I have a headache, and am in no mood for this shit. Here's a quick recap: Sarah Palin Strip Off. Shotgun Willies. Just a joke. "I'm into that hot secretary look."
Fuck you, Doorman "I'm probably going to go Libertarian and screw up the whole thing" Matt, and fuck you, Shotgun Willies.
[H/T to Matttbastard. Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen. We defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because we endorse her or her politics, but because that's how feminism works.]
Sarah Palin Sexism Watch, #14
The Great Gig in the Sky: RIP Richard Wright
From David Gilmour's website:
No one can replace Richard Wright. He was my musical partner and my friend.For those who don't know, Richard was the keyboardist and one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. Ironically, I recently posted Us and Them, which is a song whose beginnings were directly from Rick while the Floyd were working on the soundtrack to Zabriskie Point.
In the welter of arguments about who or what was Pink Floyd, Rick's enormous input was frequently forgotten.
He was gentle, unassuming and private but his soulful voice and playing were vital, magical components of our most recognised Pink Floyd sound.
I have never played with anyone quite like him. The blend of his and my voices and our musical telepathy reached their first major flowering in 1971 on 'Echoes'. In my view all the greatest PF moments are the ones where he is in full flow. After all, without 'Us and Them' and 'The Great Gig In The Sky', both of which he wrote, what would 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' have been? Without his quiet touch the Album 'Wish You Were Here' would not quite have worked.
In our middle years, for many reasons he lost his way for a while, but in the early Nineties, with 'The Division Bell', his vitality, spark and humour returned to him and then the audience reaction to his appearances on my tour in 2006 was hugely uplifting and it's a mark of his modesty that those standing ovations came as a huge surprise to him, (though not to the rest of us).
Like Rick, I don't find it easy to express my feelings in words, but I loved him and will miss him enormously.
I have to say that this news is hitting me particularly hard. I've been a worshipper of Pink Floyd for quite some time. One of reasons I've always loved the band is specifically Rick's approach to ambiance and playing that contributed to a sound that no one else can come close to. His work on the Wish You Were Here album was particularly brilliant. Psychedelic, melodic and even haunting at times. I thank him for it all, every note and every chord.
I'm also grateful I was able to see him in his element during Gilmour's 2006 tour.
I know there's so much more I could write about him, but to be perfectly honest, the news has paralyzed me a bit.
Sad. All of us sad.
Quote of the Day
"I believe that's a metaphor, a metaphor for what the country is looking for. They're looking for a sleepover with people they like!"—Joe Biden, while "telling the story of how his granddaughters had a slumber party with Barack Obama's daughters."
The slumber party image? Cute as hell.
The idea that it's equivalent to what most people are looking for in an executive branch? Scary.
Monday Blogaround
Sock it to me, Shakers!
Recommended Reading:
Pizza Diavola: The Subtle Elision of Girls
Kevin: David Foster Wallace, R.I.P.
Matttbastard: Sean Hannity: I'm Funnier If You Are Drunk
Echidne: Batman vs. Penguin
Jill: Requiring Gardasil for U.S. Immigrants
Rachel: Gender and Baby Clothes
Recon: A New Hope
Leave your links in comments...
Tina Fey::Sarah Palin:Amy Poehler::Hillary Clinton
There are a few things about this sketch I don't like—and they're mostly in the "irony so ahead of the culture that people are laughing at what they think is the joke (sexism) as opposed to what's meant to be the joke (making fun of sexists)" area—but there's enough good stuff that I want to post it for those who haven't had a chance to see it. Tina Fey's dead-on impression alone is worth one viewing.
Thanks to Gender Blank for the video; if anyone can find a transcript, please drop a link in comments.
McCain: Economics Supergenius in Training
As a run-up to McCain's campaign, Mr. Irrelevant has shown us how little he understands about the economy, how powerless he is to tackle it, and how little he really cares.
Echoing Mr. Irrelevant's recent cluelessness about the current economic situation, McCain responds to the current Wall Street debacle by stating that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong:
You know, that there’s been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street and it is — people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.If the fundamentals involve taxpayer bailouts of companies that engage in risky transactions, ever-increasing debt (issued by a supposedly fiscally conservative administration) of money that we owe to China and Japan, a currency that no longer has any power in the global market and advisers who think all of this shit is in our heads and we're just whining about it, then yes, the fundamentals are all there.
And don't think for a minute that the current administration is not going to do everything possible to keep things propped up until election time. After that fateful day, who knows what will happen to the likes of Lehman Brothers, or the likes of American citizens for that matter.
Update: Whoops! It looks like McCain chose a running mate who is as much of an economics supergenius as he and his boss are. A couple of years ago during her gubernatorial run, Sarah Palin admitted that she shared Bush's educational aspirations:
"Let me help you out if you're looking for skeletons in my closet," she said. "I got a D in a macro-econ course 24 years ago in college."
[H/T to Steve Benen]
You and Your Silly Equality-Wanting; It's So PC!
A few people have sent me this article in the Times about the European Parliament reprimanding advertisers for "sexual stereotyping" and exhorting the industry to "change the way it depicts men and women."
The concern, according to the committee report, is that stereotypes in advertising can "straitjacket women, men, girls and boys by restricting individuals to predetermined and artificial roles that are often degrading, humiliating and dumbed-down for both sexes."Wow. I mean…wow. This is what taking institutional sexism seriously looks like—recognizing that sexist imagery contributes to and reinforces a sexist culture, which potentially limits everyone who moves in that culture, and engaging in awareness-raising (and legislation, where necessary) to start moving toward a healthy gender spectrum and a real equality.
…The European Parliament took note of [the French government's interest in eradicating adverts that promote or incite anorexia] during its debate last week, calling on advertisers "to consider carefully their use of extremely thin women to advertise products."
Last year, the Spanish government weighed in, demanding that Dolce & Gabbana pull its "fantasy rape" advertisement in a country where headlines about violence against women are all too common.
So how does the Times address this serious bid at combating institutional sexism?
Clearly, the advertising industry is not quaking in its boots. But the move, however laughable as a gesture of political correctness, may well provoke some debate among agency executives and their clients about the messages they are sending. (That said, the people who approved the gender-stereotype measure are the same ones who suggested that all car advertisements should have warning labels because of the toxic impact of gas fumes.)Yes, how laughable! How whimsically hilarious is the desire to be unfettered from biases used to demean and oppress you! Aren't social justice advocates just so adorably silly?
And nice dismissive sneer at people who have the zany idea to treat as a public safety hazard one of the primary contributors to the climate crisis. Warning labels on cars?! Oh, how quaint!
I hate the world sometimes. I really do.
Suck Truck
In this thread about the flooding the other night, Shaker Linkmeister asked about the water-sucking truck; it was back this morning, so I grabbed a pic, for Link and anyone else who's curious:
And you can see how successful they were, lol:
Which is a comment on the amount of water, not the crew—who were, while I watched, repeatedly splashed by asshole drivers who sped through the, uh, "puddle" with no regard for dousing the guys working in it.
It's the Economy, Stupid
And it's ROYALLY FUCKED.
Business Week describes the simultaneous bankruptcy filing by fourth-largest investment bank Lehman Brothers, the decision of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to let Lehman fail rather than structure a bail-out, the firesale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America, and the announcement of a radical restructuring plan for insurance giant AIG as a "perfect storm." That's encouraging.
Meanwhile, Greenspan says the US is "mired in a 'once-in-a century' financial crisis which is now more than likely to spark a recession." Awesome!
Welcome to your clusterfucktastrophe, America. Hope you enjoyed those tax cuts.
Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch, #83
The following item was being sold last week at the conservative Values Voters Summit, sponsored by the ironically-named public policy groups American Values and Focus on the Family Action:
Yes, that's right. Obama Waffles—featuring not one but two racist caricatures of Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama, including one erroneously implying, yet again, that he is Muslim, alongside a "Missing" picture of Jeremiah Wright, the controversial minister with whom Obama severed ties, and an image of Michelle Obama saying: "What are you waiting for? Order now…they're selling like hotcakes!"
Is that more about American Values or Family Values, do you think? Let's ask Malia and Sasha Obama what they think.
The hawking of racist Obama novelties at conservative events is nothing new (as a quick perusal through the Obama Racism Watch will attest), but the excuses for this one are beyond stunning.
Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed ''offensive material.'' The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon.How closely do you need to examine an item with a prominent image depicting Obama "with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly" on the front of the box and "in stereotypical Mexican dress, including a sombrero, above a recipe for 'Open Border Fiesta Waffles' that says it can serve '4 or more illegal aliens'" on the back of the box? Fucking hell.
The box was meant as political satire, said Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss, two writers from Franklin, Tenn., who created the mix. They sold it for $10 a box from a rented booth at the summit sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council.
David Nammo, executive director of the lobbying group FRC Action, said summit organizers were told the boxes were a parody of Obama's policy positions but had not examined them closely.
And get this explanation, in addition to the whole faux-innocent "gee, it's just harmless satire" horseshit, from the creators of this box o' racism:
''It's the ultimate political souvenir,'' DeMoss told a customer.Mmm, brilliant.
Asked if he considered the pictures of Obama on the box to be racial stereotypes, Whitlock said: ''We had some people mention that to us, but you think of Newman's Own or Emeril's -- there are tons and tons of personality-branded food products on the market. So we've taken that model and, using political satire, have highlighted his policies, his position changes.''
Via, Think Progress, here's an interview with these two unmitigated jackasses, trying to explain away all the overt and obviously deliberate racism on their product:
[Transcript: Two white assholes pretending they don't understand what's racist about their product.]
Pathetic. They don't even have the integrity to stand behind their deliberate, nasty, carefully and thoughtfully designed racism. Instead, they just affect blinking, wide-eyed naïveté, as if it was just coincidence that their allegedly good-natured satire ending up looking exactly like mean-spirited, racist swill. What bullshit. What spineless weasels.
If you've got the brass indifference to decency to put something like that out there in the first place, then you've got no business acting as if you had no idea what you were up to when someone with a modicum of politesse questions you about it.
And once again we see that the only real consistent values among movement conservatives are hatred and lying.
[H/T to Shakers Monalisa, Jeff Fecke, Juliemania, Oddjob, and Lena. Sorry if I missed anyone. 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, Seventy, Seventy-One, Seventy-Two, Seventy-Three, Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five, Seventy-Six, Seventy-Seven, Seventy-Eight, Seventy-Nine, Eighty, Eighty-One, Eighty-Two.]
Quote of the Day
"McCain has gone in some of his ads—similarly gone one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the '100 percent truth' test. ...They ought to—there ought to be an adult who says, 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad'?"—Karl Rove.
When Karl fuckin' Rove says you've gone too far, you have lost. the. plot.
Obama campaign spokesperson Tommy Vietor makes that point very well in a released statement: "In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove—the man who held the previous record—said McCain's ads have gone too far." Snap!
I Blog Come Hell...
This is a snap of our street I just took from our driveway:
Further down the street, there are (I shit you not) rapids.
Our next door neighbor's yard:
And our yard:
We've pretty much got a lakefront property at this point.
We've even got our own tide up the driveway!
Gotta run now. Iain and I are starting to build an ark...
...and he's just figured out how long a cubit really is.
I Expect Locusts at Any Time
Because we've already been visited by pestilence this week—and now the floods have come:
Waves of heavy rain have drenched northwestern Indiana, flooding roads and some homes while closing down Interstate 94 for several hours.Um, yeah. Our entire street, front yard, and driveway are flooded—and they've got a freaking current, lol. There's been a giant truck out in front of our house all day, sucking up water in giant hoses as fast as it's falling. The sound of the water rushing through the drainpipes from the roof is like rapids on all sides of us. Maybe we'll float away; I always wanted to live on a houseboat…
Northern Lake and Porter counties are hardest hit by the waves of rain that began Friday and continued Saturday, dumping some 3 to 5 inches of rain on the region. And more heavy rain is on the way as a storm system over the Upper Midwest interacts with the remains of Hurricane Ike.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas said today that his city had experienced what appeared to be a record amount of rainfall.
He says water was running through yards "like a rapids," at one point today.
In all seriousness, I just wanted to quickly post something, because a few people have emailed to ask after us (thank you). Right now, we're totally fine—we've got no interior flooding at this point and, touch wood, we won't get any.
Our concerns at the moment are elsewhere, our thoughts with people who are facing much worse.
Help for storm victims.
The Past Fortells the Future
I once got a fortune cookie that said, "Your past will foretell your future." After reading this article by Jo Becker, Peter S. Goodman and Michael Powell in the New York Times, I'm convinced that Sarah Palin's past as a mayor and a governor foretells what kind of leader she would be.
WASILLA, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.I'm also convinced that the past eight years of governing by the Bush administration -- petty, vindictive, rife with cronyism, and infused with nothing beyond the craving to rule -- are reflected here as well.
So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency.
Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.
When Ms. Palin had to cut her first state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects.
And four months ago, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor’s career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to hear an assistant to the governor on the line, she said.
“You should be ashamed!” Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. “Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now!”
That's not change we can believe in, Charlie.
An afterthought: It makes you wonder if the McCain campaign did any sort of vetting of Ms. Palin's record before they selected her. If they did not, it shows an amazing lack of judgment -- or even curiosity -- on their part. If they did, it demonstrates an amazing amount of cynicism that they could look over her history and still think that they could bamboozle the American public into thinking that she was fit for national office or that the electorate lacked the idle curiosity beyond her human interest stories -- her family, her church, her hunting skills -- to care about what kind of leader she would be if she was thrust onto the national stage. And that goes back to the initial concern I had when Gov. Palin was announced as the Republican nominee for vice president: what does this tell us about the judgment of John McCain?
"Crime... Boy, I Don't Know..."
Proving that the people who produced The West Wing really got it right.
President Jed Bartlet chats with his re-election opponent, Gov. Rob Richie (R-FL), during an intermission at the theatre.
OMG Shoez II
Because we've had kind of a rough couple of weeks at Shakes Manor, we decided to get new shoes, which always makes a guy or gal feel better about the world, even when you've got the ugly sneering visage of stinkabetes (to which your blogmistress has since shortened stinky diabetes) glaring at you.
See if you can guess which pair was selected by which resident of Shakes Manor…
Söfft Calypso Black Leather Pumps
Classic Converse Navy Canvas Decks
A tough call, I know.
Iain's already got a pair of navy Chuck Taylor All-Stars, which he loves, but they're a pain in the ass to lace up just to run out and get the mail or wev. He would have spent the rest of his life never doing anything about it, aside from grumbling about how he loves them but "too many wanking laces" every time he put them on, because it doesn't occur to him that there's a reason they make different kinds of shoes—they're for different purposes! So I got him the deck shoes. He makes fun of my OMG Shoezery, but it occasionally comes in very handy.
As for the pumps, I've already worn them out, and, even with my fuckleg (which doesn't seem to care in the slightest whether I'm in sneakers or four-inch heels—although I'm not making a habit of wearing four-inch heels at the moment, naturally) they are comfortable as all hell. If you're someone who thinks they can't walk in heels, give these a go. Comfy and amazingly easy to walk in. And excellent arch support.
Quote of the Day
You may recall that yesterday's Quote of the Day went to Sarah Palin for her contention that, because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska," it gives her insight into "Russian actions."
Today's Quote of the Day goes to Alaskan blogger AKMuckraker, who explains just what seeing Russia from Alaska really means:
Ready for a lesson in Alaska geography/International Affairs? Off the coast of Nome, 532 miles northwest of Anchorage (the closest city) is an island called Little Diomede. Little Diomede is 2.4 miles east of the island called Big Diomede, which is in Russia.This is what one of the two major political parties of the United States of America is trying to seriously pass off as relevant foreign policy experience for one of two people on their national ticket.
Little Diomede, Alaska has a population of 146. It is 2.5 square miles in area. There are 42 children in the school. Nobody drives to work. Big Diomede is a whopping 26 square miles. On a clear day you can see the Island of Big Diomede from the western shore of Little Diomede. Therefore Sarah Palin is capable of negotiating with Putin and Sakashvili to peacefully settle the violent conflict that has been burgeoning in the separatist enclave of South Ossetia.
I just had to write that down (so to speak). To make myself believe it.
