Conservative columnist Bob Novak has died from his battle with brain cancer, first made public last July shortly after Novak was involved in a hit-and-run accident.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, one of the nation's most influential journalists, who relished his "Prince of Darkness" public persona, died at home here early Tuesday morning after a battle with brain cancer.In recent years, Novak was most well-known professionally for being the columnist who remorselessly outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, in what many suspect (but Novak denies) was collusion with GOP operative Karl Rove, in a repeat performance of a 1992 incident in which Rove was fired by the campaign of George H.W. Bush for leaking information to Novak.
"He was someone who loved being a journalist, loved journalism and loved his country and loved his family," Novak's wife, Geraldine, told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
by Shaker Alexmac, a transgender woman studying at the University of Florida.
[Part 5 in an ongoing series. Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here; Part 3 is here; Part 4 is here.]
[Some of the links have a trigger warning.]
The topic of trans women in women's sports has been brought up again recently due to a UK boxer, Mercedes Newbiggin, transitioning to become female. Her transition has brought out the typical transphobic responses, such as this gem from the conservative Fox News show Red Eye (Google it if you want; I am not going to link to them) with a panelist suggesting a show called "Million Dollar Tranny" and using the wrong pronouns. It is not anything new being slung at a prominent trans person.
Because she plans on competing in women's boxing after her transition, there's a whole extra level of vitriol, as can be seen in this webpage (check out the delightful comments). This echoes an earlier brouhaha about a trans woman who won the women's long drive competition.
The biggest complaint about trans women competing in women's sports is that they have an unfair advantage over cis women. While trans women who have male levels of testosterone do have a larger muscle mass then cis women, after a certain amount of time on hormones, the average muscle mass of transitioning trans women is no different than the average for cis women. Any advantage they had due to the influence of male hormones is gone. This is covered very well at the Women's Sport Foundation. Fortunately, progress has been made in letting trans women, who have undergone hormone replacement therapy and surgery, participate in high level sports where there tends to be the biggest problems.
The challenges these women face is the same that all trans people have to face. Our gender is not seen as real or authentic and for we are transitioning for some sort of benefit. An example of the theme can be found in this quote:In golf we've all witnessed Michelle Wie's attempts to compete with the men, and we've watched her fail on every occasion. Most women wouldn't even dare try. But surely any member of the PGA Tour would have incredible success if he went Juwwana Man and joined the LPGA Tour, right?
With all the criticism and attacks that she is going to face, I just have to tell Mercedes: You go girl! Don't let the haters keep you down.
Granted, the Long Drive Association isn't the prototypical professional golf tour, but the U.S. Women's Open is governed by the USGA and that means a transwoman could compete in that event.
I have a hard time believing that surgery, testosterone inhibiting drugs and a good degree of mental manipulation can erode all traces of masculinity. Who would you give better odds of hitting a golf ball farther, little Paula Creamer or a lady who used to rough up gang members for a living as a 245-pound man and just so happened to be an above average golfer?
Regardless of whether or not I believe gender transformation should be an acceptable social practice, it really has no place in sports. Under no circumstances should a two-year hiatus, some expensive surgery and a cocktail of drugs allow someone to play from the forward tees.
On Friday, I wrote a post called The Terrible Bargain We Have Regretfully Struck, which hit a nerve with a lot of readers.
As I explained in the comments of that thread, one of the things I notice in comments a lot here are references, sometimes oblique and slightly embarrassed, sometimes blunt and angry, to female Shakers' upsetting interactions with the men in their lives about whom they care. The subject is one of the most popular themes of emails I get from Shaker women: I'm paying more attention to the things my male partner/my father/my brother/my male best friend says, and I'm challenging him more, and I am scared that if I said everything I wanted to say, our relationship would explode into a million pieces.
It is a discussion that Shaker women talk around a lot, but never quite have in detail, that men we love express misogyny, and that it is alienating, functionally undermining the intimacy of the relationship and, sometimes, the entire relationship itself. It's so much easier to talk about misogyny emanating from men who don't care about us, and about whom we don't care. This is a much more difficult subject—and I have been trying to find a way to broach it in a meaningful way for awhile.
I was asked in comments to find a way to keep this conversation going, and I plan to do that with a series of related discussion questions. This is the first post in that series, and I'll begin with some questions (for both women and men) that is a logical continuation from where the thread had naturally progressed and what (I think) is what people now want to discuss: What has the fall-out been, if any, since reading that post? Any internal realizations? Any consequences for your relationship? Did you direct a partner, friend, or family member to the post? What was hir reaction?
Recommended Reading:
New York Times—Alternate Plan as Health Option Muddies Debate: "The White House has indicated that it could accept a nonprofit health care cooperative as an alternative to a new government insurance plan, originally favored by President Obama. But the co-op idea is so ill defined that no one knows exactly what it would look like or how effectively it would compete with commercial insurers."
Ezra Klein explains the difference between a public option and a co-op.
Steve Benen: Now the GOP is against co-ops, too.
Washington Post—Public Option Called Essential: "Several leading Democrats voiced concern Monday about an apparent White House shift on health-care reform, objecting to signals from senior administration officials that they would abandon the idea of a government-run insurance plan if it lacked the backing to pass Congress."
Greg Sargent: Sixty House Liberals To White House: No Public Option, No Health Care Reform
CBS—Thousands Quit AARP Over Health Reform: "CBS News has learned that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July 1, angered over the group's position on health care. ... Many are switching to the American Seniors Association, a group that calls itself the conservative alternative."
Discuss.
Know what's hilarious? Stalking! Especially when it's magical.
Suggested by Shaker napalmnacey: Who's one of your favourite non-conventional and/or off-the-beaten-path celebrity crushes?
Explains napalmnacey: "I was just watching Ghost Hunters International and thinking of all my non-conventional crushes. Like, the other day, I realised I totally grok the Fourth Doctor Who played by Tom Baker. Oh, and why did I think of the question watching GHI? Barry Fitzgerald. He's hot and Irish and an older gentleman. I gotta admit, that kind makes me hot under the collar."
I might have mentioned once or twice that I fancy Chef Tom Colicchio.
Iain says: "Hillary Clinton. Back in the day, I was quite willing and able to help her wreak her revenge on Bill."
BELBRADE, MT - AUGUST 14: Garrett Hohn of Rexford, Montana protests outside a town hall meeting on health care attended by President Barack Obama in a hangar at Gallatin Field Airport August 14, 2009 in Belgrade, Montana. Via.I trust we'll see him at the next pro-choice rally. Ahem.
"Because I can do it. In Arizona, I still have some freedoms."—Chris, who would not give his last name, asked why he was "carrying an assault rifle and a pistol outside the VFW Convention in Phoenix where President Obama spoke today." It is indeed legal to carry displayed firearms in public under Arizona law.
Related Reading: Scary Times, Put This in Your "Keep for Later" File.
by Shaker Rehmeyer
Previously in Assvertising, Liss featured a Twix commercial about a guy who asks a girl to go back to his apartment, and when she balks, he "chews it over with a Twix" and says it's to "blog about our ideals," so she agrees.
I saw another episode in this series this weekend. The guy brings the girl back to his apartment, which is a complete mess. He "chews it over with a Twix" and declares that he's been robbed, to get sympathy sex from the girl. While trying to find a YouTube copy of the "I've Been Robbed" commercial, I found that you can play the Nice Guy Game, err, "Get the Girl," yourself at Twix's website. You start with the original commercial at the party, then move through the series, and it's like a Choose Your Own Adventure, where you tell the guy whether to be sincere or a manipulator in order to get laid, and, even if you choose sincerity, after that scene, it forges you forward with the manipulative scene, until you arrive at the apartment:
Guy: Yeah, this is just my uptown apartment. My downtown apartment is still being renovated to go green. Yeah, I'm pretty into the environment.I started wondering what the next logical progression in the commercial series would be. Perhaps:
Girl: Wow. Ahhh. [looks around messy apartment; makes face] So, um, where do we log on?
Guy: Oh, uhhh— [scratching record sound; he 'chews it over with a Twix'] Oh no!
Girl: What?!
Guy: My computer is gone! What kind of criminal would do such a thing?
Girl: And they completely trashed your place!
Guy: Yeah! That, too.
Girl: Oh, you poor thing. Gosh, just think, like an hour ago, this place was crawling with criminals. It's so—that's just so dangerous. So…sexy. [she starts walking her fingers up his chest]
Guy: Okay!
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Iain's Cold Compresses, for stubborn Scotsmen and other hard-headed ding-a-lings.
Recommended Reading:
Marcella: Carnival Against Sexual Violence 76
Andy: White House Calls DOMA 'Discriminatory' in New Court Filing
Resistance: Well, That's Irony for You
Rachel: Weekly News Round-Up
And District 9 is now actually not something about which Iain or I is excited to see any longer: CleoJones, Nicole Stamp, Arturo GarcÃa, Avalon's Willow. Yeah. We'll take our money elsewhere.
Leave your links in comments...
Shaker Kirsten wrote to me with the note that she's terminating a pregnancy, which is something she's never done before, and she's a little anxious about the actual procedure. I offered to open a thread, for Shakers to share their experiences of getting an abortion, and she said she'd very much like that: "I recognize that terminating a pregnancy is different for everyone, people do it for different reasons, and have different feelings afterwards. I'm going to be using the 'medication' method, the pill regimen, so if people have had that and would be willing to share their experiences that would make things a little less nerve-wracking." Naturally, experiences with any method are welcome and solicited.
[Commenting Guidelines: This is an abortion-positive thread. The ethics of abortion are not up for debate, and the thread will be moderated accordingly. Failure to adhere to these commenting guidelines will get you banned.]
Good morning (unless it isn't where you are, in which case I wish you Good $TIME_PERIOD), and welcome to this week's installment of Shakesville's networking post, Bread and Teaspoons*.
There are hundreds of us here, maybe thousands, all over the US and Canada, and out into the rest of the world. We work in all kinds of fields, doing all kinds of different things, and most of us tend to be online creatures: we roam the Toobz constantly, and in doing so, encounter many opportunities.
This is a weekly post, Mondays, providing a spot for Shakers to network a little with one another, see if we can help each other out some.
Here's how it works: There should be three sorts of comments here.
1) You comment here with any details of work you're seeking: where, what, that sort of thing. You give an e-mail address at which you can be reached - feel free to set up a special e-mail for it, if you don't want to post your regular one for the world to spam - and if another Shaker has a lead, they can contact you directly to pass it along.
A work-seeking comment should include:
Please do NOT include information such as your full name or telephone number, as this is and will remain a public post, and once posted, there's no taking it back (because it'll be spidered by a search engine, not because we don't want you to).
It is explicitly alright to comment to this each week with similar info.
For example, I might post a comment saying:
I'm a professional translator of French, German and Russian, with nearly 17 years of experience. I'm looking for basically any translation job, academic, commercial, personal, genealogical, you name it, with one exception: I do not currently have certification, so if you need a certified translator (usually for legal docs: birth certificates, divorce decrees, wills), you need someone else.
I am also available as a writer or editor, for academic, journalistic, creative, marketing-oriented or any other type of written communication. Basically, if you'll pay me, I'll write or edit it.
You can contact me for business purposes through my business address, translatey.caitie@translateycaitie.com.**
2) The second type of comment would be task offering: if you've got a job you think might suit someone here, consider posting it as a comment. Use the same guidelines as above: give general information here, and specific information when you exchange e-mails. An offered task might look something like this:
I have a doctoral thesis which needs proofing and editing by Thursday, is anyone available? You can reach me at ABDShaker@shakesville.miskatonic.edu.
I'd like to be clear: only offer tasks which you have explicit permission to offer. If you come across something that isn't yours, but think some Shakers might want to know about it, either ask permission of the offerer, or offer it privately to someone whose comment says they might be interested (based on their skillset). For instance, you're on some other site, you see someone asking for, say, help in designing their new website. Don't come here and offer the job as a comment, unless you have that person's explicit permission. What you could do is go through the comments, and send an e-mail to anyone with the right skillset.
3) The third kind of comment I'd love to see is success stories! We’d love to know when this works out, and people actually find some employment through our efforts. If you feel like sharing, tell us how it worked out for you. :)
So, that's what we'd like to see.
What we do NOT want to see:
So there. Have at it, Shakers, for Bread and Teaspoons!
Important disclaimers: Shakesville makes no endorsement or claim as to the capabilities of anyone commenting to this post, and anyone considering hiring someone should be prepared to treat it like any other business situation: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. We're not doing any screening of this, so you'll want to make sure you check references, use safe-payment procedures (e.g., ask for a deposit), all the things you'd do when working with any stranger on the Internet. While this is intended for Shakers in general, remember that there is no real obstacle to being able to comment here, and do the things you need to do to keep yourself safe.
* As might be evident, this is an intentional reference to Bread and Roses, a longtime slogan of the left. In this case, though, my hope is that if we achieve steady bread, we will use it to power our teaspoon use.
** Now, don't go writing to that one yet, because that's not my actual domain name (which I've not got running yet, but should soon), and I'm only using it as an example (though it happens to be true). The e-mail listed for me under Contributors works just fine for now, if you've got something for me.
The last several Bread and Teaspoons: One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
This is a rant. This is only a rant. For the next few minutes, you will be experiencing a rant. If this were an actual political-action item, the rant you are about to read would be followed by official information, news, or instructions.Every time I hear somebody at a town-hall
This concludes this test of the PortlyDyke ranting system.
This weekend, Iain spent all day Saturday putting new flooring in our office. He worked for about 12 hours straight, pulling out the shitty old carpet squares (which we put in as a temporary solution after a certain person who I won't name accidentally set a fire in the office back when he was a smoker), installing the underlayment, and then laying the planks.* This amounted to basically spending an entire day doing squat-thrusts, while busily ignoring any suggestion that perhaps the entire project didn't need to get done in a single day and maybe he should take a break and, gee, how about if he SETTLED THE FUCK DOWN.
Guess who tore every muscle in both thighs?
And this, Shakers, is someone who rides his bike all over creation every chance he gets, whose legs literally have not a trace of fat anywhere on them. He said, "I could feel that I'd pushed my muscles past the point of failure, but kept going, anyway. I guess that was a bad idea." Huh. Ya think? LOL.
Now, the poor fing can barely walk, so I'm waiting on him hand and foot like a giant adorable baby who drinks way too much coffee. He also completely fucked his knee, so I strapped on an ice pack with a soft belt from one of my long cardigans. He called me "Nurse McEwan" and I told him to shut up and try to take a nap. He's the worst patient ever, but eventually the body wins out when it needs to heal itself.
I heard him trying to get up a few minutes ago, and I yelled, "What are you doing through there?" to which he replied, "I've got to poop!" Well. I guess that's allowed.
He just now stumbled into the office to admire the floor. "At least it looks great!"
[Click to embiggen.]
That much is true.**
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go wrestle a bored Scotsman back onto the couch.
----------------------------
* The flooring is Bruce Locking Oak in gunstock finish, which we bought at Lowe's, if anyone's curious. Not as nice as the real hardwood Iain put in the living room, but the engineered stuff now costs about as much as the real hardwood did five years ago. It is, however, also much easier to install—and it's a newer product that's thick enough to be refinished a couple of times. So if you're on a budget and/or are looking for something easier to install yourself than hardwood, we recommend this flooring (so far!) as a good alternative.
** There's more stuff in our office than that, but we only managed to get the computer back up yesterday. Between Iain's legs and my perpetually-fucked back, just putting the computer back up was a comedy of "OMG how am I going to get off this floor now?"
I recently modified this recipe from Ina Garten for cold "summer borscht". Most Barefoot Contessa recipes are too rich for me, so the first thing I do is reduce the cream and/or butter. In this case, it was sour cream. I used about 1 cup of light sour cream instead of two cups of regular. The other changes I made were to puree some of the beets so the soup would have more body (to make up for the lost cream) and a vibrant magenta rather than Pepto-pink color. I also had shallots instead of scallions, so I divided a diced shallot bulb in half, used half raw for a bite and then caramelized the other half with about 1/2 cup of diced carrot for depth and sweetness (I pureed these later with the beets). That sweetness, in turn, allowed me to cut Garten's 1/4 cup of white sugar down to 1/4 teaspoon. So much white sugar just seemed like a missed opportunity for more complex flavors.
The soup is absolutely gorgeous and delicious too. It's a great way to enjoy cold beets if you are tired of the same old beet salad over and over. It's also easy and tastes even better the next day.
Place the beets in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook uncovered until the beets are tender, 40-50 minutes. Remove the beets to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve and also set aside to cool.
3 large fresh beets (about 2 pounds without tops)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
8 ounces light sour cream, plus extra for serving
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups medium-diced English cucumber, seeds removed
1 shallot bulb, diced (divided)
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus extra for serving
Kosher salt to taste
(Hint: always adjust your salt after adding the acid—you may need less salt than you thought.)
