The other day Liss and I were talking and she said "Doesn't it seem like we don't even have a government right now? When was the last time there was a major piece of legislation worth discussing?"
I replied, "It's totally like working someplace that is going out of business, and it's like the last couple weeks and everyone's sort of sitting around wondering, hey, should we maybe sweep up or something, but then they think, fuck it, why bother."
Liss added, "It's like we're all just waiting for January Twentieth of next year so the country can start again. Political purgatory."
234 days until something happens.
Killing Time
Minute Sixteen
So, I wrote yesterday about trans-bashing airhead Christian Siriano, and I was surprised to discover that he's already issued an "apology." I can only assume someone close to him managed to penetrate the cloud of Aquanet to get it through his thick skull that you don't fuck with trans people and drag queens. They were the soldiers in your revolution; show some respect.
"I wish that my words were not taken in that way," Siriano told GLAAD today. "When I was speaking, some comments that I made were not used in the article. I completely support the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration that most transgender people provide."
Yes, I'm sure whatever words you used that weren't used in the article totally made up for your sexist, classist, racist, transphobic attempt at being clever. But I see your brief turn in the spotlight has taught you that old "I was taken out of context" trick.
You gotta love that "most," too. Why, could you possible mean "most" transgender people, except for the "trannie messes?"
But it gets even more special; you're going to love the familiar friend he brings along to the party.
"I know plenty of trans people," he says. "Some of my best friends had the struggle finding themselves. As did I considering that I am a very flamboyant gay man. I mean no disrespect to the transgender population and I never will. Some of my close friends happen to be transgender and I think they are some of the most inspiring people in my life."Yep.
He said it.
"Some of my best friends are."
Look, you offensive, spoiled little twit: Yes, it is difficult living life as a flamboyant gay man. But trans people have it infinitely more difficult than you do as a "flamboyant gay man" living in New York City, possessing tons of privilege, money and media attention. They hold courage you cannot begin to comprehend. And how dare you use that bigoted "some of my best friends are" canard to casually dismiss your constant mockery? Do you have the slightest fucking clue how often that very statement has been used to excuse homophobia and violence against LTBTQ persons? Christ.
On Project Runway, the designer practically invoked the word "trannie" at every turn, an offensive slur he is now actively working to remove from his vocabulary as he becomes more involved working with and representing the LGBT community.Wow. That sounds like a sentence that should be written about a privileged heterosexual person that had never come in contact with an LGBTQ person in their lives, not an openly gay man. He truly is clueless. And he doesn't represent me.
And you all laughed at me for loving Ricky. Snort. Harrumph.
(Update: I realized I forgot to rant about his "I completely support the fabulousness and amazing fashion inspiration that most transgender people provide." statement. Trans people don't exist to provide fashion inspiration for you. Not everything is about fashion. Trans people aren't dressing as their desired gender just to look good, you jackass; they're trying to live their everyday lives. And what, you support them when they look good, but not other times? Shut up while you're not ahead.)
(Much love and an Energy Dome tip to Damon at CineQueer. Siriano could learn a lot from GLAAD. He probably thinks it's a cling wrap company.)
Boston TV Host Fired for Criticizing Bill O'Reilly
Welcome to America 2.o, Barry Nolan:
CN8 host Barry Nolan, who publicly complained a few weeks ago about Bill O'Reilly receiving an award from the Boston chapter of National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, has been fired by the Comcast network. ... The host of "Backstage With Barry Nolan" had argued that O'Reilly, the volatile Fox News host and former Channel 7 anchor, was unworthy of the Governor's Award. (Past recipients include the likes of Mike Wallace, Ken Burns, and Natalie Jacobson.) "The idea of honoring someone who does their job with constant factual errors, name-calling, and mangling of the truth ... It's ridiculous," said Nolan, [who] was warned by his bosses at CN8 to pipe down, but at the May 10 dinner honoring O'Reilly he handed out a six-page document listing some of O'Reilly's wackier errors, utterances, and information about the talk-show host's sexual harassment settlement. ... He was immediately suspended without pay for two weeks and then fired over the phone Tuesday.Love that Nolan handed out pamphlets detailing O'Reilly's idiocy; can't believe he got shitcanned for it; really can't believe they did it over the damn phone.
Nolan blogged about the experience at Think Progress:
O'Reilly was an appalling choice, not because of his political views, but because he simply gets the facts wrong, abuses his guests and the powerless in general, is delusional, and, well, you might want to Google: Narcissistic Personality Disorder.I don't have anything particularly brilliant to add to that, although perhaps CN8 would benefit from hearing from some polite, teaspoon-wielding folks who don't appreciate their decision to fire someone for reporting facts. Email or call toll free: 1-877-862-9374.
Plus there was that whole sexual harassment thing – the lawsuit he settled for an estimated $10 million. Not the kind of guy you normally think of when it comes time to pass out honors.
I found that most of my colleagues felt the same way. So, on May 10th at the Emmy Awards dinner, I quietly passed out a document that contained – not my opinion – but O'Reilly's own words and quotes from his sexual harassment lawsuit. And that is what got me fired. I got fired from my job on a news and information network for reporting demonstrably true things in a room full of news people.
Hillary Sexism Watch, #104
This is just getting fucking ridiculous: Chicago Priest, Father Michael Pfleger, guest ministering at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gives a sermon on white privilege and entitlement (cool) and uses the occasion to tear into Hillary Clinton with wanton misogyny and accusations of racism (not cool):
Transcript from 1:58: I don't really want to make this political, 'cause you know I'm very unpolitical [laughter], but when Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on. I really believe that she just always thought: "This is mine." [applause] "I'm Bill's wife; I'm white; and this is mine! I just gotta get up and step into [sic] the plate." And then outta nowhere came: "Hey, I'm Barack Obama." And she said, "Aww, damn! Where did you come from?! I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!" [cheers and applause] Waaaaaaaah! [pretends to weep and cry; wipes face with hankie] Waaaaaaaah! She wasn't the only one crying; there was a whole lotta white people crying!"
Pfleger's apology was about as mature as his original offense: "These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them." If. The ultimate non-apology apology. And of course no acknowledgement that what he said is just intrinsically fucking wrong, aside from whether they're "inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message."
Meanwhile, given yet another opportunity to specifically denounce the misogyny being wielded against Clinton, Obama chose yet again to wholly ignore it: "As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."
He didn't even mention Clinton by name.
And, no, I don't think that Obama ought to be held responsible for what gets said at his church, no less by some visiting minister. What I do think is that, given that he was nonetheless asked about it, he could have taken time to say a couple freaking words at long last about the misogyny that has been used repeatedly and unabashedly against his opponent, even if it's just something as simple as, "As a husband to a woman, a father to two daughters, and a person who believes in the fundamental equality of women, I abhor that kind of rhetoric being used to demean any woman." Dammit, I just really don't understand why that's so fucking hard.
I am so sick of this shit.
[Hat tips to Shaker DD and my local news. Video via Talk Left.]
[Hillary Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-One, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, Thirty-Seven, Thirty-Eight, Thirty-Nine, Forty, Forty-One, Forty-Two, Forty-Three, Forty-Four, Forty-Five, Forty-Six, Forty-Seven, Forty-Eight, Forty-Nine, Fifty, Fifty-One, Fifty-Two, Fifty-Three, Fifty-Four, Fifty-Five, Fifty-Six, Fifty-Seven, Fifty-Eight, Fifty-Nine, Sixty, Sixty-One, Sixty-Two, Sixty-Three, Sixty-Four, Sixty-Five, Sixty-Six, Sixty-Seven, Sixty-Eight, Sixty-Nine, Seventy, Seventy-One, Seventy-Two, Seventy-Three, Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five, Seventy-Six, Seventy-Seven, Seventy-Eight, Seventy-Nine, Eighty, Eighty-One, Eighty-Two, Eighty-Three, Eighty-Four, Eighty-Five, Eighty Six, Eighty-Seven, Eighty-Eight, Eighty-Nine, Ninety, Ninety-One, Ninety-Two, Ninety-Three, Ninety-Four, Ninety-Five, Ninety-Six, Ninety-Seven, Ninety-Eight, Ninety-Nine, One Hundred, 101, 102, 103.]
Question of the Day
Because I am a huge romantic, this is my present to Iain for our upcoming anniversary. I was so excited about it that I had to be a spoiler and show it to him immediately; he has already declared it his new favorite t-shirt:
WWHMD? How awesome is that?
So, today's QotD is: What's your favorite t-shirt? My favorite has to be a Lost (ZOMG Lost finale tonight!!!11!) t-shirt reading "Dharma University" with a picture of a polar bear. Tied with my Atari t-shirt.
Harvey Korman - 1927-2008
From CNN:
What an amazing talent, what a wonderful comedian, and what a loss. I used to watch Carol Burnett just to see if she could crack him up, and I loved him in all of Mel Brooks' movies.Comic actor Harvey Korman has died at 81, according to the UCLA Medical Center.
Harvey Korman's death comes after complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Korman died at the center four months after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
"It was a miracle in itself that he survived the incident at all. Everyone in the hospital referred to him as 'miracle man' because of his strong will and ability to bounce right back after several major operations," said Korman's daughter, Kate Korman. "Tragically, after such a hard-fought battle, he passed away."
Korman was a regular on "The Carol Burnett Show" from 1967 through 1978, for which he won Emmy awards in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1974. He also won a Golden Globe for his work on the series.
The lanky Korman also appeared in Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" (as the sneering Hedley Lamarr), "High Anxiety" and "History of the World, Part 1."
God speed, Hedy Lamarr. ("That's Hedley!")
(Cross-posted.)
Need a Laugh?
Shaker Rowan passes on this gem from Jacki Schechner at AmericaBlog:
John and Joe invited me to podcast again with them today, and we addressed the issue of sexism and misogyny in the current Democratic primary. I personally haven't seen or heard of any... Give me an example. Like I said, I can't think of any time that Clinton's being female has come up in conversation as a reason to vote against her. Where's this sexism taking place? Not on TV. Not online where I read and communicate. Point it out. I'll be happy to speak up against it.Well, gee, I can think of A HUNDRED AND THREE EXAMPLES right off the top of my head. Eric Boehlert's got some more here that aren't included in my list. And, say, here's a thread with about a billion more examples!
Btw, I love the construct that sexism only matters if it's used specifically in the context of "a reason to vote against her." Right. And everyone thinks the Curious George "Obama in '08" t-shirt is fine and dandy since it doesn't explicitly say "Don't vote for Obama." Christ.
You See? You See?
Oh, you all pooh-poohed me. When I was driven to fist-clenching by his grating voice, his obnoxious behavior and his constant, constant, CONSTANT trilling of "That's fierce!" you all laughed at me. You laughed! I said he was a privileged, spoiled, offensive little brat, and everyone cooed "But his clothes are so beautiful!"
Well, who's laughing now? Ah-ha-ha!
Christian Siriano: If you think of heterosexuals, they have white-trash women and trailer parks, and we have drag queens and trannies. I don’t know if I’m the one who can explain it. It’s, like, drag queens are just there. These answers are hard!Wow, sexist, classist, racist and transphobic. This is the bozo that Time Out New York decides to quiz regarding gay "culture," as if he'd know culture if it fell out of the sky, landed in his lap, and did the chicken dance. (Seeing him in the company of the other LGBTQ activists in that panel is frankly embarrassing.) This is a guy that thinks "Too Wong Foo" is, ahem, fabulous. Blech. I'm amazed he was able to keep himself from saying "fierce," it's his catchphrase, after all!
And please, spare me the "he's only 23" stuff. I was an asshole when I was in my early 20's and I would never consider calling drag queens and trans people "trash." Not all people in their 20's are this repugnant. If it weren't for the fucking drag queens on Christopher Street, you wouldn't have your sweet little five minutes of fame, Christian. (Tick, tick, by the way.) I love how when asked an interesting question of actual substance:
Why do we all seem to end up in our own little niches in the city—the leather queens over here, the gay Asians over there, the lesbians on the other side, etc.?He has nothing to say. Literally; it's the only question he didn't answer. I guess he couldn't work in a way to call someone a "tranny mess." Wow, color me shocked. In fierce pink.
Forgive me, Shakers, I just have to indulge in this little bit of schadenfreude. Nothing pisses off this queer like gay men that happily exploit the freedom given to them by the most marginalized members of our community while trashing those same people. And I hate it when people use "tranny" as an insult or mocking adjective. Let's face it, his clothes had Drag Queen written all over them; they'll be paying his salary in the future, if he's lucky.
And I still say everything he made was the same damn outfit.
(Energy Dome tip to (and photo stolen from) Feministe; although I flinch at the "drive-by" snark.)
One Small Step
Adding my two cents to Petulant's post...
New York Gov. David Paterson has instructed state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.
In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”This is the way that same-sex marriage will become the law of the land: not by some landmark legal decision handed down by the Supreme Court, but in incremental and manageable steps like this, city by city, state by state. It's less dramatic and it takes longer, but it also makes it harder for the opponents of equality for the gay and lesbian community to fight back; it's like playing Whack-A-Mole.
The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as “a strong step toward marriage equality.” And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.
It's also ironic; this is the same modus operandi that the Religious Reich used to win support for their agenda thirty years ago: infiltrate at the state and local level, the momentum will build from below. We learned, more's the pity, that it worked for them. Now it's our turn.
(Cross-posted.)
Oof
George Bush Authorized the Leak of Valerie Wilson's Identity: "Scottie McC doesn't know it yet. But that's basically what he revealed this morning on the Today Show. During the interview, Scottie revealed the two things that really pissed him off with the Bush Administration. First, being set up to lie by Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. And second, learning that Bush had—himself—authorized the selective leaking of the NIE."
Oof, I say again.
Beep Beep!
I like how the gauges and the steering wheel look like a smiley face.
Those aren't pictures of our actual car. They're just pictures of some other 2006 Ford Fusion in "Dune Pearl" (ooh la la) that I found online, because I was too lazy to walk my fat arse out to the driveway and take a picture.
Random Thoughts: It's such a load off our minds. With gas prices threatening to spike this summer and our Behemoth POS threatening to need costly repairs in the very near future just to keep it running, we started to feel like we were in a race against time before the dominoes starting falling. Neither of us fully realized how subliminally stressed about it we each were until we were riding home in the "new" car with a Mozza CD christening the CD player and no worry that we were going to break down at any moment.
And because we'd been driving a Behemoth POS, the better mileage on the newer, smaller car and better insurance rate will make the higher car payment a wash. Wheeeeeeeee!
When we were just at the dealership, the guy doing our financing said that some dude just bought a new Ford Expedition the other day and it cost them $113 to fill it for him. "And he probably ran out of gas before he pulled out of the parking lot!" He was actually laughing at his own customer for the idiocy of buying a giant gas guzzling SUV when everyone else is buying smaller and smaller cars. Ha.
Finally: This was a great car-buying experience. Aside from just being a low pressure, casual salesperson, the guy who helped us treated me like I had a brain and was an equal partner; he never made me feel like "the wife." I felt extremely comfortable with him, way more comfortable (and respected) by a long shot than I have ever felt with any car salesman in the past. He's going to get a nice email thanking him for that, and his boss will be getting a letter complimenting him for it, too. I'm also going to recommend him to anyone I know who's looking to buy a car.
It pays to be cool to uppity bitchez.
Quote of the Day
"Total crap."—Former White House Counselor Dan Bartlett on The McClellatron 3000's allegation that the media was soft on the White House in the run-up to the Iraq war.
He's right. That is total crap. They weren't soft; they were shamefully, despicably, criminally irresponsible.
I suspect that's not what Bartlett meant though, heh.
Army Suicides on the Rise
WASHINGTON - The number of Army suicides increased again last year, amid the most violent year yet in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.What really frustrates me about reading this is my feeling of helplessness. Here I am, a recently graduated mental health professional having difficulty finding a job, and I can't get a job at the VA, due to DADT.Two defense officials said Thursday that 108 troops committed suicide in 2007, six more than the previous year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the full report on the deaths wasn't being released until later Thursday.
About a quarter of the deaths occurred in Iraq.
The overall toll was the highest in many years, and it was unclear when, if ever, it was previously that high. Immediately available Army records go back only to 1990 and the figure then was lower — at 102 — for that year as well as 1991.
[...]
The increases come despite a host of efforts to improve the mental health of a force stressed by long and repeated tours of duty. Increasing the strain on the force last year was the extension of deployments to 15 months from 12 months, a practice that is being terminated this year.
I'd be interested to know what these "efforts" to improve mental health actually are, and how much they could possibly be helping when Army personnel are continually faced with extended deployments and multiple tours of duty. I read news like this and I wonder how people can still be pushing that "no one talks about the good things coming out of Iraq" pap.
Obama's Webb?
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been seeing little things here and there about the possibility of Virginia Senator Jim Webb, the Democratic convert who beat George "Macaca" Allen in 2006, being a great potential running mate for Obama, provided he's the nominee. Yesterday, there was a piece in the New York Observer, "What Jim Webb Is Worth to Obama," that detailed the pros and cons of an Obama-Webb ticket, ultimately finding: "[I]n a national campaign, what seemed dull in '06 might instead register as sober, responsible and reassuring. And, really, when the Republicans start calling him a weakling and a lightweight, is there anyone Obama would rather have by his side than Jim Webb?"
Huzzah...?
Not mentioned, of course, is that Webb's baggage includes a 1979 essay in the Washingtonian, "Women Can't Fight," in which Webb argued that there was no place for women in combat and therefore no place for them at the Naval Academy. (What's rarely been cited from that piece is his alarming claim that rape and domestic violence against women are attributable to "the realignment of sexual roles." Um, wow.) Webb also penned a piece for The Weekly Standard in 1997, "The War on the Military Culture," in which he said: "Political and military leaders must have the courage to ask clearly in what areas our current policies toward women in the military are hurting, rather than helping, the task of defending the United States."
And despite the widely-disseminated talking point issued by the Dems that Webb doesn't believe that shit anymore, he wasn't exactly running away from it with fervent regret when asked about it on Meet the Press in 2006:
Russert: Now you issued a statement, said, "to the extent my writing caused hardship," you were sorry. And Ms. Murray has sent me a letter saying, "That's not enough." It's not to the extent that "my writing caused hardship." The content of the article was just plain wrong, and Mr. Webb should say that. Do you agree?This is the look on Webb's face as he says how he "regrets" saying a placement at the Naval Academy is a horny woman's dream:
Webb: Um, this article was written from the perspective of a marine rifle platoon company commander, and, to that extent, I think it was, uh, way too narrowly based.
Russert: But was it wrong?
Webb: I don't think it was wrong to participate in the debate at that time. It's been 27 years, it's a magazine article, and, uh, it's something, if I may say, I'm fully comfortable with the roles of women in the military today; I've been all around the world and, uh, at the request of many women commanders, this issue was vetted twice, in, uh, Senate confirmation hearings, 1984, 1987, uh, and both times I expressed my views on, uh, women in military billets, and when I was Secretary of the Navy, on my own initiative, I put together a task force that, where we ended up opening up more, uh, more billets, operational billets to women than any sector—
Russert: When you say [crosstalk] the Naval Academy is a horny woman's dream, you regret that?
Webb: Well, I do regret that.
Yeah, he regrets that like I regret voting for Al Gore.
I cannot begin to express what a terrible, terrible, terrible idea it would be for the Democratic Party to allow Jim Webb onto the national ticket after this primary season, for reasons I'm guessing I don't need to explain. I resent the idea that sticking any old pair of boobs in the veep slot is going to mollify the women who are rightfully angry with the way Clinton has been treated by her own party during this primary (yeah, I'm looking at you, Leahy, just for a start), but I resent even more the notion that it doesn't matter at all. Handing the veep slot to Webb on an Obama ticket would be a huge slap in the face to feminists. I can think of almost nothing that would prevent me from voting for the Democratic ticket this November, but putting Webb's name on it would send me screaming Green without reservation—because it wouldn't just be about Webb; it would be about the Democrats signaling that they just don't give a shit about my vote.
And, realistically, that's part of why the whole Roe v Wade cudgel isn't working to batter feminists into line like it used to; the Democrats have been weak on protecting choice—and, hence, women's autonomy—for fucking years now. Sure, Roe's still in place, but the GOP has successfully chipped away at abortion rights on the federal and state levels for two decades. The point is, certainly the Democrats will nominate and approve justices who will protect Roe, but if they aren't willing to protect it from being rendered an impotent and largely symbolic statute because it's been hollowed out by "partial-birth abortion bans" and "parental consent laws" and state legislatures that refuse to fund clinics offering abortions, what does it really matter if they protect Roe? Feminists who are paying attention to what's happened to practical choice in this country know that the Roe card is already functionally meaningless at this point in large swaths of the country.
Empty promises to guarantee Roe aren't going to do it. The Dems are falling down on the job of serving their feminist constituents in general and women specifically. Putting Webb on the ticket would not reassure us; it would only hasten the process of driving us from the party, once and for all.
Question of the Day
Since Iain and I were out this evening car shopping (and, if everything goes through, touch wood, will tomorrow morning trade in our current, near-death Behemoth POS for a beautifully zippy and cheap used Ford Fusion), the obvious QotD is: What kind of car do you drive? (Or, if you don't drive a car, what's your usual mode of transport?)
