"I think it really goes back to the fact that nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy."—Rush Limbaugh, on how Barack Obama got the Democratic nomination.
Yes, where are the brave patriots in this great nation who are willing to finally say no to a black man?
Quote of the Day
Actual Headline
Boys will be boys, girls will be girls from birth.
And the actual opening line? "As a good postfeminist-era mom, I certainly didn't push my son toward trucks and my daughter toward tutus."
Call me crazy, but I don't really think that Parenting and CNN ought to be publishing articles written by someone who actually admits: "Even though I'm a psychologist who specializes in early education, it took having kids to make me realize that sex differences aren't just the stuff of Brady Bunch reruns."
And, by the way, I love how this:
There is some evidence that boys tend to be more easily agitated than girls and have a harder time self-soothing. According to one study, even when 6-month-old boys appeared as calm as the girls in the face of frustration, measures of heart rate and breathing suggested that they were actually experiencing greater distress.—is snuck into an article essentially designed to confirm gender assumptions, as if it's not a massive contradiction to the stereotypes we have about men's and women's emotionality.
That girls are more emotional and easily distressed than boys is one of the most intractable "boys will boys and girls will be girls" narratives in our culture, routinely serving as the basis for discrimination against women, marginalization, silencing, and ridicule. From jokes about a woman having her finger on the button to caricatures of the swooning dilettante and hysterical feminist, the notion that it's girls who "tend to be more easily agitated…and have a harder time self-soothing" is used against girls and women their entire fucking lives.
I have no idea what the unnamed "one study" being cited here is or whether it's worth a damn, so I'm not endorsing the veracity of its findings. My point is just to illustrate how totally absurd this piece of shit article is, in that its author invokes a substantial subversion of a gendered stereotype only to treat it like no big deal, just to fit a predetermined narrative.
And none of the people who saw fit to print it noticed (or cared) that right there, smack dab in the middle of the article, is a passage which suggests the very thing our culture compulsively uses against women is totally fucking wrong.
Boys will be boys and girls will be girls blah blah too hard to think makes brain hurt. Wankers.
[H/T to Shaker AbracaDeborah.]
RIP Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
It is now, unfortunately, official: Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) has died at age 58.
In the way that some people follow baseball, their minds filled with players' names and stats, I follow Congress. My head is filled with the names of senators and representatives and their voting records, and, like any baseball fan, I have my favorite players in the game of politics—and it's always the ones who treat it least like a game, who know the power they hold and wield it with care and compassion.
Rep. Tubbs Jones was one of those people.
My first introduction to Rep. Tubbs Jones was in 2004, when, in only the second House election challenge since 1877, she took to the floor of the House to object to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes. She looked right at Dick Cheney and said: "Mr. Vice President, I seek to object to the electoral votes from the state of Ohio on the grounds that they were not, under all of the circumstances known, regularly given, and I have a signed objection, and I do have a Senator." It was enough that she stood up for what was right, but the cheeky flourish at the end—an allusion to the Congressional Black Caucus challenge of the 2000 election, when they could not find a single senator to sign the objection (a scene made infamous in Fahrenheit 9/11)—made me love her. She was fearless, and she was funny.
She was also "tough, exuberant, passionate, partisan, a woman from modest means who rose to national prominence."
And "one of a kind…unwavering, indefatigable," according to the Clintons.
And "an extraordinary American and an outstanding public servant" who was "determined to bring opportunity to all those who had been overlooked and left behind," according to Barack Obama.
And "a strong, courageous and compassionate advocate for the poor and vulnerable" according to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.
And "a tireless force for justice, equality, and opportunity," according to Nancy Pelosi.
And "a force of nature and always the most popular and gregarious person in any room," according to Steve LaTourette, a Republican congressman from Concord Township, Ohio.
And a "beautiful, bubbling, charismatic woman" who "was so highly talented" and "lit the room up" wherever she went, according to Louis Stokes, the former Congressman whose vacated seat she filled upon his retirement.
Said Rev. Jesse Jackson: "Her word had value to her. It didn't waver in the wind."
I am heartbroken she is gone. I am glad I had the chance to admire her from afar.
Here's "Judge Tubbs" having fun with Stephen Colbert:
RIP Judge Tubbs.
Question of the Day
What movie never fails to make you laugh?
I could honestly come up with a list 100 long; I'm quick to laugh, and I love everything from fart jokes to the blackest, nihilistic gallows humor. So instead of trying to sort out what my top one or two or ten are, I'll just tell you how I spent my afternoon: I invited Mama Shakes over for a double feature of Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind, neither of which she'd ever seen, but had always wanted to.
I knew she'd love them, and she did. And they made her laugh, which was the whole point.
This?
—kills me every. single. time.
USA: Beacon of Stupid
During one of George Carlin's later shows, I distinctly remember his saying something along the following lines: "There are a lot of stupid fucking people in this country. And they all vote."
As time goes on, the number of people referenced in that first sentence seems to keep growing at an exponential rate, and I see no way of stopping it in the short term. While Bush may have spoken about no children being left behind, the fact of the matter is that he couldn't give a rat's ass if they did. Not only does Bush not value education, but he convinced his followers to value his drinking instead of his thinking. And why are his followers like this?
And it's not just following Bush, per se. There are a bunch of people out there who, to this day, still think that Iraq had WMD and was directly responsible for that infamous day in September. They still blindly support this war like rabid face-painted fans at a football game, blissfully uncaring of the fact that the man who is universally agreed upon to have masterminded the event in question is still relaxing somewhere on a chaise lounge by a pool with a cute umbrella in his drink. They still think that it's to our benefit to remain in Iraq indefinitely, as if we would actually "defeat terrorism" by our continued presence there. And why do they believe this?
Even more alarming than the ignorance of the predictable war supporters is the ignorance of our population at large. Raving Political Animal Steve Benen (rawr!) highlighted a new Pew Survey on News Consumption that had some startling finds. Participants were asked three questions: Which party holds the majority in the House?What is the name of the current Secretary of State?What is the name of the current British Prime Minister?
Read and weep:About half of Americans (53%) can correctly identify the Democrats as the party that has a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. In February 2007, shortly after the Democrats gained control of the House after a dozen years of GOP rule, many more people (76%) knew the Democrats held the majority.
One item that I found particularly disturbing was that fewer Democrats knew that the House had a Dem majority. But wait, teh stupid gets better.
The public is less familiar with the secretary of state (Condoleezza Rice) and the prime minister of Great Britain (Gordon Brown). About four-in-ten (42%) can name Rice as the current secretary of state. The public’s ability to identify Rice has not changed much over recent years: In April 2006 and December 2004, shortly before she was sworn in, 43% could correctly identify her.
The prime minister of Great Britain is not well known among the public. Just more than a quarter (28%) can correctly identify Gordon Brown as the leader of Great Britain.
Overall, 18% of the public is able to correctly answer all three political knowledge questions, while a third (33%) do not know the answer to any of the questions.
The other day, ThinkProgress reported about someone who called in to Mike Gallagher's radio show to talk about the recent California state ruling which prevents doctors from using their religion to deny medical treatment based on a patient's sexual orientation.DAVID: The question I had told your screener, I said, if I’m understanding, California said because of sexual orientation, they can’t deny you service, so, does that mean pedophiles could adopt?
Read that one over so you can appreciate the full level of FUCKING STUPID. I really need to know what synaptic connections are simply missing for one to make that leap.
(Doctors must treat all patients) = (Pedophiles can adopt, and presumably molest, young kids.)
If there are any Shakers who are neurosurgeons, please chime in on this one, because I'd like to think there is an actual medical reason as to why these people ARE SO FUCKING STUPID.
To the matter at hand, though, I'm at a loss as to how to get people to remove the blinders. Until we get to the point when teh stoopids are in a real minority, I propose the following:
To handle the aforementioned phone caller, a new resolution should be introduced that allows doctors to refuse treatment of a patient based on their being so FUCKING STUPID. Got bronchitis? Cough out your stupid. Toothache? Stop eating stupid. Brain tumor? Stop thinking stupid. Sprained ankle? Stop walking stupid.
As for our national crises born out of stupid voters, we need to move to a parliamentary system. That way we can finally abandon this elite two-party lunacy and actually have representation for people who have functional gray matter between their ears.
People like us.
Welcome to Canada
I'm on vacation with my parents to our annual pilgrimage to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. I'll be posting on my travels, adventures, and reviews of the plays over at Bark Bark Woof Woof while I'm here.
We're all checked in to the hotel after an uneventful trip...unless you count making detours along I-75 between Detroit and Toledo where they are basically rebuilding the road from the ground up. As I remarked to my dad, I never thought I'd live long enough to see them build the road twice; I remember when it was built back in the late 1950's and was called the Detroit-Toledo Expressway.
The Ambassador Bridge was almost empty of traffic and getting through Customs took all of fifteen seconds. We handed over the passports, the customs agent asked "Where are you from? Where are you going? When will you be back? Any goods? Have a nice time" and that was it. We stopped at a KFC (or PFK in French) for a biffy break and lunch, then proceeded on the 401 (also undergoing construction between Windsor and Chatham) to Ingersoll and then Stratford.
My brother gave my parents a Garmin navigation system for their anniversary, and I was recruited to teach them how to use it. It's very simple, but the funny thing is that if you know the route better than the GPS, which also doesn't take into account road closures, you can mess with the strangely disembodied voice coming out of it. "Take Exit 208 and turn left onto County Route 9." No, that's the long way around and I know that Exit 216 is faster, so I zoom by Exit 208. "Recalcuating....make an immediate U-turn." To which I replied, "Bite me." "Recalculating...." After a couple of miles, it figures out where I'm going.
The other thing is that the battery life in Garmin is about 2 to 3 hours, so about half-way through Ingersoll, Ontario, it whimpered and went black. There is a cable you can plug into the cigarette lighter, but it was wrapped up neatly in the box in the trunk. But I know this route like the back of my hand, so it was like going home again, and we arrived within moments of the time the Garmin said we would.
So here we are. Welcome to the country where same-sex marriage is legal, where they have universal health care, where they support the arts with more than just a pittance, and where the Conservative Party would fit right in with the DLC. I'm sure this country has its flaws, but I'm a guest and I'll leave it to the citizens to point them out. All I can say is that I'm glad to be able to come here and enjoy a few days with these friendly and enlightened people.
(Cross-posted.)
ABC News on military sexual assaults
(I came to the ABC piece just yesterday; apologies to anyone who has already read it.)
In a July 31 story by Z. Byron Wolf, ABC News notes the murder of pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and the wider story of sexual assault against women in the U.S. military. The news report, drawing on testimony given before he Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs - a panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee - is titled “Sex Assaults Against Women in Military ‘Epidemic’”:
Mary Lauterbach, the mother of murdered pregnant Marine Maria Lauterbach, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the military must change the way it deals with sexual assault to avoid more tragedies like her own.
“I believe Maria would be alive today if the Marine system had been different,” her mother told a panel of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which held a hearing Thursday on sexual assault and rape in the military.
There were no representatives from the Marines at the hearing, and the head of the Pentagon office tasked with responding to the problem of sexual assault in the military was ordered by her superiors not to testify despite a subpoena from the committee.
The refusal of the Department of Defense to allow subpoenaed witness Dr. Kaye Whitley, director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, has been noted by activist and retired Army Col. Ann Wright writing for Truthdig, by Christy Hardin Smith of Firedoglake, and elsewhere. More from ABC:
Lawmakers could not ask [Whitley] to address the issue of sexual assault and what steps have been taken because Deputy Defense Undersecretary Michael Dominguez had barred Whitley from testifying, despite a Congressional subpoena.
Dominguez told the lawmakers he knew everything about the program and didn’t need Whitley’s input to answer their questions.
Dominguez was given a bipartisan dressing down on this point by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who chairs the Oversight Committee. “I don’t know who you think elected you to defy the congress of the United States,” he said.
Rep. Chris Shays, R-Conn., the ranking member, said he will support Waxman’s pledge to hold Whitley and Dominguez in contempt. They dismissed Dominguez without taking his testimony.
As the family of PFC LaVena Johnson continues to press Congress and the Army to investigate the possibility that LaVena died in connection with a sexual assault, the refusal of the military to address these crimes against women will come in for even greater criticism.
It should be noted that the chairman of the subcommittee’s parent, the House Oversight Committee - Representative Henry Waxman - is the named petitionee of a new public appeal for hearings on the LaVena Johnson case. This petition is authored by the advocacy group ColorofChange.
(Cross-posted at the LaVena website.)
Blub
As Pet mentioned in the morning readings, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) was hospitalized yesterday. Details about her health problems were not immediately released, but Think Progress reports that the congresswoman "reportedly suffered an aneurysm last night 'and is not expected to recover, according to CBS affiliate WOIO in Cleveland.' Jones is on life support in a Cleveland hospital, though her office did not confirm this fact. Jones was elected in 1998, becoming the first black woman to represent Ohio."
I'm having a real blubby moment here. I like her a whole lot. She's Judge Tubbs, for crying out loud. This sucks.
Thanks to Shaker Constant Comment for the heads-up.
UPDATE: According to NPR, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones has died. I'm looking for confirmation. Blub.
UPDATE 2: CNN is now also reporting that she has died. RIP Rep. Tubbs Jones. Would that every member of Congress were like you. Dammit, I feel absolutely deflated.
I guess it's too much for which to hope that she's got a grandson waiting in the wings like the brilliant Julia Carson did. And why the fuck do I feel like I'm always writing obituaries for congresswomen who I admire? Fuck.
UPDATE 3: Now reports say she is still on life support.
Bebeh
"I'ma go attack things!"
"My big pufftail will defeat you, bar-thing!"
"I attacks your foot nom nom."
Wednesday Blogaround
What's the frequency, Shakers?
Bloglines is totally giving me guff today, and I can't get to my feed-of-a-zillion blogs. So, no recommended reading just for today, I'm afraid.
Leave your links in comments…
Fail
I'm trying to decide if I would be more or less amusedisgusted if that book were, instead, misfiled in the "Self Improvement" section just beyond.
[Via Fail Blog. Thanks to Shaker Rhouse for passing it along.]
Political Animals on the Move
Kevin Drum, who has been blogging at Washington Monthly for something like nine million years, is moving on and will blogging at the awesome Mother Jones. (His new blog will be here.) Taking his place at WaMo will be my pal Steve Benen of The Carpetbagger Report and Hilzoy from Obsidian Wings.
Congrats to all!
To Andy on His Birthday
London, April 2000: Andy cracks my shit up
with some nonsense or other.
Today is my oft-mentioned Londoner Andy's birthday.
If I were in London, I can tell you exactly what we'd be doing. We'd be meeting outside whatever tube stop at which he barked orders at me to meet him, which would have sent me into a fit of giggles, because the ruder he is, the more it makes me laugh. When we met, I'd throw my arms around his neck and kiss his cheek and he'd groan and yell at me for being three milliseconds late. And I'd poke his side and tell him to shut the fuck up, and I'd make fun of whatever he's wearing, though he dresses fine, just because that's what we do.
I'd hand Andy his birthday present—a book about pop culture or Alfred Hitchcock, maybe—and he wouldn't even open it, just hand it back to me and tell me he didn't want it. "At least open it," I'd tell him, and he'd moan but do it, then look at it and hand it back again. "Why did you buy this?" he'd ask, as if completely unfamiliar with the concept of birthday presents. "Keep it. Read it. I know you'll like it," I'd insist. "That's not the point," he'd reply. "I haven't even read all the books I already own, and I don't need another one staring me in the face waiting to be read." So I'd be stuck carrying it around for the rest of the day.
Then we'd start walking to the nearest sushi place, and although we're the same height, he'd be ten million yards ahead of me in no time. He's not especially fast, and I'm not especially slow, but he walks down London's ever-crowded sidewalks as if they belong to him—straight down the middle, determinedly, oblivious to the people he bumps who don't get out of his way fast enough, never hesitating for a moment to notice their looks of shock at his clear violation of polite sidewalk etiquette. Meanwhile, I'd be weaving and dodging, side-stepping, apologizing, and slowly falling behind, convinced as I watch him surge ahead that Verve's Bittersweet Symphony video, in which Richard Ashcroft walks over cars and never stops as people bounce off him like pinballs, was conceived after one of them saw Andy walking down the street.
Eventually he would stop, and turn impatiently back toward me, and roll his eyes and sigh, and I would burst into laughter while he glowered at me.
We'd stop into record shops and bookstores to browse, and point out things to each other that we think the other would find interesting. We'd lean our heads together as we look at the same record or book, standing more closely than the confined space really demands, because we get to be in the same space so rarely; we have to squeeze years into every afternoon we get.
I'd buy something—a biography of Tennessee Williams, perhaps—just to have a bag to put his stinking present in, and he'd say, "I didn't know you liked Tennessee Williams," and, as we headed for the door, on to our next stop, I'd say, "Yes, you did," and then recount a conversation nearly verbatim we'd had six years earlier, in which we'd discussed Williams, and he would shake his head at me, his expression changing, eyebrows raising, as he recalled the conversation, and then tell me, "You're wild."
When we got to the restaurant, Andy would sit down, even if there was a "wait to be seated" sign; we'd place our order immediately, and he'd never take off his jacket. We'd talk about our families, and then films, and then TV, interrupting each other constantly with seemingly random non sequiturs, which make perfect sense to us. (No one has ever enjoyed dining with Andy and me.) Soon it would disintegrate into a rapid-fire exchange of Woody Allen lines, and then Andy would say, "Tell me something," which I know is my cue to introduce him to a new band or film or book that I know he would love. "More," he'd urge, when I had finished, and on I'd go.
All the while, I would look at him, hard, and try to see the differences in his face since the last time we were together, always far too long. I might see a new crease around his lovely coal black eyes when he smiles, a few new gray hairs. It's the only way I remember how much time has passed, because I lose the sense that it's been years as soon as the long stretch has been broken. And I would take a moment, if a quiet one presented itself, to think about how I made this friend long past an age when lifetime friends who know you so well are supposed to be made. Suddenly, unexpectedly, there he was, and I can hardly remember not knowing him.
And after the meal, we'd walk through a park, and sit on a bench. The conversation would wind and curve, and we'd both be laughing far too loudly, and if it rained a little, that would be okay.
Happy birthday, Andy. I miss you. I wish I were there.
xox
Question of the Day
[We've done this one before, but it's always a fun one...]
Suggested by Shaker RedSonja: "What's your favorite pet name (not necessarily your own pet)?"
A friend of Todd's and mine in college was a guy who grew up on a farm, and, when he was a wee lad, had been given a pet cow, whom he named Mrs. Steak. That is, by far, the greatest pet name I have ever heard.
He was a vegetarian, btw.
Hooray for Rachel Maddow
It's about time.
Just in time for the closing rush of the presidential election, MSNBC is shaking up its prime-time programming lineup, removing the long-time host –- and one-time general manager of the network — Dan Abrams from his 9 p.m. program and replacing him with Rachel Maddow, who has emerged as a favored political commentator for the all-news cable channel.
The moves, which were confirmed by MSNBC executives Tuesday, are expected to be finalized by Wednesday, with Mr. Abrams’s last program on Thursday. After MSNBC’s extensive coverage of the two political conventions during the next two weeks, Ms. Maddow will begin her program on Sept. 8.
It's a Girl!
Sophie Moon, 1 lb. 12 oz.
"I hate you already."
The funniest thing about Sophie is that she doesn't have kitten-face at all. She's only 6 weeks old, and she's just the tiniest wee microscopic kitten you can imagine, but she's got a grown-up face. It's hilarious. She never stops purring, and you know that thing that cats do when they puff up their tails and run sideways with an arched back? She does that constantly. I cannot stop laughing at her.
She's sequestered from her big sisters, who are very dubious about this whole situation, for four weeks, until she's old enough to get a feline leukemia test and has her second round of vaccines. When they're finally introduced, I'll get pictures of them together. For now, more pix of Sophie by herself below the fold.
Next to a printer plug, for comparative purposes. Seriously, she's miniscule!
lol your food dish
"I needs to touch this thingie here."
"And this thingie here, too."
She may walk; she may fly.
"Enough with the pictures!"
*squinch*
Cool Photo
I was running late, rushing from my last job to the Bird's Nest for the men's 100m final - as I turned the corner with one of my colleagues we saw a full moon rising above the stadium and we could not believe our luck!Thanks to Shaker Juliemania for sending that along.
I had to decide if it would be worth stopping to shoot this picture and risk losing my spot in the stadium - I decided I could shoot this image quickly.
Luckily I had a long lens with me, as it would have been difficult to capture the image without it. I waited a few minutes for the moon to move in line with the torch and this was the result.
—Photographer Ryan Pierse/ Getty Images/ 18 August 2008
