This should be obvious, but let me make it clear: the people who foisted George W. Bush on the world do not have the right to criticize Barack Obama for being inexperienced or arrogant.
Estelle Getty Passes Away
I know several dozen gay men that are going to be very distraught.
LOS ANGELES - Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84.Ms. Getty was fantastic on that show, and I love that she played Harvey Fierstein's mother in "Torch Song Trilogy;" I'm sure she was amazing in that role. Advanced dementia is so horrible; I hope she has finally found peace, and my condolences to her family.
Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.
"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
Big Douche Confirms: "Yes, I'm A Douche!"
It should be no surprise that professional bullshit shoveler Michael "Savage" Weiner is refusing to back down from his earlier comments that autistic children are just "brats." Weiner has "no intention of apologizing," according to the New York Times. "In my readings," says Weiner "there is no definitive medical diagnosis for autism."
In my readings, Weiner's a bigoted, hateful, cowardly little man who should be ashamed to open his mouth.
Hmm
Do John McCain's frequent "gaffes" really have to be because he's old? Couldn't they just be because he's an idiot?
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Ginviren: What have you done that your family will absolutely NOT let you live down?
Says Ginviren:
For me, it was when I was 7 years old. My parents were recently divorced, and my mom was back in school to become a teacher. She would drop me and my sibs off at my grandparents' house in the morning so they could take us to school.There are dozens of these I could mention, but the first one that came to mind is when we were watching the news one night (I was about 14) and some guy was broadcasting a sports story from the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. It was abbreviated as "UIC Pavilion" under his headshot, and—thinking it was his name, rather than his location—I misread it as "Vic Pavilion."
One morning, I was watching TV (probably Saved by the Bell or something), and my grandma said, "Gin, would you like to come help me make the bed?" Now, being a 7-year-old who did NOT understand rhetorical devices, I promptly responded, "No thank you, Grandma."
Uh, yeah...that didn't go over so well. Even today, my family members will say "Don't ask Gin to do that, she will just tell you no!" It's 20 years later...I think it's time to let it die. LOL!
"What an odd name—Vic Pavilion… Wait, no. That's a U. How would you say that? Yoo-ick Pavilion?"
My parents must have laughed at me for ten million years. And the UIC Pavilion has forever been known at Parental Manor as the Yoo-ick Pavilion.
It's also, of course, still the easiest way to imply that I'm being a dumbass about something twenty years hence. If I get a name wrong: "I wonder if he knows Yoo-ick Pavilion?" If I get a location wrong: "I wonder if that's anywhere near the Yoo-ick Pavilion?" Sigh.
Happy Blogiversary...
...to OuyangDan at Random Babble, celebrating one year of random (and not-so-random) babbling, along with a hell of a lot of thoughtful stuff, too.
I Write Letters
Dear Sony:
My friend Erica emailed me about the hottt new PlayStation game you've got in production, Fat Princess. It looks and sounds just adorable—
Frantic and fun, Fat Princess pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale. Your goal is to rescue your beloved princess from the enemy dungeon. There's a catch though: your adversary has been stuffing her with food to fatten her up and it's going to take most of your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield.—but the only thing I can't figure out is why anyone would want to rescue a fat princess in the first place, since everyone knows that fat girls are unlovable human garbage at whom any sensible bloke would sooner hurl invective than cast a longing glance.
I sure hope there's a clever dénouement like the Fat Princess magically becoming thin once she's rescued! 'Cuz that would rock, yo!
Anyway, congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes. It's not often I have the opportunity to congratulate a cutting-edge tech company on such splendiferous retrofuck jackholery. Way to go! The Fat Princess of Shakes Manor salutes you.
Love,
Liss
P.S. The PS2 sucked.
P.P.S. There's an update here.
This Is What Leadership Looks Like
Last Thursday, I posted the letter penned by Senators Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray, addressed to Secretary Michael O. Leavitt of the Department of Health and Human Services in response to the Bush administration proposal re: "conscience clauses" and redefining contraception as abortion.
Today, Clinton published a post at RH Reality Check (and HuffPo) responding to the "outrageous attempt by the Bush Administration to undermine women's rights."
We can't let them get away with this underhanded move to undermine women's health and that's why I am sounding the alarm. These rules pose a serious threat to providers and uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. … The regulations could even invalidate state laws that currently ensure access to contraception for many Americans.She's also opened a petition to contact Secretary Leavitt, which you can read and sign here.
"This is a gratuitous, unnecessary insult to the women of the United States of America. … It is an end-run around the rights of women to make choices about our own health, and we are not going to stand for it. … We will fight you every step of the way."
Full transcript below. Sign the petition.
The more I learn about these proposed rules by the Bush administration, the more appalled I am and the more determined I am to stop them. This is a gratuitous, unnecessary insult to the women of the United States of America.
These rules pose a dire threat to women's health, to healthcare providers, and to uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. It is a disgrace, but, unfortunately, it is not a surprise. The Bush administration has long put ideology and politics ahead of science and women's health—and it's the women of our country, particularly the low-income and uninsured women, who pay the price.
As soon as I heard about these proposed rules, I joined with my friend and colleague, Senator Patty Murray, in the Senate, and wrote to the Secretary of Health and Human Services urging him formally to reconsider and reject the release of these rules.
I have fought these battles before. Senator Murray and I had to fight with the Bush administration over the course of several years to demand that a decision be made about emergency contraception. We won that fight and we will win this fight as well.
Here's what the Bush administration wants to do: They want to allow healthcare providers to classify many common forms of contraception as abortions and therefore refuse to provide contraception to women who need it, even when the states, like New York, have laws on the books to ensure access to contraception.
So just imagine what this means. Under these proposed rules, health insurance plans could disregard state laws that require covering prescription medications and prescription contraception by claiming that contraception is abortion. Women would watch their contraceptive coverage disappear overnight.
And that's not all.
Imagine that a sexual assault survivor walks into the emergency room, and—in our state, we are one of fourteen states with laws guaranteeing access to emergency contraception, but, under these Bush rules, an ideologically-driven hospital administrator, or an emergency room supervisor, or a doctor or a nurse on duty, could deny this woman access to emergency contraception. So the woman who survived the assault would now be at risk for becoming pregnant, denied the care she needs in her hour of greatest need.
These rules would also build new barriers to counseling, education, contraception and preventive health services for those in need. It is an end-run around the rights of women to make choices about our own health, and we are not going to stand for it.
And, therefore, I am joining my colleagues in the Senate and the House to send a message to the Bush administration: We will fight you every step of the way.
Quote of the Day
"Out of Egyptian women and men interviewed, most believe that women who wear tight clothes deserve to be harassed."—From a report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, detailing results of a survey in which 62% of Egyptian men reported perpetrating harassment, 83% of Egyptian women reported having been sexually harassed, and a majority of both sexes agree that "women themselves are to blame for their mistreatment" and "should be home by 8 p.m."
[H/T to Shaker TS.]
Monday Blogaround
Sock it to me, Shakers.
Recommended Reading:
Athenae: My Priorities Make Me Better Than You
Monica Roberts: Repeat After Me: All Black Transwomen AREN'T Hookers
Brownfemipower: Disney, Blackness, Gender, Princess…
Twisty: Pornulation Empowerfulizes Us, Say Humorous Ironic Hotties
Tracey: Men Beware…
Think Progress: During a Segment on Education, Fox News Misspells the Word 'Education'
Leave your links in comments…
Interesting Strategy
When interesting = exasperating and counterproductive.
Therefore, you know it's got to be another Totally Awesome StrategyTM care of the Damn Dems:
In a sign that senior Democratic officials remain deeply concerned that post-primary bitterness could imperil Barack Obama's chances, two top Democratic officials have emailed a sharply-worded letter to major donors and other leading Dems confessing "fatigue and irritation" at those withholding full support from Obama and demanding that they get behind him "without conditions or demands."So, here's the thing: Aside from ignoring basic human psychology, which means that the belligerent tone of this letter (time to act in a mature fashion?!) will likely only make the "Democratic Friends" whom it's addressing more entrenched in their belief that the Democratic Party doesn't give a fat flying fart about them aside from their votes, it also ignores three other rather important details.Dear Democratic Friends:
2008 is a Democratic year-at all levels in all the states. The opportunity is ours. We just have to seize it.
We experienced an exciting, intense, sometimes difficult, campaign to nominate our presidential candidate. Now it's over. Barack Obama won.
I supported Hillary Clinton and am proud and pleased that I did. But she lost. Barack Obama won. It's over.
It is time for all Democrats, supporters of Senator Clinton and all other contenders for the nomination, to stand with him to secure his election and the election of Democrats at all levels of competition.
I must confess a bit of fatigue and irritation with people who continue to carp, complain, and criticize the results of the primary and lay down conditions for their support. The Los Angeles Lakers didn't establish conditions to recognize the Boston Celtics as NBA Champions; Roger Federer did not demand concessions before recognizing that Rafael Nadal defeated him at Wimbledon.
It is time to act in a mature and resourceful fashion. It's time to put the primaries behind us. It's time to support Barack Obama without conditions or demands.
It's time to WIN for Barack Obama, the Democratic Party, America, and our future. We have an unparalleled opportunity. I hope we will all do everything we can to seize the moment.
See you at the Inauguration.
Sincerely,
Don Fowler
DNC Member At-Large, South Carolina
Former Chair of the Democratic National Committee
Alice Germond
Secretary, Democratic National Committee
1. Obama has alienated plenty of his own primary supporters since securing the nomination. I personally know several people who voted for him in the primary who now regret that vote and are considering not voting for him in the general, either because of his FISA vote or his tack right on reproductive rights, or both. That has fuck-all to do with Hillary Clinton, and fuck-all to do with Clinton supporters—except insofar as it underlines that there are legitimate ("mature") reasons to find disagreement with Obama.
2. The letter also implicitly suggests that no one had any legitimate ("mature") reasons to support Obama, either. By masking the existence of real policy differences, campaign strategies, disparity in experience, and personal distinctions between Obama and Clinton, by treating them as if they don't matter, in order to assert that "supporters of Senator Clinton and all other contenders for the nomination" have no reason not to support Obama, the authors rob him of his unique "pros" as a nominee, suggesting he's just another label slapped on the same generic brand as all the rest of the contenders.
Is that really something they want to be saying about their nominee? Seems a pretty foolish strategy to me. The contenders were not interchangeable—and I fail utterly to see how Obama benefits from the suggestion that they were.
3. Everyone's vote is their own to do with what they will. No one reflexively owes the Democrats anything—they are supposed to earn people's votes, and would do well to remember that instead of acting like just not being as bad as the GOP is sufficient, especially when just not being as bad as the GOP still means being actively hostile to progressive issues. Some people just aren't willing to cast an affirmative vote for a party who's doing damage, just because it's less damage than the other guys.
The fact is, for a lot of people, the last 8 years have made them more resolved to vote their principles, rather than compromising them to try to prevent the worst from happening, because we've seen the Democrats act as spineless enablers as or more frequently than as a vibrant and principled opposition. That effectively makes lots of progressive Democratic voters feel like tacit supporters of policies they despise—and if compromising one's ethics buys the same result as not, why compromise? Increasingly, there is no good answer to that question.
The Democrats have no one to blame for that but themselves.
And, by the way, bullying progressives wary and mistrustful of the party and/or its nominee by barking that it's "time to support Barack Obama without conditions or demands" is categorically stupid. It confirms fears that the Democrats view their "special interest" voters as nothing but votes to exploit, certainly not people with genuine issues that need urgent addressing, and it echoes the dictatorial tone of the Bush administration to which genuine progressives have a chronic allergy.
I can't imagine who thought a condescending demand for fealty accompanied by the promise of nothing in return would be a good idea.
Someone check that letter for Bob Shrum's fingerprints.
[H/T to Shaker RKMK.]
Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch, #70
Remember the "hilarious" pin being sold at the Texas Republican Convention, asking "If Obama is president…will we still call it the White House?" (Ho ho.) Well, evidently, it wasn't the only "hilarious" novelty item being hawked there that featured a "hilarious" racist joke at Obama's expense:
Oh, those clever Republicans! The reason it's funny is because it's so true! Remember when Obama plotted and orchestrated a terrorist attack against the US that left thousands of people dead? …No? Ha ha, well, he tacitly supports universal health insurance—and that's practically the same thing!
[H/T to Lauredhel, who hat tips Sully.]
Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude 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.
Scene from the Descent into Hell
In Which Two Assholes Blithely Admit the Bush Administration is a Criminal Enterprise, Despite Their Having Spent Years Ridiculing the Very Notion and Marginalizing Anyone Who Suggested It's So:
HOWARD FINEMAN: If you're in this White House, you want another Republican administration to follow. You don't want a Democratic administration coming in there while the evidence is still fresh, so to speak. To look at it the way—Charming.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: With the subpoena power—
FINEMAN: —with the subpoena power and looking through all the records and looking at all the decisions that were made. You want to cover over your two terms with a third term the way Ronald Reagan did with George HW Bush.
Of course, given that the Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi long ago took impeachment off the table, and given that the presumed Democratic nominee Barack Obama doesn't view any of the Bush shenanigans as "grave" or "intentional" breaches of presidential authority, and given that he was quite willing to fail utterly to hold the telecoms accountable for their role in illegally spying on Americans, and given that he couldn't be bothered to cast a vote of No Confidence on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and given that he voted to confirm Condi Rice as Secretary of State, even after her failures as National Security Advisor, and given the generally spineless, pathetic state of the Democratic Party as a whole, I don't think the Bush administration has anything to worry about in terms of being held accountable even if McCain loses.
There are individual Democrats who should be lauded for their efforts to expose the outright lawbreaking and ethnical breaches of the Bush administration, but none of them are among the party leadership. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Barack Obama are some of the worst craven culprits of the lot—and there is, perhaps, no better indication of that than the sudden willingness of GOP hacks like Matthews and Fineman openly discussing the Bush administration criminality, because they know, despite what they say, that there will be no retribution for it.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Iain and I just started watching this show on DVD.
OMG: We. Love. It.
Desperate Dobson
James Dobson now may endorse John McCain.
"There's nothing dishonorable in a person rethinking his or her positions, especially in a constantly changing political context," Dobson said in a statement to the AP. "Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain."Not that it really matters what this hateful and ignorant purveyor of superstition says or thinks, but the very least we can now say that he is doing two things for himself and John McCain: immunizing themselves against the flip-flopping charge and living up to the Marxist (as in Groucho) dictum that they have firm principles, and if you don't like them, they have others.
[...]
Of his new position, Dobson said in the statement to the AP, "If that is a flip-flop, then so be it."
Of course, the next time some right-winger accuses Barack Obama of flip-flopping, we can say that according to Jesus's messenger from Colorado Springs, "There's nothing dishonorable in a person rethinking his or her positions, especially in a constantly changing political context." Thanks, Dr. D!
ColorofChange.org launches LaVena petition
The online grassroots organization ColorofChange.org, a black advocacy group founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, has lent its support to the family of LaVena Johnson. The group has launched a new petition addressed to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and its chairman, Representative Henry Waxman. From the petition page:
Justice for LaVena Johnson
Tell Congressman Waxman to investigate the Army's cover up of Pfc LaVena Johnson's murder.
While overwhelming evidence shows that LaVena Johnson was raped and murdered while serving in Iraq, the US Army refuses to acknowledge the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Join the Johnson family's call for Congressman Waxman to hold a Congressional hearing that uncovers the truth behind LaVena's tragic death.
ColorofChange.org is perhaps most widely known for its advocacy on behalf of the Jena Six - young African-American men facing racial bias and inflated charges of murder in Jena, LA.
From the organization's "About Us" page:
ColorOfChange.org is comprised of Black folks from every economic class, as well as those of every color who seek to help our voices be heard. Our members are united behind a simple, powerful pledge: we will do all we can to make sure all Americans are represented, served, and protected—regardless of race or class.
I ask everyone to join the voices represented by the ColorofChange petition to Rep. Waxman, and to share the word with others. Thanks.
On This Date
July 20, 1969: Apollo 11 and "one small step for a man..."
Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
If you were alive in 1969, where were you when they landed?
