Hey, GOP, He's All Yours
In an interview in Christianity Today, "Joe the Plumber" holds forth on gay rights, Christianity, and Constitutional scholarship.
In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?There you are, folks. This is the guy the Republicans championed as the voice of the "average" American; assuming, that is, that the average American is an ignorant white guy from Toledo. He's Archie Bunker on Twitter, and he's got the act down pat: "some of my best friends" are gay but I won't let my kids near them, and God is an American "religion." (What, no comments about President Obama's "rhythm"?)
At a state level, it’s up to them. I don’t want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it’s wrong. People don’t understand the dictionary—it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do—what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.
[...]
Does the Republican Party reach out to evangelicals enough?
No. None of them stand up for anything. They use God as a punch line. They use God to invoke sympathy or invoke righteousness, but they don’t stay the course. That’s why I think that all needs to be taken out of the federal level and give it back to the states. We’ve lost our American history. Every state has “In God we trust” or “With God’s help” in their constitution. God is recognized as, if you will, America’s religion.
[...]
Why does conservatism appeal to you as a Christian?
Conservatism is about the basic rights of individuals. God created us. As far as the government goes, the Founding Fathers based the Constitution off of Christian values. It goes hand-in-hand.
God hasn't told him yet whether or not to run for office. I sincerely hope he does; I really want to have this voice of reason out there with big "R" next to his name and his face plastered across every Fox newscast as a subtle reminder as to why voters are leaving the GOP in droves.
Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.
Question of the Day
I can't believe it, but I don't think we've ever done this one before: Who's your favorite superhero?
In honor of Wolverine, who, if not my precise favorite, is up there.
Number of the Day
62. The percentage of the American public who "believes that the current economic turmoil makes it more important than ever to take on health care reform."
Coincidentally, ahem, 59.3% of that same populace gets health care through their employers.
Wolverine Open Thread
Hello there, handsome.
So, here's the thing about Wolverine—he, especially as played by Mr. Hugh Jackman, has the distinction of being the only male character in the Marvel universe who presents me with an unresolvable conundrum: I cannot decide whether I most want to be Wolverine, or fuck Wolverine.
What is always certain is that I will see any film featuring Wolverine, and so this weekend, Iain and I, with our pal KennyBlogginz, headed off to the theater to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
[SPOILER WARNING]
It has the usual problems, and there's some dialogue so clichéd it was embarrassing even to listen to, and, as always, there are too many mutants so some are wasted/underutilized (*cough* Gambit *cough*). But overall it's a fun film, and there's some stuff about it I really liked, starting with the opening titles, which followed Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting in nearly every American war and were dead cool. And I creamed myself three times [/Twinkletoes] when Wolverine ran the gauntlet to free the caged mutants from their cells. HAWT.
I also really dug Professor X's cameo, and the subtle de-aging of Patrick Stewart, even though it nearly made me exclaim, "That's some Benjamin Buttons shit!"
On the silly side, KennyBlogginz and I couldn't stop giggling at Stryker's commands to Deadpool, which were cheesily amusing. Earlier today, I texted K-Blogz:
—which we both naturally found totally hilarious. I also told him I was busily typing one-handed V.C. Andrews-esque slash-fic about Wolverine and Sabretooth, which he immediately dubbed "Sideburns in the Attic."
And casting Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool pretty much ensures I will forever refer to the character from here on out as Douchepool. Just sayin'.
So, in conclusion to this rambling bullshit pseudo-review, lol, I say: If you like this sorta shit, and you're looking for two hours of mindless fun at the movies, you won't feel like you wasted your money on X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The End.
Daily Kitteh
Sophie thinks the Dadsy's charging Blackberry Storm makes a great pillow.
Olivia would be oh-so-happyhappyhappy if you would just scratch her head.
Matilda is still fuzzy.
It's Always Mom's Fault, Somehow
You may recall, from just over a year ago, the kerfuffle surrounding columnist Lenore Skenazy's decision to allow her (then) nine-year-old son to ride the the NYC subway by himself. Writing about it in her column, Skenazy said, "Half the people I've told this episode to now want to turn me in for child abuse. As if keeping kids under lock and key and helmet and cell phone and nanny and surveillance is the right way to rear kids. It's not. It's debilitating—for us and for them."
Now she's written a book, Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts With Worry, and today in Salon discusses with Katharine Mieszkowski her thesis that parents are being driven batty by a culture obsessed with predation and a media who profit richly from stories of child victimization, and how kids are suffering for it.
I'm not a parent, so this isn't really my beat. Besides that, I'm sympathetic to some of what she's saying—I recoil at Lysol commercials featuring mothers spraying toys with a disinfectant and yell at the telly that some exposure to germs is necessary for a strong immune system, and I want to smash things when parents are blamed for their children being victimized by a determined predator—but I'm troubled by some of what she's saying, too, particularly with regard to the cultural equivalencies. The Philippines is not New York City, and New York City is not the Houston suburbs, and the suburbs aren't exurbia.
And, for that matter, 1718, when "Ben Franklin was apprenticed to his brother at age 12," isn't 2009. The life expectancy in the northern US in 1700 was 50 years old. Hell, I now live a mile from the house in which I grew up, on the same street, which I had to cross every day when I walked to elementary school almost 30 years ago, and the traffic on this same street has at least tripled. An intersecting street that used to be a little two-lane road is now a four-lane throughway with a 40mph speed limit. Kids in the same neighborhood no longer walk to school like I did because there's too much traffic, not because their parents are overprotective.
So, yeah. A mixed bag over here.
Discuss.
[H/T to Iain.]
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of the award-winning periodical Feminazi Cooter Weekly.
Recommended Reading:
Marcella: Carnival Against Sexual Violence 69
Jill: I Want Women's Networks to Stop Glamorizing Stalking
Mar: Women Are One-Finger Food
mzbitca: Disgusting
Renee: It's All Because You Are Fat
The Angry Black Woman: X-Men Origins: Wolverine—Same Old Story
Bizarro Central: Shatnerquake
Leave your links in comments...
Random YouTubery: The 62-Year Tinkle
Fran & Marlo Cowan, who have been married for 62 years, play an impromptu recital together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic, September 2008. Insert your own cliché about playing beautiful music together here.
What did you think I meant by "62-year tinkle"? Get your mind out of the gutter!
[H/T to Shaker Leigh.]
Quote of the Day
"Was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people? I'm not sure."—Former GOP presidential wannabe Willard "Mitt" Romney, on Sarah Palin's inclusion on Time's list of "The World's Most Influential People," still proving me right, unfortunately, that the GOP would unleash a torrent of misogyny against Palin if the McCain ticket lost the election, thereby proving their alleged feminist awakening short-lived.
[H/T to Shaker SamanthaB.]
Feel the Homomentum!
Shaker GoldFishy, whose irresistible cuteness has been cited as the nation's #1 gay recruiting tool by Feminazi Cooter Weekly, sends some good news from Minnesota (emphasis mine):
In a move that could pave the way for Lutheran blessings of same-gender relationships in southeastern Minnesota, a local Evangelical Lutheran Church in America assembly voted Saturday to welcome and support persons of same-gender sexual orientation.Blub.
The resolution passed overwhelmingly at the annual meeting of the ELCA's southeastern Minnesota synod. No official count was taken because the show of hands was so strongly in favor.
…Gay marriage is not recognized in Minnesota, [Rev. Bruce Benson of the St. Olaf Student Congregation in Northfield, Minn., who wrote the resolution] acknowledged, but the resolution will likely be seen by ELCA pastors as permission to recognize same-gender relationships.
"Frankly, I think that as a church we are going to have to provide for rituals, rites, ceremonies that acknowledge the commitment of two same-gender people," Benson said.
…There is no agreed-upon service of commitment for same-gender couples in the ELCA, Benson said. "My guess is that we won't because what we have in a marriage ceremony will work just fine," he said.
For those of you who weren't brought up in the green bean casserole-scented tradition that is the Lutheran Church, I'll just quickly explain that the church has different synods, or sub-denominations, and some are more progressive than others, with a range that goes from liberal Anglican-y woman- and/or gay-ordaining synods to conservative evangelical-y synods that still won't allow women to be elected as president of the congregation. And within each synod are sub-synods: The ELCA has 65 synods, including this southeastern Minnesota synod that is over 100,000 members strong.
Hopefully, other regional synods will follow suit, and put pressure on the ELCA (which has over 4,000,000 members all around the world) to officially recognize same-sex marriages.
Break out the green bean casserole and the ambrosia salad—it's time to celebrate, Lutherans!
RIP Marilyn French
Feminist author Marilyn French, whose works include the iconic novel The Women's Room and the four-volume From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women, has died at age 79.
To be honest, I don't know much about French at all. I've never read any of her work that I recall, so I can't give her much of a eulogy or make a case for or against her.
The only thing I really know about her/her work is that one of the characters in The Women's Room says "All men are rapists," and that has been attributed to French by MRA-types, as if she said it rather than her character, and in turn has been used to suggest it's the opinion of all feminists, for almost as long as I've been alive.
Because they are idiots.
The Dogs Bark
Sniffing at Petulant's heels, I grabbed my copy of The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places by Truman Capote off the shelf and thought I'd share its mysterious inscription with you.
Transcript below:
To [illegible] at Christmas '73I've no idea who Mitzi and whomever (Steven, perhaps?) are, and can't, for the life of me, recall how I came into possession of this book. No matter, I'll put in my stack of summer reading materials between all six volumes of The Power Boys and Stealing Lincoln's Body.
Who also must tame barking dogs & one kitten that's always causing him NOT to hear (all the muses wish him to.)
For that & oh, so many things, I ask forgiveness.
I do love you darling.
Your Mitzi as long as she is .....
This got me thinking about how whenever I gave my husband a book, he'd immediately want to know if I had inscribed it. His face would light up if I had, so I tried to whenever possible. (And I admit, I was unable to bring myself to write anything in the vintage copy of Being and Nothingness I got him.) And on a shelf not too far from the book Mitzi gave to hers, I still have a copy of the very first book, the very first thing if memory serves, I gave my beloved. On one page I traced an outline of my hand, on the verso, and inscription that is, now, as cryptic as Mitzi's. The words almost senseless now, but the meaning perfectly clear, nearly twenty years later.
Anyway, it was his birthday Friday. Happy birthday, dear boy, no books this year, just a couple dozen roses. I hope that will do.
In Things That Make Me Happy
1. Chef Tom Colicchio.
2. Chef Tom Colicchio being profiled in the New York Times with a straight Q&A.
3. Finding out Chef Tom Colicchio's favorite movie is also Harold & Maude.
4. All the people who were kind enough to read that, think of me and my simultaneously affection for Chef Tom Colicchio and Harold & Maude, and send me the link.
Page Six: Still Written by Assholes
by Shaker Esme, a sociologist with legal ambitions who spends her days selling comics to the masses and her nights listening to angry people scream at her for a low wage. In her spare time, she yells at the television for perpetuating the patriarchy.
HS GUYS HOT FOR KATE WINSLET:
April 27, 2009 --A friend of mine linked me to this article this weekend. I don't really know what his motivation was behind the link, but it got me ranting. It's the NY Post, which is trash anyway, and it's Page Six, which is like the trash left behind by people who dig through trash looking for slightly less trashy trash to cover their heads in the rain, but it just perfectly encapsulates a way of thinking about sexual harassment that it got me pissed off.
Kate Winslet could easily be a cougar if she wanted. A Page Six spy saw the 33-year-old Oscar winner walking down Sixth Avenue at 26th Street the other day with a male friend, "wearing working-out gear. Two high-school guys, who had no idea who she was, were totally hitting on her. They followed her to Seventh Avenue and kept commenting on her big, hot booty and how sexy she was." But the composed mother of two "completely ignored them," our witness said.
I mean, to begin with, there's the really obvious way of thinking of women as disposable after the age of 30, wherein it is somehow shocking or newsworthy that young men would be attracted to someone with double-x chromosomes at the geriatric age of 33.
Then there's the double standard of it being noteworthy when "older" women are paired with younger men, in ways that it is not commented upon when the men are older and the women younger, to the point where women who date younger men have a dehumanizing slang term aimed at them ("cougar").
There's the fact that we should be shocked that not only was the woman in the circumstance existing in the twilight of life at the creaking at the joints age of 33, she wasn't even dressed in her patriarchally approved costume of high heels, push up bra, thong and miniskirt, but working-out gear, committing the high sin of comfort.
And there's the element of the male gaze being the only thing of importance here. "Incredibly beautiful celebrity woman still seen as beautiful" is not news. The news is that an incredibly beautiful woman managed to be catcalled by a couple of teenage douchebags and yet somehow resist the urge to do her duty as a woman and fuck them right there in the street for still thinking she was fuckable at the ripe age of not-20-anymore.
To top it off, she's supposed to be flattered by some assholes sexually harassing her as she goes about her day to day activities, on top of being stalked by a self-described "spy" (I'm pretty sure we call that stalking here in the good old U-S-of-A).
If the person who wrote this was a feminist journalist, it would be headlined "Woman Sexually Harassed by Boys Old Enough to Know Better: Youth not excuse for being a douchebag." And if we lived in a truly good society, that would be a noteworthy occurrence.
History (?) Lessons
So, I want to tell you a story.
Seems a young man of color was in a part of the U.S. where he was unwelcome, perceived as an outsider.
He allegedly engaged in actions deemed transgressive by local white "citizens."
So, a few white men dutifully took it upon themselves to teach him a lesson and ended up beating him to death.
The local citizenry was annoyed by the national attention--felt like people were playing up the racial angle.*
An all-white jury later acquitted the white men of murder charges. The woman closest to the victim, who felt she knew what the verdicts would be, left the courtroom before they were read.
People gloated that the justice system worked!
You know this story, right?
Only, I'm not talking about him.
I'm talking about him.
Fifty-three years between their deaths, and still these similarities stood out to me.
Dr. King once said something to the effect of the arc of history** is long, but it bends towards justice.
Right now, I'm just stuck on how achingly long it is.
(cross-posted)
_______________________________________
* On local residents' reactions
**I've also heard "moral universe" in the place of history.
John Edwards Under Investigation
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this latest bit of news about John Edwards because a) I'm lazy, and b) I don't think he really deserves my time.
But allow me, briefly, to note why Edwards is under federal inquiry: In 2006 and 2007, Edwards' PAC allegedly funnelled $100,000 to Edward's mistress, under the guise of "video production" and "furniture purchases."
Nice.
And if I may remind you, this is the same douchenozzle who had the temerity to lecture Liss on ethics. While cheating on his cancer-stricken wife. And while allegedly funnelling campaign funds to his mistress.
Wevs.
Squeeeeeeeeeeeee! or: The Best Photo in the Universe
by Shaker Veace, who co-authors the film review website Bitch Flicks with Shaker AmberL, and by new Shaker Twinkletoes, who often takes himself too seriously.
Veace: When Shaker Twinkletoes, aka my friend Travis, told me he'd actually gotten to meet Hillary Clinton at a North Carolina rally during the election, I flipped. I'd seen her speak two times, once in Kentucky and once in New York City, and on both occasions, I got close enough to almost touch her, but never actually got to touch her, let alone have an interaction with her that involved speaking and eye contact and smiling and completely freaking out while people innocently snapped photos in the background.
I even waited in line for three hours at the NYC rally, and it was where Hillary declared that she wasn't giving up, that she planned to stay in the race. But I didn't get to sit in the auditorium to hear her say that. Right before it was my turn to go inside, they announced to the still-massive crowd waiting outside that the auditorium was filled to capacity. I happened to be on the phone with Travis at that point, and I started to tear up (yes, I really love her) as they ushered the rest of us into a small side-room with a big screen TV where we could at least watch her deliver that historic speech together.
However, one mustn't forget that Hillary is amazing. And because she is so amazing, she actually came into the crappy side-room after her speech, along with Chelsea (squeal), and shook hands, signed autographs, posed for photos, and pretty much sent the entire room into orgasmic joy. But I still didn't get to meet her! So you can imagine the extreme jealousy I felt (while also trying to force air back into my lungs from laughing. so. fucking. hard.) when I received the following photo of Travis in my inbox.
My favorite thing about this? Um, basically everything. The Hillary button. The unabashed ecstasy that is Travis. Hillary. The two young women. The secret service guy slash Terminator cardboard cutout in the background. And even better, the fact that Travis didn't know this photo existed until a friend ran across it on Yahoo News.
Now it's showing up all over: In a newspaper in France, as my screensaver, as an e-card I just sent to my boss (who has never met Travis but desperately wants to), and on several websites, one in particular that refers to him as "Twinkletoes the Fanboy"…
I am Twinkletoes the Fanboy. Accept it. I have.
There are few things in life to get this excited about: Happy hour, two-for-one happy hours, three-for-one happy hours, late night happy hours, and Hillary Clinton.
During the primary, I watched every debate and stayed up all night for voting results to come in. I didn't have a TV at the time, so I watched the d-rate internet reporters from CNN. (Not worth it.) I even offered my students doughnuts if Hillary took Ohio and Texas, which I happily stuck to. When the NC primary came, I cancelled the classes I was teaching and trolled myself at a god-awful hour to High Point to see Hillary make a last-ditch plea to North Carolinians. She was down 10 points in the polls. I had recently made calls for her campaign, and most ended in cursing and phone slamming. Not all genius is recognized.
Her speech was brilliant and included 35 minutes of more wonderfulness than any news sound-bite had to offer her. (Sound familiar?) She spoke of energy independence, strong foreign policies, renewing America's faith in the economy, and bringing home troops from Iraq in a safe and responsible manner. Did I mention I creamed myself three times? (And this from a gay man who respects and praises the vagina, but kindly leaves it to others.) And I got a wonderful photo with her. See?
The Travis, the Hillster, the Teeth. Amen.
Yahoo Photos caught my gayer side. I try to tell people that I was moving aside to let others see her and thus my hands were up and pulled in. But it is a lie! The truth: I was screaming this to her in joyous sobs: We're going to do this! We're going to take North Carolina! I love you! I LOVE YOU!
Now, the Twinkletoes picture crops up at the most random of times. It has been used to help potential job hunts, been laughed at by my extended family, and apparently made its way to an underground French newspaper. Oui. The picture is just the icing to a day that was too good to begin with. In fact, I'd say the picture doesn't even do justice to my excitement. Granted, I'm 100% thrilled that Hillary is the face and voice of America abroad, but I'd love to see her womaning the helm. Pretty much every action she's taken thus far as Secretary of State has made me respect her even more. Just know the joy on my face does nothing to represent the moment she spoke.
At the rally, there was a mother with her 6 year-old-daughter. She had taken her out of school for the day because she wanted her daughter to see a strong, intelligent, FEMALE leader. The crowd was dense, but when everyone saw the little girl, we all stepped back and gave her front-row access. She stepped up on the rails and leaned over the entire time Hillary spoke. She even had a button with all the presidents' pictures on it and Hillary's face in the middle with the words "First Woman President!" (Maybe still…)
You can't see it in the picture, but when Hillary walked up to her, she stopped, leaned over, and talked to the girl. She put her hand up to the secret service, let the girl hug her, and said to her, I was a little girl like you once.
Cut to me creaming myself. Again. Twinkletoes do that sometimes.
