Bill O'Reilly: Here are the letters. Peter Gillies, Victoria, Canada: "Has anyone noticed that life expectancy in Canada under our health system is higher than the USA?" Well, that's to be expected, Peter, because we have ten times as many people as you do. That translates to ten times as many accidents, crimes, down the line.[Via.]
LOLOLOL—gasp!—LOLOLOL!
Photo of the Day
WESTWOOD, CA - JULY 28: Actress Meryl Streep arrives at the special screening of Columbia Pictures' 'Julie & Julia' held at Mann Village Theatre on July 28, 2009 in Westwood, California.Random Hollywood Executive: "Women over
Quote of the Day
"I, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, have seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawaii State Department of Health verifying Barrack Hussein Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born American citizen. I have nothing further to add to this statement or my original statement issued in October 2008 over eight months ago."—Dr. Chiyome Fukino, reiterating earlier today that she has personally seen Obama's birth certificate in the Health Department's archives.
This has to be the dumbest waste of fucking time in the history of American politics, and I'm including the Starr Report.
Senate Judiciary Committee Endorses Sotomayor
In a 13-6 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee has endorsed the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, effectively making her confirmation a certainty.
As expected, all 12 Democrats on the judiciary panel voted for Judge Sotomayor. But among the seven Republicans on the committee, only Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted in favor.When Lindsey Graham is your voice of reason, you know you've gone off the deep end.
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee's leading Republican, said just before the vote that he was compelled to oppose the nomination because of the judge's "liberal, pro-government ideology."First of all, I just love a guy who works for and draws not an insignificant salary from the government moaning about someone being too "pro-government." Secondly, the Republican euphemisms for "not a straight white man" are getting downright hilarious these days. For the record, not only do I, too, lack the
In an Op-Ed article in USA Today on Monday, Mr. Sessions wrote: "I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism. She has evoked its mantra too often. As someone who cares deeply about our great heritage of law, I must withhold my consent."
ThinkGeek Listens
by Shaker natbsat
A few months ago, InfamousQBert discovered an awesome t-shirt from ThinkGeek that we all wanted, but only a few could actually wear—sadly, ThinkGeek made their women's shirts only in the 'babydoll' style, which, even if it fits you, is not necessarily a cut that everyone likes to wear. So, many of us lifted our teaspoons and gave them an earful, and it appears to have worked! I subscribe to the ThinkGeek newsletter, and the most recent one included this (emphasis mine):
For our gamer girls, we've been listening. You said you wanted stuff you could wear in a business-casual environment; we give you the 1up Mushroom Ladies' Polo (with UPF 40 as an added bonus). You said not everyone's shaped like the babydoll cut; we give you one of our most popular designs, OMG Pwnies, on a classic-cut women's shirt.Yay! Of course, they didn't give us the Self-Rescuing Princess tee, but it's a start. I also found the Chocolate Molecule tee, the Binary Mom tee (which I'm especially happy about, because they've had a Binary Dad forever), and the Huge Tracts of Land tee (which may not be to everyone's taste, but I just wanted to point out it's, ironically, only now be offered in larger sizes).
The thing I liked most, though, was going to the "customer action shots" tab of each page and seeing women of varying sizes wearing the shirts for once! I'm sure they won't fit everybody yet, because it looks like the big change is the style, which runs bigger now, but still only up to US 22. Still, it's a step in the right direction. Mostly, I'm just thrilled to see them say, in their newsletter, that they're listening to us, and that our opinions count for enough that they're changing what they sell to try to appeal to more of us.
So it's not world-changing, but it's always nice to see something happen as a direct result of teaspooning. I hope they keep adding styles to the new fit, because I'd really like that Star Trek tee, and the Caffeine Molecule tee, and the Geek. tee, and....
Your Guide To Winning
Courtesy of the GOP: "Republican strategists realize the party has little hope of winning a national election without a dramatic improvement among [Hispanic voters]" + "GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote overwhelmingly against confirming Sonia Sotomayor" = Strategy for Success!
Good luck with that.
R U Fn Kidding Me?
The easy part for President Obama might have been getting Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley and Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. to accept his invitation to the White House for a beer.Follows are, I shit you not, four pages on this Very Important Topic.
Now comes the hard part: finding just the right beer for the occasion.
Does anyone else smell smoke? Is that fiddling I hear?
Good
Project "Catapult the Propaganda: Destination Cuba," in which the Bush administration, circa 2006, installed a scrolling electric sign along Havana's main seaside strip to broadcast anti-Castro and anti-Communist messages in 5-foot high red letters, has come to an end:
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the ticker was turned off in June because it was not considered "effective" as a means of delivering information to the Cuban people.Hard to believe that wasn't a diplomatic success story.
The scrolling electronic sign, fitted across 25 windows of the U.S. interests section, ran quotes from American heroes, such as Martin Luther King's "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up," and Abraham Lincoln's "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
It also streamed news and political messages that blamed Cuba's everyday problems on the communist regime led by Fidel Castro and the island's socialist economy. The island's transportation woes, for example, were the topics of jabs such as, "Some go around in Mercedes, some in (Russian-built) Ladas, but the system forces almost everyone to hitch rides."
Birthers-a-Go-Go
Jane Hamsher: "Mike Stark ... decided to ask Republicans if Barack Obama was born in the United States. Not only do they not want to answer—they run. ... The video makes clear that the Republican Party is captive to their conspiracy theory-mongering base all the way up to the top."
No transcript, because there's so much cross-talking and otherwise inaudible stuff that it would take me 90 years, but, suffice it to say, every Republican Congressperson he approaches either has no comment, punts by essentially just repeating the criteria that someone must be a citizen to be president (without actually saying whether they think Obama's a citizen), or offers some variation on "there are questions that need answering." Only Arizona Rep. Trent Franks would, without equivocation, acquiesce that Obama was born in the US, giving a long caveat about how he hates Obama and his policies, but, he explains, his office thoroughly researched it and he's satisfied the president is a citizen.
Meanwhile, Democratic Representative from Hawaii Neil Abercrombie introduced a resolution yesterday that commemorates the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood and includes a note that the state is Obama's birthplace.
"It's also going to be the birthday in a week or so of President Obama, born in Kapiolani hospital just down the road from where I lived," he said. Just as the presiding chair of the House, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), was about to declare the resolution passed by voice vote, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) stood and objected:Video here.BACHMANN: Mr. Speaker? I object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order that a quorum is not present. [...]H. Res. 593, a resolution "recognizing and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the entry of Hawaii into the Union as the 50th State," contains this provision: “Whereas the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, was born in Hawaii."
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): Further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.
Related Reading: Greg Sargent, Dave Neiwert.
Action Item: Dobbs Conspiracy (a Media Matters Joint)
What The Hell?
Shaker Rikibeth
What the hell is up with the shag carpeting on the wall? What the hell is with that little perm of yours?? What the hell is that pose all about??? What the hell????
[See also: Deeky, Liss, evilsciencechick, katecontinued, ClumsyKisses, Mistress Sparkletoes, Liiiz, Reedme, Mama Shakes, Mustang Bobby, RedSonja, MomTFH, Portly Dyke, SteffaB, Icca, Christina Orangelion03, Car, Siobhan, InfamousQBert and Maud.]
Question of the Day
I Refuse to Don Your Genderless Spandex Unitard
Former supermodel Elle Macpherson bravely speaks out against equal rights (snort):
Q: But you shy away from the word "feminism"?This is totally nonsensical. It appears that Ms. Macpherson either doesn't understand the word "stereotypical" or doesn't understand the word "feminist," because it is not a "stereotypical perception" that a feminist advocates gender equality (i.e. "equal rights for men and women"); it's the very definition of feminism.
A: It's one of those coined phrases that has a lot of innuendo and not much meaning these days. There's a stereotypical perception that a feminist is somebody who believes in equal rights for men and women. Well, I believe men and women are different and they have different needs, therefore the concept of equal rights doesn't really sit with me in many ways.
And, no, as I've said before, equality is not predicated on absolute likeness, nor should it be. Because (cis*) women have a need for pap smears and (cis*) men prostate exams, or because our respective socializations tend to create some generalized differences (with or without help from nature), does not mean that we should not be afforded equal opportunities, access, pay, etc.
"Equal" doesn't mean "same." This is not a difficult concept.
--------------------
* I'm quite certain that cis bodies are the only bodies that are considered by people making the "equal" = "same" argument.
Photo of the Day
U.S. President Barack Obama (C) holds a basketball and jersey given to him by Detroit Shock Women's NBA team captain Cheryl Ford (L) and MVP Katie Smith during a ceremony welcoming them at the White House in Washington, July 27, 2009. The Detroit Shock won the 2008 WNBA championship. [Reuters, via DayLife.]
...Starring Deeky!
As promised, Liss has come up with another movie poster doctored to present me as the star, a sort-of alternate universe where movies are a little less sucky, or maybe a little moreso, depending on your preference. Here's me, as Jack Nicholson, with an alarmingly large forehead.
As an aside, a many years ago my boyfriend and I planned a trip to the Stanley Hotel, the real life inspiration for the story's Overlook Hotel. He dumped me before that ever happened.
You Know...
...this is really not making me happy:
A new government health insurance plan sought by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats could coexist with private insurers without driving them out of business, an analysis by nonpartisan budget experts suggests.First of all, any government health plan that isn't good enough to drive private insurers out of business, when their business model doesn't centralize healthcare but profits, isn't good enough period.
The estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — seen as good news by Democrats — comes as leaders pushed Monday to make progress on health care overhaul before lawmakers go home for their August recess.
Secondly, I'm getting really fucking tired of this August recess bullshit. You know what, Congress? Most working Americans who are fortunate enough to have jobs don't get a three-day workweek and an extended summer holiday. Maybe you could skip the break, or at least delay it, this year while trying to solve an enormous crisis. Christ.
Tron Legacy
When I first heard a sequel to Tron (nerd alert: first film with largescale CGI) was being made, I was all "WTF? No!" about it. Then I heard that Jeff Bridges (nerd alert: had to get his junk strapped down during filming because it was too bulge-tastic for Disney Studios) was reprising his role, and I was feeling a little more receptive to the idea.
Just now, I saw this trailer—
—and I'm not gonna lie. I jizzed in my pants a little.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Shaxco's Underground Backyard Lost-Reenactment Hatches since 2004.
Recommended Reading:
Andy: Gillibrand: Senate to Hold Hearings on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Jess: Feminist Art 'the Most Important Artistic Movement Since World War II'
Lauredhel: Labyrinth as Feminist Myth
Lisa: Violence Against Women: Still Fashionable
D-Day: Privileging the Opposition
Jorge: Press Day at the Con
Leave your links in comments....
