Seen
By Papa Shakes on a sign outside a dry cleaners' yesterday (in fact, the same one that had the charming "Moms Are God's Babysitters" message last year): "Happy Mothers' Day to all mothers who read this."
Said Papa Shakes: "If your mom isn't reading this, she can take a flying leap."
Barr 4 Pres
Spoil, spoil, toil and trouble:
Saying that none of the other presidential candidates are talking about the most important issues -- including what he sees as the need to "re-shape this country in the image of our Founding Fathers" -- former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia just officially he is entering the race for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination.Yup. Go get 'em, Barrbarella!
…Barr was asked whether he might be a spoiler and contribute to a defeat for Republican John McCain in November -- much as many analysts believe third-party candidate Ralph Nader cost Democrat Al Gore the White House in 2000 by siphoning away votes in Florida.
Barr said such talk doesn't concern him. It will be McCain's fault, not his, if the Republican loses in November, Barr said. "The American voter deserves better than the lesser of two evils," he added.
Occasionally, Bob Barr seemingly talks sense, but don't be fooled—he is a fire-breathing conservative who drafted the Defense of Marriage Act, staunchly apposes abortion, has been a speaker before the Council of Conservative Citizens which is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and was described as "the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics."
Ya know—exactly the kind of people on the right side of the aisle who don't like McCain. Heh.
T-Shirt Society
Shaker Dean Lewis just emailed me about a new feature at CNN.com, whereby you can get their headlines printed on a t-shirt. A little t-shirt icon appears next to the headline links on the front page:
…and when you click on the t-shirt, it redirects you to a page with the headline shown on a t-shirt, followed by "I just saw it on CNN.com" followed by a timestamp:
Why anyone could even want this capability, I have no idea. But it's interesting that the t-shirt icon doesn't appear by every headline—and the selection is somewhat curious. It's understandable they didn't think "5 toilets for 35,000; little clean drinking water" or "Rape victim wants DNA database expanded" or "Dying groom says, 'I do' from hospital bed" or "Half of kindergartner's brain to be removed" were appropriate for their zany t-shirting fun, but why, I wonder, do they think that "Skimpy prom dress lands teen in cuffs" is? You know, some things just don't belong on a t-shirt, and I don't have much faith in CNN to discern the difference.
No good can come of this. I give it one month before I see it next to a rape headline.
That, of course, won't be using the word rape.
More Spying, Fewer Results
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, spying is up in the United States. But what have we got to show for it? Not much.
The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.Not to worry, says the Bush administration. Just because we've got nothing to show for it doesn't mean that spies -- real or imagined -- aren't being caught and aren't being dealt with.
The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it.
Law enforcement officials say the additional surveillance powers have been critically important in ways the public does not always see. Threats can be mitigated, they say, by deporting suspicious people or letting them know that authorities are watching them."Snuff out potential threats," huh? That sounds like some Steven Segal-like macho movie antics where the rogue agent takes out the evil spy with, as they say, extreme prejudice, or they just ... disappear.
"The fact that the prosecutions are down doesn't mean that the utility of these investigations is down. It suggests that these investigations may be leading to other forms of prevention and protection," said Thomas Newcomb, a former Bush White House national security aide. He said there were half a dozen actions outside of the criminal courts that the government could take to snuff out potential threats, including using diplomatic or military channels.
[...]
The emphasis on spy programs also is starting to give pause to some members of Congress who fear the government is investing too much in anti-terrorism programs at the expense of traditional crime-fighting. Other lawmakers are raising questions about how well the FBI is performing its counter-terrorism mission.
Look, I want to catch the bad guys as much as anyone, but we have -- or at least we used to have -- something called the "rule of law" here. I know it's "quaint" for some people to think that things like the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions might apply to people caught spying, and if they are caught, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But if they're not catching them or not prosecuting them, what's the point of all the spying in the first place except to reinforce a very healthy paranoia?
Oh, right...it's an election year.
(Cross-posted.)
34
So, last night, at 10:57pm, I officially turned 34 years old.
That means I've outlived John Belushi, Chris Farley, Carole Lombard, Sam Cooke, Alexander the Great, and Jesus Christ, who all died at age 33.
Looking at that list, it really seems like I should have a more impressive empire by now, but I guess I'm a late bloomer.
Yesterday, someone asked me how old I was turning, and I had to think about it for a moment. When I was a kid, when it really mattered precisely how old I was (and it was never old enough), I used to think it was a ridiculous affectation of adulthood to pretend to not know how old you were. When one of my parents, or some other adult, would have to stop and do the math to figure out their own age, I'd roll my eyes exasperatedly, convinced there would never be a time when a person would stop caring about her or his own age, when it would be so infrequently top of mind that you could easily forget that second digit.
Now I get it. Okay, what year is it? '08? Right, that makes me 34.
There was also a time when I couldn't conceive of being totally unable to come up with suggestions for birthday presents, when, truly, all I wanted was a lovely, romantic evening out with my husband, and a (separate) lovely evening out with my husband and parents. Unrushed, uninterrupted, languid time with people I love. And that's what I got—plus a few extra wee goodies, like a beautiful bouquet of wildflowers and some very sexy chef's knives.
(Which may come in useful in the kitchen, and possibly also to expedite the expansion of my empire. Contemplating Alexander the Great has made me feel unaccomplished. I'm certain he had better weaponry.)
I also got a birthday card "from the Lost crew," care of Mama Shakes. Seriously, I cannot even tell you how hard I was laughing when I read all the signatures, each in their own handwriting, natch.
(Click to embiggen.)
Mama Shakes, always being the A-student—you see from whence I get this shit—even looked up how to write "Happy Birthday" in Korean to sign it from Sun and Jin.
Brilliant.
34 looks all right so far.
Blog Note: Back to Flat
Since moving the comment system to Disqus, we've been learning more about how it operates and how best to make it work for all of us, given its current functionality.
One of the things we've learned is that threaded/nested comments is that it makes identifying the newest threaded comments more difficult—which, in turn, makes moderating them more difficult. So, we're changing the comment format back to flat, which is what everyone was used to previously. If, at some point, Disqus adds the ability to more easily identify the new comments in a nested thread, then we might consider switching back.
But for now, flat's where it's at for Shakesville.
I'd also like to thank everyone for being patient while we work out the growing pains of the new system.
Update: The "reply" link has been removed.
The Magic Number
There's been a lot of talk, since just about forever, that Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race. We've discussed it endlessly, and will likely do so until a nominee is selected, perhaps even after that. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to whether she should run, should have run, should continue to run, deserves to run, has earned the right to run, wank wank wank ad infinitum.
Lately there been a lot of claims that Obama has already won, and so, as these things invariably conclude, Clinton should hang it up. "Fair and square" is how one recent commenter described Obama's victory. But allow me to interject:
2,025 delegates are needed to win the nomination. Obama has 1,865 delegates. Clinton has 1,697.
It's been a long time since I've been in a math class, I'll admit that, but I'm pretty sure the principles of mathematics haven't changed much. I think if they had, I'd have seen it on Yahoo News by now.
Math being what it has been since the time of Archimedes, 1,865 is still less than 2,025. And as such, Obama hasn't won the nomination. And neither has Clinton.
Jumping on the Bandwagon
Since Liss and Petulant got the '70s-kid-pic ball rolling, I'll go ahead and post this one of my late mom and me, taken in November 1975.
As people pointed out over at Shapely Prose, the best part about it (besides my mom's shirt), is that I'm making the same face there as I am in my icon photo. Hee!
Happy last couple hours of Mother's Day, y'all.
Happy Mothers' Day
Mama Shakes looking gorgeous and me making a WTF face, 1975.
(Shades of the Pink Petulance to come...)
Happy Mothers' Day to all the Shaker mothers (and grandmothers, and godmothers, and aunties) whose love and care, for the fortunate among us, made us who we are.
Thank you, Mama Shakes, for always encouraging me to be me, and for letting me be weird, and for reading to me every night before bedtime, and for never being critical of the way I look, and for watching Lost with me, and for loving me even when I fuck up or annoy you, and a million other things. I love you.
OMG Burfday Shoez
Rocket Dog's Brown Scotch Plaid Wedge Mary Janes
They just arrived a couple of days ago, and I am so wearing them today, it's not even funny. I lurrrrrrve them. They are also surprisingly comfortable! (At Shoes.com.)
Unlike the shoez I wore last night when Iain took me out for dinner, which are big time drop-me-off-at-the-door shoez. But worth it.
(Occasionally. I've had them for years and only worn them a handful of times.)
You may have sussed by now I have an inordinate fondness for Mary Janes.
Let Me Be The First to Say . . . .
Let us all kneel and wish our glorious Queen Cunt of Fuck Mountain felicitations and Many Happy Returns of the Day!
For yeah, verily, though she may torture us with changing comment systems, still her strong 'Lissy-Smash arm shall guard us against trollage, and her OMGShoez shall stomp mightily upon the heads of the asshatted!
For yeah, verily, though she may torture us with changing comment systems, still her strong 'Lissy-Smash arm shall guard us against trollage, and her OMGShoez shall stomp mightily upon the heads of the asshatted!Raise a Might Cheer!
(And Get Thine Ass Over to the Donation Box >>> to leave her a Birthday Gift, already.)
Actual Headline
From CNN:
Wedding bells toll for first daughterWedding bells usually "peal" or "chime." Bells toll at funerals.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
I dinny ken about you,
but I need a fookin' drink!
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Blog Note: New Commenting System
The time has come for us to finally ditch Haloscan. Actually, that time came quite some time ago, but we never had a decent alternative.
Until now.
The main reason for our moving to Disqus is that it offers better moderating tools, and it's better suited to Shakesville's dynamic community. It's actually more than just a commenting system; it's also a community building system.
As part of managing comments with Disqus, we have our own community page. Think of this page as a comment portal for Shakesville. You can see all of the active discussions taking place on each post, and even subscribe to the ones you are interested in via RSS feeds!
One of the features that I think you'll really like is threaded comments. For those who are not familiar, threading of comments means that you will be able to directly reply to someone else's comment. Once you're done with the reply it will appear as an indented sub-comment under the one you replied to. Keep in mind, however, that we have set a maximum thread depth of 3 so that we don't end up with endless replies scrolling off the right side of the screen. :)
Instead of a popup window, clicking the comment link will now bring you to the individual post page and immediately place you at the top of the comments. To add a comment, just scroll to the bottom and add away, or reply to an existing comment as mentioned above.
OK - I'm totally not getting any kickback whatsoever from Disqus LOL. I'm just trying to let you know that the growing pains will be worth your while.
Please leave any questions or issues in comments!
Note: Apologies that we're going to lose some conversations mid-thread; that was always going to be a problem no matter when we did it—and we're sorry about that. Also FYI: Blogger's kind of hosed today, so if the site is running slowly, it's just that, not any difference in performance due to Disqus.
Update: Anyone using IE as their browser should now be able to see the number of comments from the main page.
Period.
I don't know why R. Kelly is looking at kiddie porn charges, and not statutory rape charges, I haven't really followed the case. I did just want to point out how the AP, yet again, refuses to call rape what it is. Instead Kelly is described as "having sex with a girl as young as 13." As has been pointed out numerous times, sex with children is rape. Period.
As purple is to lavender…
A certain Jaime sent this bitch an e-mail asking whether I believe that Senator Clinton’s run for the Democratic nomination has produced a split in feminism.
Blink.
Great question and a nice segue into a topic this bitch has been agonizing about since WAM!, so double thanks to you Jaime (wink).
Shall we?
A bitch has written and re-written this post so many times that I’m embarrassed to call out the number. I have come to the realization that my ass just needs to keep it real and not worry about style.
So, for better and hopefully not for worse, here’s where I’m at.
Senator Clinton’s run for the Democratic nomination has not produced a split in feminism. It just flushed away a lot of that tolerance bullshit and exposed a rift that’s been there since way back in the day.
This bitch just watched Iron Jawed Angels again and found myself screaming at the television set because it ended in a ‘go forth, sister, and be inspired by what these brave women did for you’ GreatBigHappyFuckingEnding after only a token acknowledgement of the deliberate cave by leaders of the Suffrage Movement to southern bigotry that left women of color on the curb for another 40 years!
But then I remembered my blood pressure and had to go to my calm happy place.
Shit.
This rift ain’t new and it is layered with issues of class, race, orientation and identity that all play a role in our goals and tactics. The reason it may seem new is because we haven’t had a happening that demanded an unavoidable examination of our values and our goals in some time.
As my beloved father used to say, you don’t have to do anything but stay brown and eventually die. This is about what we choose to do and why we make the choices we make.
In that spirit, here’s my choice - this bitch ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.
I am and I will continue to be as purple is to lavender.
I honor the decisions of those WOC who have decided to step back or stop blogging. This shit ain’t easy and it can be frustrating as hell. I hope they will return to add their voices to the chorus…but I understand if they don’t.
Pause…consider…continue.
As some of you know a bitch is not a fan of the school of tolerance and I blame a lot of this current drama on it.
We all need to do some inner work and ask ourselves some serious questions.
How do I define feminism?
Do I consider myself a part of the feminist movement?
Do I consider myself womanist?
Why do I consider myself a part of this movement?
What do I mean by the word oppression?
What do I mean by the word privilege?
What do I mean by the word progressive?
Am I keeping shit real and calling out those on the left for shit I would mercilessly correct had it come from the right?
Am I committed to social justice and do my actions reflect that commitment?
Only after we know ourselves can we be a part of something that will educate others and change the world for the better. Otherwise our unexamined drama will surface and define not just who we are but also what the movement is.
This isn’t a call for everyone to gather ‘round a campfire, feast on S’Mores and Come On Get Happy.
This is about keeping shit real…
…and a little something I like to call respect.
Crossposted at AngryBlackBitch.com
Lost Open Thread
Last night's episode was SO. FOOKING. AWESOME.
I am slightly embarrassed to admit Iain and I high-fived each other several times during the show.
