Well, our electricity is finally back on, just in the nick of time, as Matilda, Olivia, Sophie, and I were all snuggled together on the sofa beginning to wonder if we should dismantle the dining room chairs for kindling and use the bathtub as a fireplace.
Iain had the worst of it, as it took him over four hours to get to work because the trains had such massive delays; evidently, he can likely expect the same nightmare on the way home, too, poor fella. And he may well arrive at the station to find our car ensconced in a block of ice, which will be, uh, interesting.
It feels like I've just escaped from a snow globe (or, for the truly nerdtastic among us, from the The Phantom Zone, as I described it to Spudsy), as I had no contact with the outside world nor even any idea what time it was, lol, for most of the day. I did venture outside for a bit, to check the mail (and had little luck, since the mailbox was frozen solid in about an inch of ice) and take some pictures around the front and back gardens.
Beautiful, but cruel. I'm glad to see you, such as it were, again, Shakers.
News from the Inside of a Snow Globe
Shaker Gourmet: Peanut Butter Cookies
This was sent in from Shaker SAP who said that it has never failed him!
(See here for original)Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup peanut butter
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cup flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
Method
1 Cream the butter for 2 minutes. Add the sugars, cream for 2 more minutes. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. Mix together the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir into the sugar butter mixture.
2 Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
3 Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a minute; transfer to rack to cool completely.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15 minutes.
That one is similar to my own (found here, with a few others), which I actually just put in the fridge to chill a few minutes ago. When making regular pb cookies for the holidays (as opposed to peanut butter blossoms), I sprinkle red & green decorating sugar on them after stamping the crisscross pattern in before baking.
If you'd like to participate in Shaker Gourmet, email me at: shakergourmet (at) gmail.com
Hey, Babe, Want Fries With That?
From the Miami Herald:
As part of a string of viral ad campaigns, Miami-based Burger King is selling a new men's body spray called Flame. The company describes the spray as ''the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.''I wonder who the genius was who came up with this. Did they seriously test-market this? Who wants to smell like they just got off work at the fast-food joint at the mall?
On the other hand, the jokes practically write themselves:
1. The version marketed to the gay community will be called "Flamer."
2. For vegetarians, there's a spray called "Spud Stud."
3. It makes you wonder exactly what meat they envisioned was "flame-broiled."
Feel free to add your own.
(Cross-posted.)
OMG SHOEZ!
Neil Patrick Harris edition:
Bonus earworm (that has nothing to do with NPH):
Blog Alert AND Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
It's two, two, two posts in one!
I just spoke with Melissa; apparently her house is completely encased in ice due to our storms last night. Compounding this mess is the complete loss of power to her home. This has more or less trapped her in The Phantom Zone. So it may be a bit before we hear from her today.
In the meantime, enjoy the intro from Uncle Croc's Block.
I used to love this show as a kid. I'm also a big homo. Coincidence??
(If we did this one already, I apologize. But you can never have enough Charles Nelson Reilly (or Jonathan Harris) as far as I'm concerned.
Daily Caganer -- 7 More WTPing Days 'Til Xmas
What more can I say? Apparently, in Catalonia, it's considered a great honor to have a caganer made in your likeness -- and so --
The President-Elect Obama Caganer:
I thought about photoshopping "LGBTQ Community" on the pedestal, but honest to poop -- after today? I was just so WEV, I couldn't be arsed to do it.
============
This has been your Daily Caganer. Click Here for Parts I, II, III, & IV
Question of the Day
by Shaker Ella Funt, a bisexual pacifist- and feminist-in-training who doesn't say much because she tends to get intimidated by all the intelligent comments around here.
Have you ever experienced a random act of kindness?
The most memorable for me was about 3 years ago. I had just gotten out of college and was working at a non-profit for practically nothing. One morning, I woke up and it was like 2 degrees outside - ok seriously, it was like 20*F outside, but it felt like 2*, and I'm originally from South Texas so sue me ;-). On top of that my car heater was broken and I had an hour commute ahead of me.
So I got almost to work, and lo, there was a Starbucks ahead of me. (I know a lot of people don't like Starbucks, but I love their hot chocolate.) So I contemplated for about 5 minutes while stuck in traffic, in a car with no heater, in the freezing weather...did I want to be nice and warm with a hot chocolate now or did I want to eat lunch later? I mean, I wasn't made of money (nor am I now) and we all know Starbucks is not cheap. But I decided warmth now trumped hunger later and headed over to the drive-thru.
I placed my order and was waiting in line, rubbing my hands together to try to keep them warm inside my gloves. I finally got to the window and went to hand the cashier my check card, and she said "Oh don't worry about it...the lady in front of you paid for yours."
Blink.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
She repeated, "The lady in front of you paid for it." Then she smiled and said, "She just asked that you remember and pay it forward when you can."
I'm not a crier (and seriously the tears probably would have frozen on my cheeks), but I got all warm and fuzzy inside - and it wasn't just the hot chocolate. On a particularly stressful day, with limited means and feeling completely frozen, I was able to be warm and eat lunch.
A couple of years later, and a very few dollars richer, I was passing through the same Starbucks drive-thru when I noticed a lady behind me in a mini-van. She looked a little frazzled - it might have had something to do with the kids in her car who did NOT look like they were behaving themselves. I got up to the window to pay for my hot chocolate (what can I say? I don't drink coffee), and I remembered what that lady had done for me. I asked the cashier, "What did the lady behind me get?" I don't remember what it was...vanilla mocha something or other. I told the cashier, "I'd like to pay for it, and if she asks, just tell her to remember and pay it forward when she can."
Although I was never able to personally thank the lady who helped me so much on that very cold morning, I like to think that by honoring her wish, I was able to thank in her a somewhat cosmic way.
Quote of the Day
"This is terrible; this man call's himself a Christian????Barack H. Obama is the most PRO-DEATH president America has ever elected!!!!! He has said that as president he is going to pass the 'Freedom of Choice Act' how can our country get any better with this type of MURDER?????? Mr. Warren school be ashamed of himself, protection of the unborn is the MOST IMPERATIVE issue as a Christian!!!!! For without life do we continue to have a society at all??? I think not!!!!! God Bless & MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"—Pat, a correspondent at the Christian Broadcasting Network's "Brody File" blog, expressing his or her displeasure with Pastor Rick Warren for accepting President-Elect Obama's invitation to lead the invocation at his inauguration.
Pat and I probably have little else in common, but that's pretty much what I was talking about when I noted earlier today that Warren doesn't appear to have much integrity if he's willing to participate in the celebration of an elected leader whom he likens to a Nazi appeaser.
Continuing Happiness: Shaker-Style
by Shaker Llencelyn
(Don't forget to check out all the links and pictures in the comments of the first thread!)
"Iain and the girls"—Liss (who notes that Tils was on her lap)
Shaker Lindsey got to go to a concert: "On Monday, I saw Ted Leo (of Ted Leo & The Pharmacists) perform solo in Brooklyn at the best DIY venue I've seen, the Market Hotel in Bushwick. It was probably the best show that I have ever been to, and that's saying a lot. Afterwards, I met Ted and talked to him for a minute, and it has made me deliriously happy all week! Honestly, I've had the biggest crush on Ted Leo for the last six years or so."
Leek-spin, brought to us by Shaker milobloom. It's mesmerizing! (Epileptics or other seizure-prone people might want to be careful with this one.)
Shaker sunnyhello brings us two adorable pictures of her gorgeous puppeh, Annabelle:
Shaker Faith says that, in addition to her husband, she is made happy by:
(These are mugs. More info at TikiFarm.)
Miss Moneypenny, Shaker Coffeegirl_Karin's hamster:
Sent by Shaker Easto, this 41 second video made me giggle!
The Buffy fangirl, Rocky Horror fan, and Anthony Stewart Head fangirl in Shaker Kitty are all satisfied by this video!
As before, send submissions of what makes you happy to Shaker Llencelyn!
More Cabinet Picks & Other Appointments
• Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) has reportedly been selected as the next Secretary of Labor. The daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants and the only congressmember of Central American descent, Solis is strongly pro-union earned a 100% rating from the AFL-CIO last year.
• Physicist John Holdren has reportedly been selected as the president's science adviser.
• Rahm Emanuel's brother Zeke will reportedly "serve as a senior counselor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health policy" and "work closely with Department of Health and Human Services secretary-nominee Tom Daschle to formulate a national health insurance program and to try to curb the swelling cost of health insurance without adversely impacting health care."
• Three more economic posts filled: Mary Schapiro will head the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler will head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Daniel Tarullo will fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve board. I don't know fuck-all about any of them.
I Never Should Have Gotten out of Bed This Morning
The HHS Rule Change that puts women's access to basic healthcare in jeopardy by allowing providers, based on their personal biases, to withhold both services and information women need to make fully informed decisions about their healthcare, has officially been made by the Bush administration, as of today, and will go into effect in 30 days.
The Bush administration today issued a sweeping new regulation that protects a broad range of health-care workers -- from doctors to janitors -- who refuse to participate in providing services that they believe violate their personal, moral or religious beliefs.The rule itself is so broad that it opens the door for a whole range of terrifying possibilities: EMTs who refuse to treat gay and transgender people, entire hospitals that refuse to dispense emergency contraception, emergency room staff who refuse to save the life of drunk drivers…
The controversial rule empowers federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their "right of conscience." It would apply to more than 584,000 health-care facilities.
…Women's health advocates, family planning proponents, abortion rights activists, members of Congress and others condemned the regulation, saying it would create major obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.
It's a clusterfucktastrophe. It's also eight billion lawsuits waiting to happen—but many of them will arise because people have died after being denied treatment.
As previously mentioned, Senators Clinton and Murray had introduced legislation to try to stop the rule change, which presumably will now be altered to try to undo the rule change.
I don't know what else to say. I'm utterly heartsick.
[Previously on on the HHS Rule Change: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight.]
What Makes You Happy?
by Shaker Llencelyn
In light of the oodles of awful news facing us today, I thought we could all do with a figurative cup o' cheer. I hope the following will warm the sad, frozen cockles of your hearts, as they did mine—at least a little. ^_^
Extra Bonus: Send pictures, thoughts, links, whatever! that make you happy to happyshakesville@yahoo.com, and I'll compile them into more happy posts!
If you haven't already seen this video, you're in for a treat. :)
Woo, finals are done! And now I want a hamster.
This is the pretteh kitteh at my Beloved's base in Afghanistan. They just call it "FOB Cat" (FOB = Forward Operating Base). I think they don't name the animals because they aren't really supposed to let them hang around.
And now, some lol-creatures!
My Beloved and I, back in May at his sister's graduation. Hey, it makes me happy. ^_^
Some textual happiness, for those of you less visually-inclined.
How happy is the little StoneI should preface this one with an admission that I'm not entirely sure it's a technically "happy" poem - I find ee cummings somewhat inscrutable, at times - but this was the first poem of his that I read and I love how it sounds.
That rambles in the Road alone,
And doesn't care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears --
Whose Coat of elemental Brown
A passing Universe put on,
And independent as the Sun
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute Decree
In casual simplicity --
- Emily Dickinson
anyone lived in a pretty how townI think this might be the most simultaneously disturbing and adorable thing I've ever seen.
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream
stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain
-- ee cummings
Booze! It's what the doctor ordered. :)
Righteous revolution!
This made me laugh out loud—really!
Okay, sorry, he's just so damn sexy!
Now go on and send me the things that make you happy!
It Is To Laugh
Get this. So, Rick Warren is insisting he isn't homophobic. Do you know why he isn't homophobic? Let me tell you why he isn't homophobic: because he once gave some protesters water and donuts.
No, really.
Proving, of course, what a fantastic, wonderful, loving man he is. You can strip someone of their human rights and say the most vicious things about them, as long as you treat them with respect, and give them a Krispy Kreme.Q: Your position has raised the specter that you are homophobic.
WARREN: Hahahah! […]
Q: Are you homophobic?
WARREN: Of course not. I have always treated them with respect. When they come and wanna talk to me, I talk to ‘em. When the protesters came, we served them water and donuts.
There's video at the link, but I very seriously warn you not to watch it. It's bad enough reading his laughter in that above blockquote, but hearing it will make you Hulk out and start smashing things.
And speaking of donuts, Warren is more than welcome to take a flying fuck at a rolling one.
So ask yourself, are you ready?*
Recently I've seen the Bûche de Noël episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay a couple times and thought, well, maybe I'll make Bobby's recipe for our Yule log this year for our Solstice ritual. So I looked it up.
I didn't even notice many of the measurements were in grams at first. It doesn't bother me, it's so simple to convert anyway. But it got such low reviews that I was curious, so I clicked over to read them.
I don't know why I was surprised but I was...Grams, litres, 3 ounces toasted walnuts? where are we France. Hey Bobby I love your cooking and most of your recipes, but your buddy came to New York to be a pastry chef here right? Well let him convert his measurements to american. And am I missing something or does the average american kitchen actually have a way to measure the weight of walnuts in ounces? [...]
I suspect the end result would have been very good, however, I operate on AMERICAN Standard measurements, not Metric. It's bad enough that our government is selling us out with the metric system, i.e. litres vs quarts; 1.75 litres vs 1/2 gallon, being slowly forced upon us. We don't need Bobby Flay helping the conversion. I, personally still live in America, not England, Germany, etc, and resent the forced conversion. Recipes that require conversion, I automatically delete or ignore. Larry G fm Georgia
[...]I am an intelligent person (who could convert if necessary) who went to look up this recipe because I thought it would be great. The only thing great was my disappointment in finding it was in grams! I don't want recipes in grams, and I don't want to have to do conversions. Please, Food Network, discontinue this practice!
GRAMS ! This recipe is not ready for the internet, at least not for US citizens. C'mon Food Network, take some pride in what you post.
What are you thinking? Grams??? This is the US. We don't use grams.... Is that anything like a "cubit?" How about checking what you put on this site. [...]
What the hell? There are some reviewers who had the same reaction I did but honestly. Ridiculous morons puffed up on indignation whining about how this is AMERICA (with ALL CAPS DRAMA, even!). Gah. You want a professional chef's recipe, you get the recipe how they write it. This concept is not hard!
(*that's the phrase used to take the show out)
Anchors Away, My Boys
Another update in the ongoing, heads-exploding-on-the-right saga of Obama's appointments and gays in the military: Congressional Democrats working with retired military leaders are pushing for William White to be appointed Secretary of the Navy. If chosen, White would be the first openly gay person to top one the nation's armed services.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton says White "would be phenomenal." Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) agrees, saying "He's very capable."
Of course, professional homobigot Elaine Donnelly opposes the idea, claiming it "would be very demoralizing to the troops" and that appointing White that would be "very poor judgment on the part of the commander in chief." Donnelly stands by her long record of... well... nothing... to draw her conclusions.
The Obama camp had no comment.
(And why, oh why, do we keep reading this stuff in the Washington Fucking Times? Anybody?)
Spirit of Fuck You
Via TPM, at this morning's presser, Obama was asked about extending an invitation to Warren, and here's video of his response (full transcript, including the question and the tail end of his comment, which is missing from TPM's transcript, is below):
There's so much wrong with this statement, I hardly know where to begin, but the most obvious problem is that Obama is playing the same game that anti-choicers and homobigots have been playing for decades, which is pretending that both sides of the abortion issue and the same-sex marriage issue are equivalent, and they are not.
The pro-choice position does not force anyone to get an abortion who does not want one; the anti-choice position, however, prevents women who want abortions from getting them. The pro-marriage equality position does not force anyone to marry a person of the same sex, nor require that any churches perform same-sex marriage ceremonies; the anti-marriage equality position, however, prevents same-sex couples who want to get married from doing so and prevents churches who want to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies from doing so.
The progressive position allows for individual choice; the conservative position does not.
The progressive position expands freedom; the conservative position limits it.
The progressive position treats women and LGBTQIs as autonomous, rights-bearing human beings deserving of full equality; the conservative position treats women's bodies as state property and LGBTQIs as second-class citizens.
President-Elect Obama's insistence on treating the two sides of these "political issues" as though they are equal is dangerously wrong. He's talking about both sides' opinions (and their respective right to hold and express them) being equal, which is technically accurate, but worth a hill of fucking beans when the political ramifications of those opinions when translated into policy are categorically not equal.
Sure, every American citizen has the right to say that every fat blogger named Melissa should be imprisoned indefinitely if they don't stop blogging, and I'd defend their right to say it, but the moment some crackpot spouting that shit gets access to the presidential inauguration, it's a whole different kettle of fish, because that confers legitimacy on the position that makes it fundamentally different from some random opinion being issued by an average citizen.
Obama's being willfully obtuse about these differences in order to justify the presence of a bigot at his inauguration, for reasons I don't entirely understand.
And as for his tomato-tomahto offering of Dr. Joseph Lowery as a counterbalance to Warren, Pam wonders: "What about principle?" If the two "cancel each other out," then Obama has effectively undermined his own alleged "fierce" and "consistent" advocacy for gay and lesbian Americans, leaving him with no statement on LGBTQI rights at all.
That, my friend, is not fierce advocacy. That's fence-sitting horseshit.
Q: Good morning, sir. I have a question about Pastor Rick Warren. He holds a number of social views that are at odds with your own views and with those of some of your very strong supporters.
Obama: Right.
Q: I'm wondering what went into your decision to choose him for this prominent role as you embark on your own presidency; at a time when you're dotting every "i" and crossing every "t," it does send some important signals.
Obama: Well, let me start by talking about my own views. I think that it is no secret that I am fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have been consistent on and something that I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency.
What I've also said is that it is important for America to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues.
And I would note that a couple of years ago I was invited to Rick Warren's church to speak, despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues like abortion.
Nevertheless, I had an opportunity to speak, and that dialogue, I think, is part of what my campaign's been all about, that we're not going to agree on every single issue. But what we have to do is to be able to create an atmosphere when we—where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans. So, Rick Warren has been invited to speak, Dr. Joseph Lowery, who has deeply contrasting views to Rick Warren about a whole host of issues, is also speaking.
During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that's how it should be, because that's what America's about—that's part of the magic of this country, is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated and, so, you know, that's the spirit in which, you know, we have put together what I think we be a terrific inauguration, and that's hopefully going to be a spirit that carries over into my administration.
One Wrong Plus One Wrong Equals…?
by Shaker Leigh
While perusing the week's newspapers online, I stumbled upon this story about Ameneh Bahrami in Sunday's Washington Post. It sent me into such a tizzy that I e-mailed Liss, imploring her to write about it here. She invited me to step up and do it myself. So.
For those who aren't familiar, here's the short version: Ameneh Bahrami was a university student in Tehran when she met Majid Movahedi in 2002. Over the next two years, Movahedi repeatedly proposed marriage and, after she repeatedly declined, began stalking her, threatening to kill her or himself if she did not relent. In late 2004, he snuck up on her on a crowded street and threw a bucket of sulpheric acid on her head, leaving her blind and severely scarred. Last month, an Iranian court sentenced Movahedi to have five drops of acid placed in each of his eyes.
Bahrami actively sought the sentence, an application of Qisas, a tenet of Sharia law that allows victims to seek physical retribution in lieu of the usual "blood money." According to Bahrami:
"I am doing [it] because I don't want this to happen to any other women."My head did about three hundred somersaults after reading the account. On the one hand, it's pretty much the definition of cruel and inhuman punishment; the level of violence here is seriously disturbing; and it risks re-affirming the all-too-prevalent (mistaken) belief that Islam is inherently a violent religion practiced by innately violent individuals.
And yet…here we have a high Islamic court very publicly taking the woman's side, agreeing with her that she did not deserve the violence so heartlessly inflicted upon her, and holding her attacker criminally—not simply financially—responsible.
I found myself wandering down a pretty horrifying thought path: "Yes, it's pretty counterintuitive to redress a human rights violation with a human rights violation, but can sending the message that the courts will severely punish men who savagely attack women really be wholly a bad thing?"
And then, I realized that I had just posited a human rights violation as not wholly a bad thing.
The cognitive dissonance that ensued managed to shock me back to the sane side of logical: torture masquerading as justice is a travesty. It always is. Or, as Jill at Feministe put it (in a very even-handed post):
Women's rights cannot be severed from human rights. Women's rights at the expense of human rights are no rights at all.Indeed.
But I also think my initial reaction was telling. What is going on when a self-described pacifist and progressive becomes so inured to reading countless reports of legal forces failing or flat-out refusing to stand up for women who have been victims of violent crime that a story about state-condoned torture can be twisted into a step in the right direction? Because, hey, at least they didn't tell her, "Fuck off, you deserved it?" It's a pretty sad commentary on the state of affairs. And a pretty severe warning to be hyper-vigilant about where emotion can lead you.
After all, it's natural to sympathize with Bahrami, to desire revenge for her and the untold others whose stories never reach your ears. When you know that the token atrocity on the front page each day is only the tip of the iceberg, it's tempting to grasp at anything that doesn't seem to be openly complicit in upholding the status quo.
But even a cursory second glance shows there is plenty more to be unnerved by.
One example: the WaPo story quotes Tehran journalist Asieh Amini, a vocal critic of the sentence, who specializes in human rights issues.
"This is an extreme case of social violence, but crimes like spouse and 'honor' killings are clearly on the rise in Iran," Amini said. "These crimes are violent reactions to sexual limitations in this country."I'm sorry, what now? The source the Post chooses to voice the objections of human rights defenders identifies the predominant underlying problem here as the "sexual limitations in this country."
Let us fervently hope that something got lost in translation (either literally or figuratively), because "sexual limitations" suggests that a libertine atmosphere of relaxed sexual mores would've prevented the entire situation, as if it's not the seriously fucked up notions about women's autonomy, marriage, and/or male sexual entitlement so prominently on display in this case that are the issue, but Iran's sexual conservatism. Of course the concept of "sexual limitations" is inextricably related to the patriarchal system that denies women's autonomy and upholds male entitlement, but it does not sufficiently encompass everything at play here.
Let's be clear: Ultimately, Movahedi was not directly responding to the sexual limitations placed on men and women by the country, but to the sexual limitation Bahrami imposed on him by refusing to marry him, in defiance of what he felt he was owed—an expectation created by a patriarchal system more vast than mere sexual restrictions.
Attitudes towards sexuality in Iran are certainly oppressive, but to suggest that this man nearly killed a woman as some sort of rebellion against the dominant social order is just plain irresponsible, not to mention infuriating. He didn't maim a national monument to protest prohibitions against premarital sex. He maimed a woman for asserting her autonomy.
So we have a state-condoned human rights violation being used to rectify a previous human rights violation, and meanwhile, most of the coverage and discussion fail at adequately framing either as a human rights violation. Sad state of affairs, indeed.
Daily Kitteh
Because I suspect we all need some cute already. At least I do. My day started with falling down the stairs and face-planting onto the hardwood floor (ow); I should have known then that it was time to go right back to bed.
Sophs the Monitor Cat watches the birds.
I begin to suspect Sophs is part angel, part tarsier.
The Cherry on Top of the Inaugural Shit Sundae
Jon Favreau, he of the Clinton cut-out breast-grabbing pix, gets a page one story in the Washington Post, in which the aforementioned mimicked sexual assault played for laughs is described thus (and subsequently not mentioned): "[His] silly Facebook photos with a Hillary Rodham Clinton cutout created what passes for controversy in Obama's so far drama-free transition."
The story is all about how he's writing the inaugural address.
