This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Liss' Designer Forehead Pillows, for cranial protection while repeatedly bashing one's head against one's desk, brick walls, and obdurate bigotry.
Recommended Reading:
Angry Asian Man: RIP Kim Dae-jung
Renee: Conan O'Brien Attacks Trans Women
Mar: Voices in Favour of Marital Rape
Tigtog: Run, Eddie, Run!
Melissa: The Academy Elects a New President
Bene Madunagu, Ndodeye Bassey, Chelsea Ricker and Kelly Castagnaro: The Complete Alphabet: Moving Beyond "ABC" Towards Healthy and Safe Sexuality for All
And Happy 50th Birthday, Kathy! WOOT!
Leave your links in comments...
Wednesday Blogaround
Spreading Democracy
[Trigger warning for violence]
Taliban threaten to decapitate, dismember Afghan voters marked by anti-fraud ink:
To get their hands on ballots in Thursday's election, Afghans will first have to dip their thumbs in indelible ink.Election commission officials insist the ink is necessary because washable ink in a previous election "prompt[ed] all 15 failed candidates to demand the election results be nullified," but the indelible ink was used during Iran's last election, and we all remember how successfully that totes prevented allegations of election fraud.
It's meant to ensure each voter gets just one vote, but some Afghans are worried that it will make them easy targets for the Taliban, who have warned voters to stay away from the polls.
So the insistence on the ink is effectively risking voters' lives for no reason.
Meanwhile, if the Afghan government is really so goddamned interested in preventing election-related protests, maybe they ought to stop passing heinously misogynistic politically-motivated laws just ahead of elections.
What the hell are we doing over there? Sob.
[H/T to CaitieCat.]
...Starring Deeky!
In which Liss re-imagines masterpieces of modern cinema, making them even better by adding me (Deeky: The Valentino of the 21st Century) to their iconic posters. Today, a film by Steven Spielberg. Little-known trivia: The working title of this film was Eyebrows.
Jaws
Now playing: Braveheart, The Shining, Cinema Paradiso, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Postscript: Suaad Hagi Mohamud
An interesting development in the case of the Canadian citizen jailed in Kenya when the Canadian government failed to recognize her passport or provide the assistance she needed: The Nairobi-based diplomat whose decision stranded Ms. Mohamud has been recalled to Canada, and has gone to ground hiding from the press.
The Canada Border Services Agency has opened an internal investigation into the affair, but I still encourage Canadians to urge their MPs to call an Inquiry.
Nerdz/Not Nerdz?
Earlier today Liss and I were having an email conversation about Lost, which we do about nine thousand times a week. Along the way I mentioned a weekend purchase at Kum & Go.
Deeky: I played Powerball on Saturday. Sparkletoes asked if I used the Lost numbers. I said 'Yeah, and if I win I'm gonna have to share the jackpot with 9,000 other nerds in the state.'
Liss: LOLOLOLOL!!! And I would naturally take a 10% finder's fee.
Deeky: I'd totes give it to you too.
Liss: I'd buy all the Lost action figures with it.
Deeky: But would you play with them?
Liss: Nope. IN DA BOX!
I replied with a "Wevs!" and snapped the following image to send along:
Liss: LOLOLOL!!!
Frankly Speaking, You're an Idiot
Yesterday, when I posted A Big Tent Filled with Fear and Hatred, about anti-Semitism at the townhall events, I was literally wondering as I wrote it what Rep. Barney Frank, who is not only Jewish but always quick with a impertinent rejoinder, would say about all this. I didn't have to wait long to find out.
Larry King: Moments ago, Senator, Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts wrapped up a townhall meeting on healthcare in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Watch this exchange.[H/T to Shaker Neintales by email, and Shaker Blue Jean in comments.]
Woman at microphone: Why do you continue to support a Nazi policy, as Obama has expressly supported this policy? Why are you supporting it?
Frank: Let me, uh, I will—
Woman at microphone: —a real solution—
Frank: When you asked me that question, I am gonna revert to my ethnic heritage and answer your question with a question: On what planet do you spend most of your time?
[laughter and applause; edit]
Frank: Do you want me to answer the question? Yes, as you stand there with a picture of the president defaced to look like Hitler [woman proudly holds up picture of Obama as Hitler], and compare the effort to increase healthcare to the Nazis, my answer to you is, as I said before, it is a tribute to the First Amendment that this kind of vile, contemptible nonsense is so freely propagated. [applause; woman shouts something inaudible] Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table! I have no interest in doing it.
What an Ingenious Idea!
Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Bill:
Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority's cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks.In Things We've Been TELLING YOU SINCE DAY FUCKING ONE!!!eleventy!
Top Democrats said Tuesday that their go-it-alone view was being shaped by what they saw as Republicans' purposely strident tone against health care legislation during this month's Congressional recess, as well as remarks by leading Republicans that current proposals were flawed beyond repair.
Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said the heated opposition was evidence that Republicans had made a political calculation to draw a line against any health care changes, the latest in a string of major administration proposals that Republicans have opposed.
"The Republican leadership," Mr. Emanuel said, "has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama's health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day."
It's literally like the entirety of the Obama administration's domestic policy team was asleep for the last 16 years. Time to wake up, Rip Van Wankstains! There is no such thing as bipartisanship in this dojo.
Nasty, Brutish and Short?
I've been slow to get to this, but I found a few spare moments from work, so here it is. An article in the Victoria Times-Colonist about Katherine Anne Johnson, a woman convicted of murdering her roommate. Do yourself a favour, though, STAY OUT OF THE COMMENTS. There are many head-splodey comments being made, the usual MRA and transphobic bullshit you'd expect.
There's a fair bit of fail in the article itself from a trans POV, starting right in the headline: "sex-change operation". This isn't 1973, and that's not the term used anymore by people with any interest in being respectful (though they do get it right in the article, which suggests it's the headline writer who's got the problem). There's a consistent thread of "she prefers female pronouns", as though it is unreasonable for her to do so, with a subtext that if the writer weren't being forced to use female pronouns, male ones would be used.
Ms. Johnson has been threatened and attacked repeatedly while serving time in a federal prison for men, as Corrections Canada follow a genital-essentialist policy (and I don't think I need to explain to a feminist audience what's wrong with genital-essentialism!) of insisting that inmates be housed with people who have similar genitalia. It shouldn't require much imagination to see how intensely dangerous this is for Ms. Johnson.
Despite that she has several times harmed herself in her gender dysphoria, and that she has what would be required in most provinces to have GRS* on the government health-care tab (this link from EGALE Canada has an outline of coverage in various provinces as of 2004 - health care is a provincial-level responsibility of government) - she has the doctors' letters saying that GRS is a medically necessary procedure for Ms. Johnson - they have delayed indefinitely any response to her urgent situation. The federal government is legally responsible for providing health care coverage to federal inmates.
Although it's an idea popular among wingnuts that anyone going to prison deserves no rights, that's not how it works in this country. Inmates are entitled to the same health care as any other Canadian, by law. Ms. Johnson meets all the legal requirements for having her surgery provided, and delays (particularly given she's not a young woman) are not only illegal, they're immoral.
We're not talking about something cosmetic here. For those trans people who feel surgery is needed to resolve their gender dysphoria**, it can quite literally be a matter of life and death. I have many friends whose surgery kept them from killing themselves.
Ms. Johnson committed a horrible crime, for which she is serving a life sentence (in Canada, this means in practical terms, at 61, she is unlikely to ever get out). This does not remove her humanity, nor her rights as a Canadian citizen to get the medical care she requires.
As a long-time Amnesty International member, I've become accustomed to responding to situations like this with letters (archaeopost or e-mail) to appropriate officials and government members. I strongly encourage Canadian Shakers to write to your Member of Parliament, and to CSC Commissioner Don Head:
Commissioner Don Head
CSC National Headquarters
340 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0P9
I don't have an e-mail address to contact CSC directly by e-mail - if anyone does, let me know and I'll put it in the post here.
Tell them urgent action is required: CSC is unreasonably and indefinitely delaying response to Ms. Johnson's medical needs, and to her safety - if they are going to require genital surgery before allowing her to be in the safer environment of a prison for women, then they need to get their thumbs out of their comfort-holes and get her the help she needs, so she can serve her sentence safely.
Tip of the CaitieCap to Shaker JMR for the link, and for her hard work in organizing activism to help Ms. Johnson.
* Gender Reassignment Surgery, a preferred term for "the operation" - itself a misnomer, as surgery related to transition can be one procedure or many, depending on the direction of transition (m->f, or f->m) and the needs of the individual in question.
** Despite popular impressions, by no means do all trans people seek surgery. Many trans men have "top" surgery (double mastectomy with reconstruction to male pattern), but forego the "bottom" surgery as it is very expensive, has long recovery times, and hasn't reached the level of sophistication they'd desire. Similarly, many trans women are happy with their physical shape, but are gendered female, despite their body being of a male sexual configuration. Considering that surgery is also a very privileged process - class, race and financial means all play roles here, in preventing large numbers of trans people from ever realistically being able to afford the surgery they do need - it should be clear that it cannot be assumed that simply because a person is transitioning, that they will want or have surgery. It is in solidarity with my trans siblings who cannot have the procedure(s) they would like to have, that I do not speak about my own surgical situation in public: surgery does not define transness.
What The Hell?
Shaker liberalandproud
What the hell is with the ruby red slippers, Dorothy? What the hell is with the hair helmet?? What the hell are you smiling 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, Maud, Rikibeth, MishaRN, CLD, Cheezwiz, MamaCarrie, Temeraire, somebodyoranother, goldengirl, Liss (again), summerwing, yeomanpip, Susan811, bbl, Deeky (Part II), A Daily Shakesville Fan, and Sami_J.]
In Words and Phrases Not in Common English Usage
MNBA. GPGA. MTA.
Convicted of humanslaughter.
Old Husbands' Tale.
Fish-husband.
[Previously.]
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
Tootsie Rolls = Chocolate + Orange. It's true!
Question of the Day
Do you collect anything?
I've never been much of a collector. I'm too random and a bit of a magpie, frankly. Very few physical things capture my attention for extended periods. I had the worst sticker-book in the fifth grade, because I just couldn't be arsed with it after awhile, even though I loved it at the start...
Every surface in our house is covered in tumbling piles of books, although we aren't technically "collectors" in the sense that you won't find hardly a valuable volume among them and our "collection" has no rhyme or reason. We're just book pack-rats, really.
The closest thing I have to a valuable collection by design is my music stuff, although a big part of what I'd collected was lost in a flood about a decade ago now. And considering all the work and energy and money I'd put into finding and collecting it all, I found it surprisingly easy to let go without much regret at its ruin.
[Originally run Wednesday, August 22, 2007, comments now lost to the HaloScan archives.]
Photo of the Day
Shaker KC's new baby girl hedgehog, emerging from her igloo to get a cricket.
Awwwwwwww.
A Big Tent Filled with Fear and Hatred
We've spoken endlessly about the reasons why many women feel alienated from the GOP and American Conservatives, the reasons why most gays and lesbians feel alienated from the GOP/AC, the reasons why most trans people feel alienated from the GOP/AC, the reasons why most atheists and religious non-Christians feel alienated from the GOP/AC, the reasons why many disabled people and disability activists feel alienated from the GOP/AC, the reasons why many people of color feel alienated from the GOP/AC; Deeky in particular has written multiple posts about why many Latin@s feel alienated from the GOP/AC, and Elle has written the definitive post on why most African-Americans feel alienated from the GOP/AC. The list just goes on and on.
And in case there was any question about whether the rank (and file) bigots of the rightwing "Judeo-Christian" values movement would like to excommunicate Jews from their regional rump party of hatemongering xenophobes, they've decided to ramp up the anti-Semitism, too.
Assholes.
Related: Totally Trucknutz, Today In Post-Racial, Put This in Your "Keep For Later" File.
Quote of the Day
"Regrettably, due to a number of recent incidents, it is necessary to remind men walking alone through the park not to rob, rape, threaten or assault anyone. Thank you in advance for behaving like decent human beings. Signed, single women who refuse to live in fear."—Penny Dreadful, on signs hung in response to those posted around London's Mudchute Park reading: "Regrettably, due to a number of recent attacks it is no longer advisable for women to walk alone through the Valley. The police have been informed and the parks management is aware of the situation. We strongly advise single women to avoid using the park to approach Mudchute station and instead use other entrances such as via the Crossharbour DLR station behind ASDA."
Let's Try This Again...
[Strong trigger warning.]
Back in April, I wrote about So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Alex Da Silva being accused of sexually assaulting four of his dance students. Da Silva, conspicuously absent from the show once the allegations were made public, was briefly jailed but released after prosecutors declined to file charges on the basis that there wasn't enough evidence—despite consistent stories from multiple accusers who did not know one another.
At the time, his attorney rage-makingly categorized the case as a misunderstanding of "the difference between seduction and rape," which makes my teeth clench together so hard I feel like I may spontaneously generate a new universe between my molars.
Well, now Da Silva has been arrested again "on a felony warrant charging him with sexually assaulting four women."
The charges include four counts of forcible rape, two counts of assault with intent to commit rape and two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.Since the DA declined to pursue a criminal case before, but seems inclined to do so now, that quite likely means detectives uncovered new evidence that strengthened the case. Good news for the victims. I wish them oodles of justice.
Da Silva is being held on $6.2 million bail, she said.
25
Dwight DeLee, who was convicted last month of manslaughter in the first degree as a hate crime in the killing of trans woman Lateisha Green, was sentenced this morning to 25 years in prison, the maximum penalty for first-degree manslaughter in New York.
[Via Memeorandum.]
Daily Kitteh
Lovely Tils. That's not my thumb crossing the lens, btw; it's a bit of Livsy's pink ear, as she marked the camera.
Stamford Marriott Update
Last Friday, an Anonymous Shaker alerted us to the news that attorneys on behalf of the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa had asserted that a woman who was raped in their parking garage on October 10, 2006 "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."
Anon just emailed me a heads-up that the Stamford Marriott is clarifying that it was not their attorneys, but attorneys on behalf of their insurance company, that the hotel requested the victim-blaming defense be withdrawn when they learned of it, and that "This incident, no matter how tragic and unfortunate, should not in any way affect the reputation and credibility of our hotel."
What's interesting is that the hotel's attorney, Marc Kurzman, claims the hotel asked the defense be withdrawn "weeks ago," and yet, their statement last week on the subject made no mention of that: "Marriott is profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime. And unfortunately this situation has created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect and concern for Ms. Doe or other victims of violent crime."
Nothing about how they didn't want such a defense used, at least not until all hell teaspoons were raised.
Just sayin'.
In any case, let us hope that the defense will indeed be withdrawn—and that Marriott will find itself a new insurance company, since apparently their current one flagrantly defies their wishes.
