizens. Our ad campaign is a first attempt at bringing these progressive values and accomplishments to light for modern audiences.
I always thought that people who play Bridge, a needlessly complicated card game, were harmless enough, though they certainly could be making better use of their time. But I had no idea that that the world of competitive Bridge was a hotbed of anti-American feeling. Last month at the world Bridge championships in Shanghai a team of women representing the United States did something shocking when they went up to the dais to receive the Venice Cup, the award for the best women's team. One of their members held up a hand-lettered sign that said "We Did Not Vote for Bush." This act, which has led some bridge players to accuse the women of "treason" and "sedition," has brought back memories of other Americans who have dared to criticize this country abroad, such as Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003 and Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave a black power salute after winning medals in the 200 meter race at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. The team's nonplaying captain Gail Greenberg claims, "There was a lot of anti-Bush feeling, questioning of our Iraq policy and about torture," at the tournament and calls her team's action "a moment of levity," but there is nothing funny about treason.
"This isn't a free-speech issue," explains Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, commenting on what the organization refers to as the "Shanghai Incident." "There isn't any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them." A statement released by the USBF reiterates, "This situation is not about free speech; it is about determining whether the USBF has a responsibility to its membership to impose sanctions on those who have acted contrary to the best interests of the organization and its members."
The United States Bridge Federation has an excellent opportunity to show the world what America stands for by punishing these women. Some people have the wrong idea about what the Bill of Rights really means. In America you have freedom of expression as long as a private organization doesn't own your expression. Peaceful protests are fine as long as they don't embarrass organizations that depend on corporate sponsorship and take place on American soil behind police barricades where they can be videotaped for future use in any trials that might arise.
In Pakistan we can already see the tragic results that can occur when some people misunderstand what America stands for. Americans don't think that just anyone deserves the right to free speech and democracy. These are rights that have to be earned after years of being under the thumbs of U.S.-supported dictators. Once the people of these countries have demonstrated that they are not going to vote for Communists or Jihadists, then we allow them to have democracy on a trial basis, with the understanding that the CIA might have to start a coup and put another dictator in place if things get out of hand.
The United States Bridge Federation has threatened to suspend these women for a year, which would send a powerful message to places like Pakistan that freedom of speech is not a recipe for anarchy. Not surprisingly, the French also seem to have the wrong idea of what freedom means to Americans. The French team sent an email in support of the women, which said, "By trying to address these issues in a nonviolent, nonthreatening and lighthearted manner, you were doing only what women of the world have always tried to do when opposing the folly of men who have lost their perspective of reality." Leave it to the French to turn it into a sex thing. Of course, this is not the first time the French have misunderstood American ideals. When they gave us the Statue of Liberty with that terrible poem that begins "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…," a lot of people took those words much too literally, leading to the immigration problem that still haunts us today.
Thank goodness the USBF does know something about American values. Drawing on the best of American tradition, they have had their lawyer, Alan Falk, send the women a questionnaire trying to get them to snitch on the team member who first broached the idea of holding up the sign and he has threatened them with worse punishment if they don't cooperate. Already three players, Hansa Narasimhan, JoAnna Stansby and Jill Meyers, have started to crack, expressing regret that the action offended some people. But Debbie Rosenberg, Jill Levin, and Irina Levitina--the Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and Stokely Carmichael of the Bridge team--remain defiant. How weak will the United States look to the rest of the world if we can't even scare a few lady Bridge players into backing away from criticizing the President?
"Freedom to express dissent against our leaders has traditionally been a core American value," Ms. Rosenberg, who held up the sign, wrote in an email that should be turned over to the FBI for investigation. "Unfortunately, the Bush brand of patriotism, where criticizing Bush means you are a traitor, seems to have penetrated a significant minority of U.S. bridge players." It is almost as if she is daring the President to have her executed for treason.
Champion Bridge player Robert S. Wolff disagrees with what the team did. "While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn't give anyone the right to criticize one's leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event," he said. Apparently, Ms. Rosenberg and her teammates are completely unaware of the criticize-one's-leader-at-a-foreign-venue-in-a-totally-nonpolitical-event exception to the First Amendment.
The First Amendment does not give people the right to yell anti-Bush slogans in a crowded theater, or even to talk during the movie at all. If we let a few lady Bridge players criticize the President, it could spread. The next thing you know Democrats in Congress will start opposing the President's appointments, passing laws against torture or defying him on funding for the Iraq War.
The future of this country may well depend on the action the United States Bridge Federation takes. Ms. Rosenberg claims that she earns a living from Bridge and suspending her for a year would be a financial hardship. The USBF maintains, however, that it "has no obligation to coddle, foster, or protect any person’s ability to earn professional fees." But is refraining from "coddling" their professional fees really punishment enough? Although I'm much too lazy to do it, I'm sure my friends in the conservative blogosphere are already digging up negative personal information about these players and trying to learn their email addresses and telephone numbers and where their children go to school so that they can spur their readers to attack and harass these women and ruin their lives. Soon small towns around America will be aglow with bonfires as members of local Bridge clubs toss their playing cards into the flames in protest. And Congress will take some time away from less important business to sponsor a resolution condemning these women, which even Democrats will vote for because they don't want to seem un-American. These lady bridge players will learn soon enough what freedom of expression really means in America.
Crosposted at Jon Swift
[Part Fifteen in an ongoing series. Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen.]
Shakers Brent and Lindsey forwarded me the link to this advert for FreeCreditReport.com:
…you can't buy cold soda at a store that sells liquor, you can't buy liquor at all on Sundays, and you can't go car-shopping on a Sunday, because dealerships aren't allowed to be open. Those aren't wacky old on-the-books-but-no-one-pays-attention laws, either. I literally can't buy a bottle of wine on a freaking Sunday.
And those aren't even the worst laws in Indiana.
Having nothing much better to do the other day, I sat through the movie Eragon, which is a sword-and-sorcerer story with dragons and evil kings and a young farm boy who saves the world. The movie was pretty awful, although I'm told the original book is pretty good. Anyway, playing the role of the crusty old mentor was Jeremy Irons. I've always been a fan of his work, and I wondered what it was that compelled him to agree to make this turkey.
I've seen it happen before where a great actor is in a terrible movie. A friend of mine points out that a lot of great actors make terrible choices. (Kind of makes you wonder why.... Car payments? Alimony?) So that's the question:
What's the worst film you've seen with a great actor in a leading role?
A new report has been released by the Joint Economic Committee which shows how much more the Iraq and Afghanistan wars cost when you take into account the total costs associated with these ventures:
Even if you want to call bullshit on this report, how can you sit there and tell me that you're ok with our shoveling out $804 billion for this shit?The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts' "hidden costs"-- including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars.
That amount is nearly double the $804 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage these wars through 2008, according to the Democratic staff of Congress's Joint Economic Committee. Its report, titled "The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War," estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost the average U.S. family of four more than $20,000.
Bush Vetoes Major Domestic Spending Measure:
President Bush on Tuesday vetoed a major spending measure that would have funded education, health care and job training programs, saying it contained money for too many of the special projects known as earmarks. But he signed a $459 billion bill to increase the Pentagon’s nonwar funding.He is totally, totally shameless.
The veto, on a measure providing $150.7 billion in discretionary spending for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, was announced as Bush was en route to Indiana to deliver an economics speech in which chastised Congress for "wasteful spending" and describe it as acting "like a teenager with a new credit card."
Why is it that Jonah Goldberg can't even get his facts straight?
First the Clinton campaign whines that the other candidates were picking on the girl. Then, standing up to Russert is like standing up to Hitler. Then Bill Clinton compared Russert to the Swift Boat Vets. Now the Clinton campaign is warning Wolf Blizter that he better not "pull a Russert."Well, first, Senator Clinton didn't whine "that the other candidates were picking on the girl." She actually enjoyed it. Bill Clinton didn't actually compare Russert to the Swift Boat vets, and now Jonah is breathlessly quoting Drudge having the Clinton campaign "warning" CNN's anchor to actually focus on -- gasp! -- the issues instead of the personalities in the upcoming debate in Las Vegas. How dare they suggest that!
Again, can someone please explain to me, how asking the junior Senator from New York state whether she agrees with the governor of the state (and a close political ally) on the question of drivers licenses for illegals is even remotely wrong, never mind some sort of vicious, Nazi-like, personal assault on truth, decency, and Hillary Clinton's integrity? I really, really, don't get it.Can someone please explain to me why Jonah Goldberg always seems to come across like the last kid who gets picked for the basketball team?
'Cuz here in Indiana, we got great people—and great basketball. And that's a fact he appreciates.
Ken Baker died very suddenly, and far too soon, this Sunday at age 50. Ken was a lifelong LGBTQ rights' advocate, one of the founders of Equality Alabama, a founding member of Communities of Faith for Full Inclusion, and a driving force behind the annual hate crimes vigil in Montgomery.
"He's sure going to be missed around here," said longtime friend and colleague Lynn Shaw, who is a past president of the Montgomery Chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). "I just can't believe how everyone's going to go on and function because he was involved in so many things."Ken was also an avid gardener who worked as a landscaper, and who donated his talents to refurbished a home that came to be known as "The Equality House," a safe meeting place for gay rights groups. He was a man who made a difference.
Baker, who was gay, was known as a quiet, humble man who was creative and determined in his efforts to promote gay and lesbian rights.
"He was a quiet man, but his soft-spoken voice made a lot of difference for a lot of people in this community, especially for the GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender) community and others who were disenfranchised," said Deborah Little, another former president of PFLAG.
"He had a soft voice, but the things that he did made a loud noise," she added.
Catch thyself before you celebrate!
The United States has set a new record…in reported Chlamydia cases. Oh, and Gonorrhea rates are also up with a drug-resistant "superbug" form of that shit now in the mix.
The Chlamydia rates may be the result of an increase in testing due to CDC recommendations…but that’s not exactly comforting.
Experts are befuddled by the increase in Gonorrhea rates, one going so far as to say “Hopefully we will not see this turn into a trend".
Blink.
Oh my (flutter of the lashes)! I wonder what could be done to help prevent increases in STD infections from becoming a trend (oh hell, flutter those lashes again)?
Oh yeah, it's our old faithful friend Comprehensive Sex Education!
How many infections does it take to warrant a policy shift?
by Blogenfreude
Before we introduce you to Blowvember's latest Republican poster boy, a brief recap:
Nov. 2 - a strong start to Blowvember with a twofer: a Catholic school principal dressing up in fishnets and fake breasts and offering his wares on the street; and another Florida bathroom sex sting (a la Bob Allen, newly-convicted toilet cruiser);
Nov. 8 - a South Dakota kid toucher was convicted; another bathroom sting, this one in Ohio and featuring a police officer in a red thong; a former youth pastor who thought child sex assault was just a "bad dating decision"; and another Florida Republican in the dock, this one for molestation;
Nov 13 - and now, presenting your latest Republican pervert, this time from the great state of Utah, please welcome E. Ozwald Balfour:
A 3rd District judge this week scuttled Republican leader Ozwald Balfour’s efforts to disqualify the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting him for allegedly groping, or attempting to grope, four women.John Amato also points out that Mr. Balfour campaigned for Orrin Hatch and is on the Executive Committee of the Utah Republican Party.
Four sex assault cases filed against Balfour in 2005 were still unresolved last fall when he threw his support - and the free services of his two media consulting companies - to Republican district attorney candidate Lohra Miller.
He is charged with three second-degree felony counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony ....
"How do we beat the bitch?"—A John McCain supporter in South Carolina, to whom McCain replied by laughing. Nope, no sexism in this campaign at all.
FOX REPORTER: Of course there could be a lot of name-calling on the campaign trail. But the candidates aren't the only ones doing the mudslinging. During an event in South Carolina yesterday, Arizona Senator John McCain was asked how he planned on beating his democratic rival Hillary Clinton. And his supporter used a term that rhymes with "rich."The McCain campaign has declined to comment on the incident.
MCCAIN SUPPORTER: How do we beat the bitch?
FOX REPORTER: McCain laughed off the comment and then he tried to change the subject.
Conservatives are more belligerently closed-minded than liberals, even when it comes to their entertainment:
– Conservatives were the most "likely to watch only two channels out of the 24 highest-rated networks: Fox and Fox News."Anecdotally, I've found these conclusions to be totally true. I have conservative family members who refuse to watch films with Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, George Clooney, Sean Penn, et al, but I'll watch films with Gary Sinise or Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis or whomever, and I haven't thrown Conan the Barbarian out of my DVD collection (though it was only there for ironic purposes in the first place, but you get my point).
– "Fox News wins the prize for the most politically divisive TV channel (70% of conservatives watch it daily and only 3% of liberals)."
– "While 22% of conservatives said they 'never' enjoy entertainment that reflects values other than their own, just 7% of liberals felt the same way. … In other words, Limbaugh's potential audience is larger than that of liberal competitors because more liberals say they will listen to conservatives than vice versa."
– Conservatives think "fictional TV shows and movies are politically biased" and "overwhelmingly (76%) believe that TV shows and movies 'very often' contain political messages, but they are the least likely to learn anything about political issues from them. Just 4% say they learn lessons from movies."
