Go read Pam's "The fantasy of a 'post-racial' election."
A fantasy indeed. The latest Media Matters piece to hit my Bloglines feed is: On Fox News, Cunningham repeatedly referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama".
Americans Love Their Mythmaking
In Which I Make At Least 247 Shakers Simultaneously Orgasm
And I join them:
While nothing has been officially signed just yet, it sounds like a lock that Hellboy 2 director and all around cool guy Guillermo del Toro will take over the directorial reigns from Lord of the Rings trilogy mastermind Peter Jackson and helm the two planned Hobbit films for New Line.I don't know why Hellboy 2 is cited as an example of del Toro's work when he directed Pan's freaking Labyrinth, but wev. This is great news, as far as I'm concerned. He was totally on my shortlist of WANT directors if Jackson wasn't going to make himself available for my wet dreams. (Some nerve.)
H/T to Mark, who says, aptly: "Jackson and del Toro. Working together. ON THE SAME FILM. HOLY LORD, THE POSSIBILITIES."
Hell is for Tourists
This past weekend, Mrs. Cowboy and I went to JFK airport in New York to pick up Aunt & Uncle Cowboy, who were arriving from Switzerland. Even with an arrival time that was earlier than scheduled, we timed the drive correctly since we figured it would take them 20 or 30 minutes to retrieve their luggage and get out of passport control. More and more flights were arriving from overseas, easily creating a backlog. Almost two hours later, my aunt and uncle walk out and we quickly whisk them to the car. Once we're all settled I asked them what could've taken so long.
Security has been stepped up that requires foreign visitors to have their 10 fingerprints and mugshots taken before entering the country. This increased security just got unveiled at O'Hare, but I don't know how long it's been in effect at JFK. It sounds like the main cause of the delay was due to the equipment not working properly, consequently holding up the works for several hundreds of passengers arriving at the same time from multiple countries.
I remember discussions about this a few years ago, perhaps about privacy issues of those visiting and such. Are there any Shakers here who have experienced this increased security? If so, what did you think of it as you were going through, and what do you think of it as the new status quo in visiting the US?
DADT Turns 15
I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday / 'Cause you're evil / And you lie / And if you should die / I may feel slightly sad / But I won't cry… — The Smiths, "Unhappy Birthday"
And I'll only be slightly sad because you didn't die sooner:
It was 15 years ago, Tuesday, that President Clinton rolled out the policy that came to be known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which relaxed the long-standing bar against gay men and women serving in the U.S. military. While the move was initially hailed as progress for the rights of gays in the military, today many see it as a liability.In good news, anyone who gets the Democratic nomination supports the policy being overturned. In totally unsurprising news, all the GOP candidates support keeping it in place. If the next president (please, Maude) is a Democrat, this will be an issue, because the GOP will make it so.
FYI: Currently, there is a measure to repeal DADT which is in a House subcommittee and has 141 co-sponsors.
Huckabee on SOTU
Apparently not satisfied that he has yet convinced America that he is too stupid to be president, Huckabee issued a response this morning to Bush's SOTU address, which contained the following passage:
And we must reaffirm Second Amendment rights, even as must redouble our efforts toward the protection of Life, from conception to natural death. To secure those vital freedoms, must work toward a judiciary that no longer legislates from the bench, but rather, interprets the Constitution and the law.Back to the old "activist judges" chestnut, I see.
Let me, once again, allow my friend John Rogers to point out why the whole activist-judges/legislate-from-the-bench piffle is complete rubbish:
... when the Supreme Court struck down the bans against interracial marriage in 1968 through Virginia vs. Loving, SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT of Americans were against interracial marriage. As a matter of fact, approval of interracial marriage in the US didn't cross the positive threshold until – sweet God – 1991.That, by the way, is exactly 30 years after a gentleman by the name of Barack Obama, who might well become the next president of our nation, was born to a white mother and a black father.
This country is not well-served by leaving the civil rights of the minority in the hands of the majority. Putting that up to a vote which is subject to deeply held prejudice is ruling not by democracy, but by mob mentality.
I Have Questions for Barack Obama
Responding to the SOTU address, Senator Obama concluded his remarks with the following:
Each year, as we watch the State of the Union, we see half the chamber rise to applaud the President and half the chamber stay in their seats. We see half the country tune in to watch, but know that much of the country has stopped even listening. Imagine if next year was different. Imagine if next year, the entire nation had a president they could believe in. A president who rallied all Americans around a common purpose. That's the kind of President we need in this country. And with your help in the coming days and weeks, that's the kind of President I will be.That sounds awesome—truly, it does. But I've got a few questions.
1. Why will the Republican members of Congress rise to applaud you, and the conservative half of the nation tune in to support you, unless you pursue an agenda that appeals to them? How do you pursue an agenda that appeals to conservatives, but is also progressive?
2. What is the common purpose around which you envision the country rallying? Do you regard "transcending partisanship" an end in itself, and do you foresee the GOP rallying around this goal? If so, how and why do you imagine that will happen?
3. Assume for a moment that you are nominated and subsequently elected, and, despite being "the kind of president" in whom Americans can believe, the profound partisan rancor that currently plagues the nation doesn't evaporate, that Americans fail to rally around a common purpose. What is Plan B? Do you move ever rightward trying to find support among those who refuse to rally, or do you say "Screw 'em," and go leftward to honor those who voted for you?
4. Noting that the most bitter partisan divides on domestic policy regard issues of basic rights, such as reproductive rights and marriage rights, and noting further that the two sides of these issues are unlikely to come to spontaneous agreement, those subjects are likely to continue to play a divisive role in American politics. How do you plan to prevent such bedrock divisions from undermining the national unity you imagine? Do those of us on the progressive side of these issues have reason to worry that you will not be a vociferous advocate for any controversial or ideologically discordant issues?
5. This last question regards not your possible presidency itself, but the general election campaign for the presidency, should you get the Democratic nomination and run in the general election against the GOP nominee: In 2004, John Kerry tried to stay above the fray and combat conservatives' scorched-earth campaign policy by refusing to dignify the Swiftboaters with a response. In 2000, Al Gore largely did the same, as conservatives and the media promulgated a cavalcade of half-truths and lies against him. They both lost. Their respective refusals to engage partisan attacks, rooted in the erroneous belief that ignoring mudslinging means you don't get covered in mud, has been oft-cited as contributing to their losses. In what way does your philosophy of a new politics accommodate those lessons?
Thank you for your time, Senator. I know you're busy, so if you'd like to shorthand all my questions down to "Can you please assure me that, as both the Democratic candidate and as president, you would be more interested in pursuing a progressive agenda than the pipe dream of post-partisanship?" that would be just fine. I look forward to hearing from you.
State of the Union- MAN LOVE!
Someone beat Michelle Bachmann! I can't figure out who it is. Any ideas?
h/t to Loop in comments
Question of the Day
On Thursday, we did most detested aphorisms, so today's question is, naturally: What is your favorite aphorism and/or the one you find yourself using most frequently?
Because I have a tendency to fret, and can quite easily become anxious to the point of making myself ill with worry if I let myself, I work very hard at letting go of things over which I have no control. At a certain point, I just have to take a few deep breaths and use a term that my dear friend Todd (aka Mr. Furious) first introduced to me: Tears in a bucket, motherfuckit.
It's a great phrase when there's nothing to be done but let go.
FYI
GOP Bid to Block Amendments on Surveillance Bill FailsTPM Muckraker is on top of things, as ever, with the updates...
The fight goes on.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) cloture vote failed 48-45 just now, well short of the 60 votes necessary.
In the end, four Dems crossed over to vote with the Republicans: Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was the lone Republican to vote with the Dems.
Now we're on to the question of whether an extension will be passed.
Somebody Call the Waaaaaaaaaaaaambulance
For years, President Bush and his advisers expressed frustration that the White House received little credit for the nation's strong economic performance because of public discontent about the Iraq war. Today, the president is getting little credit for improved security in Iraq, as the public increasingly focuses on a struggling U.S. economy.I just can't do anything right for you people! I put on a great war and give rich people tons of money, and all you jerks can do is moan and complain! You want some government cheese with your whine? Well, too bad! I cut the funding for government cheese six years ago!
Tune in tonight to Bush's final State of the Union address to hear what a president with an overall 32% approval rating, and only 30% on Iraq and 28% on the economy, has to say about issues no one with a functioning brain trusts him to competently address.
News from Shakes Manor
[Yesterday, while engaging in one of our favorite dorktastic pastimes—looking shit up on Metacritic, mainly to get cheap thrills from reading bad reviews of dire-looking rubbish like Meet the Spartans.]
Mr. Shakes: Oohmigood! Meet the Spartans goot a metascoore oof eight! EIGHT! "Extreme dislike oor disgoost!" [laughs hysterically]
Liss: [laughing] What was the highest score?
Mr. Shakes: Thirty-eight!
Liss: Oh my!
Mr. Shakes: The Oonion gave it a zeroo. Ha ha ha! Listen tae this: "Meet the Spartans gamely alternates between oonfoonny gay jookes and violent pratfalls foor a good 80 minutes, finding time foor noot oone, boot two musical dance noombers set tae 'I Will Survive'."
Liss: Priceless.
Mr. Shakes: I canny remember ever seeing a filum get a metascoore in the single digits befoore.
Liss: Nor can I. What was There Will Be Blood's metascore?
Mr. Shakes: Ninety-two.
Liss: Well, look at that! Add them together and they make the perfect film.
Mr. Shakes: When we were watching There Will Be Blood, I was thinking: This filum is oone "I Will Survive" dance noomber away froom perfection.
Four Word Movie Reviews
There Will Be Blood: There will be Oscars.
The Simpsons Movie: Spider Pig's my god.
Related fun via MAJeff: Which character on The Simpsons are you? I'm usually always Lisa in these things, so this was an amusing change.
Created by BuddyTV
Toni Morrison Endorses Obama
Obama's picked up a couple of big endorsements over the past few days, notably Caroline and Ted Kennedy (JFK's daughter and brother, respectively), and now Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison (who's one of my favorite authors, as an aside) has endorsed him, too, citing his vision and wisdom.
"In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates," Morrison wrote. "That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it.Certainly the most lovely endorsement any candidate's going to get.
"Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace - that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom," Morrison wrote.
In 1998, Morrison wrote of Bill Clinton in the New Yorker: "White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime." If she gets her wish, and Obama gets the Democratic Party nomination, let us fervently hope she was wrong about that!
Now He Goes After the Indians
President Bush vetoed SCHIP twice, denying the renewal of the health care program from children whose families can't afford insurance but don't qualify for Medicaid. Now, as this editorial from the New York Times notes, he's threatening to do the same for the Native American population.
A bipartisan bill to begin repairing this shameful situation is now on the Senate floor. It takes aim at such long neglected needs as the plight of urban Indians, who account for two-thirds of the nation’s 4.1 million tribal population. Most of the American Indians and Alaska natives living in cities are either ineligible for, or unable to reach, the limited help of the Indian Health Service’s reservation-based programs. During the Bush years the White House has sought to eliminate — not bolster — the severely underfinanced Urban Indian Health Program.It goes without saying that our treatment of the native population is legendary for its cruelty, deception and racism; treatment which is no doubt responsible for many of the medical problems that this bill is designed to address. And it's no surprise that the Bush administration would continue that sad legacy.
Studies have established that Native Americans suffer worse than average rates of depression, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The Senate bill would improve treatment for these problems, as well as address alcohol and substance abuse, and suicide among Indian youth. It would expand scholarship help so more American Indians could pursue careers in health care.
The administration insists it wants to improve health care for Native Americans. But it objects to the most basic parts of the Senate measure, including its provisions for better urban health programs and its proposal to provide better access to Medicaid and Medicare. Officials also reject the bill’s proposal to build new clinics because it would require the government to pay construction workers prevailing local wages and benefits.
(Cross-posted.)
On giving offense...because you've been offensive
Well. That was thoughtless, in every sense.
"That" means a few things: using a term derogatory to women in a post on a feminist blog, and using it on a feminist blog run by a friend of mine, and using it in a headline that showed up in feed readers from here to Addis Ababa.
What I say and do at home - my own blog, in this case - is one thing. In someone else's living room, that's something else again.
To Melissa, to other contributors, to all Shakers: I apologize. End of story. Anything more would be equivocation.
Coupla Junkiez
Sorry I've been a little AWOL today, Shakers. I've been helping my oft-mentioned girlfriend Miller set up a blog. She just said to me, "I'm not even sure yet how often I'll use it."
Yeah, I said the same thing once.
Enjoy your impending addiction, darling.
I Write Letters
Dear Rush Limbaugh, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, et. al.:
I do not wish to touch your balls, to cut them from your bodies or for any other reason. I do not wish to even contemplate the existence of your testicles, and, although I understand and pity the profound insecurity that must underlie associations between favorable commentary about powerful women and the removal of your nutsack, I must inform you that it is sheer fantasy. I would, in fact, suggest that there is an inversely proportional relationship between a favorable interest in women like Hillary Clinton and any interest whatsoever in what's in your pants.
Also: Castrating feminist jokes are so 1987. Get a new shtick.
Love,
Liss
