Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
I'm thinking Cleveland.
Veterans Day YouTubery
[Via MentalFloss, which has about 80 more of these vids, in case you want to spend the next hour blubbing your pants off.]
Proper Pix for Veterans Day
Mama Shakes just emailed me pictures of my granddad from his time in the Coast Guard:
At left, Gene in his uniform. At right, Gene and Mil on their wedding day. My grandmother would be mortified that I posted this picture, since she always hated that picture of herself. She never, ever, saw in the mirror, in this picture or in any other, the beautiful woman that I saw when I looked at her, that her daughter saw when she looked at her, that Gene saw when he looked at her.
Meanwhile...
As Coakley is talking sense, the Big Dog himself urges the Senate to go ahead and pass the healthcare bill:
Former President Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats on Tuesday to pass health care legislation by year's end, pointedly telling skittish lawmakers that an imperfect bill is preferable to another failure like the one he and the party endured in 1994.O rly? How's that work out with NAFTA? Still waiting for those human rights standards to be built back in. Or, as Shaker Amy emailed: "How'd that don't ask, don't tell shit work for everyone?" Yeah, that was a great "start," too. So was DOMA. It's obviously a GREAT idea to pass some half-assed bullshit with the intent of fixing it down the road, because those improvements always TOTALLY happen. There's absolutely no evidence AT ALL that passing some brokedown stopgap with the intention of not letting things get worse actually just creates another barrier to genuine progress that interminably delays the ultimate goal. Am I laying on the sarcasm thick enough for you, Bill?
"It's not important to be perfect here. It's important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling," the former president told reporters after the closed-door meeting, held on the cusp of Senate debate on intensely controversial legislation.
Several Democrats who attended the meeting with Clinton said the former president did not express an opinion on many of the controversial issues embedded in the health care debate. These range from calls for a government-run insurance option to the availability of abortion coverage in private and government insurance.*headdesk*
"He wasn't asked that and he didn't volunteer to solve Sen. Reid's immediate problems," said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.
Instead, several Democrats said, Clinton told them that expanding health care is good policy, and at the same time the best politics.
"He did address it, essentially to say, 'You're going to do it, and then people are going to begin to see that none of the bad things people are talking about will come to pass,'" said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
You Go, Grrl: Charice Lewis
A young woman going home after a party at which she'd had too much to drink fell onto the train track while waiting for a train at a station on the MBTA [Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority] Orange Line. As the train barreled down on her, passengers on the platform tried desperately to warn the driver, Charice Lewis, and with some quick thinking to put it together, some help from her co-worker Jacqueline Osorio, and lightning reflexes, Lewis managed to stop the train with literally inches to spare, saving the woman's life.
Lewis was on Anderson Cooper's 360 last night to talk about the episode, and she is just absolutely lovely; I was struck (and moved) by how totally understanding and nonjudgmental she is toward the young woman, how genuinely happy and relieved it all turned out okay. None of the (pointless) recriminations typical in such situations for what might have happened. I just wanted to give her a great big hug for general awesomeness.
[Transcript below.]
This is not in the clip, but I saw this segment on 360 last night, and Anderson Cooper actually ended this exchange by adding jauntily, "Well, note to self!"
Anderson Cooper: An incredible story out of Boston to show you and to tell you about. It's what happened after a woman fell onto the tracks in front of an approaching subway train. We're making it our "Shot" tonight. Um, this is from Friday. The woman you see was apparently drunk. She staggers to the side of the platform—
Erica Hill: Whoa.
Cooper: —stumbles onto the tracks, and commuters frantically tried to get the attention of the driver on the train; the driver was able to stop in time within a few inches of the woman—unbelievable, simply. The woman who fell was treated for some minor cuts. She is, uh, lucky to be alive. You see the train approaching; stops just right before her.
Hill: And then you see her get up.
Cooper: Erica, you actually spoke—yeah, you spoke to the train driver earlier tonight, right?
Hill: I did. Her name is Charice Lewis. She's being hailed as a hero—though she doesn't necessarily see herself that way—but rightfully so, really. Here's what she told me about that incident.
[Video of interview begins.]
Hill: So Charice, you'd actually gotten a call from a colleague warning you that things were a little busy at North Station. But when did you realize as you were pulling in that there was a woman on the tracks?
Charice Lewis: Right before the train got to her. Um, she moved—she moved just a little bit, just enough, and the people on the platform were pointing into the pit, like, pointing in, in, in. [mimics people pointing onto train tracks] And so I'm like, "Okay, something—something's got to be wrong." And once I saw her make a movement, I knew exactly, like, there's someone in the pit. Just stop the train. That was like the number one thing; just stop the train.
Hill: Right. And thankfully, that instinct, and that training, kicked in for you—and that's what you did—but were you confident that the train would stop in time?
Lewis: Yeah.
Hill: I mean, how long does it normally take to bring that train to a halt?
Lewis: They're old trains, but you throw it in brake, and with anything, you know, with that much weight, when you initially put it in brake, it may slide a little bit. But, you know, it, it stopped in time.
Hill: Thankfully.
Lewis: Yeah.
Hill: Thankfully for her. And you actually saw her get up, I understand. You saw her face. Did you two make eye contact at all?
Lewis: I believe she did. I was—she looked up at, she looked up at me, and all I could see was her smile.
Hill: Mm-hmm.
Lewis: She was just like smiling, and I'm like— [Hill laughs] okay. I'm like, you have all your arms, your legs, you're smiling. Okay. Thank god. You're all right. Now get up out the pit, please.
[They both laugh.]
Hill: Right?! And did you have to go—you have to go on with your shift. I'm sure for you it was a big relief, too. Um, what kept her from getting electrocuted? 'Cause it looks like she came dangerously close to that third rail.
Lewis: Well, she, she was grounded, um, in the middle in between the tracks. So, um, it's a good thing she didn't, you know, touch any metal—
Hill: Mm-hmm.
Lewis: —or anything like that. And, um, and she was actually able to move away from it rather quickly.
Hill: Yeah.
Lewis: So she didn't, she didn't get shocked.
Hill: And it's a—I'd say it's a good thing for her, too, that you were driving that train. Charice Lewis, great to you have with us tonight—and now you can, uh, go home and relax a little bit; I know it's been kind of a crazy media circus. So thanks again.
Lewis: [laughs] Yes. Thank you very much. And you have a good day.
[Video of interview ends.]
Cooper: How cool is she?
Hill: She was amazing. She was such a pleasure to talk to.
Cooper: She is great. Yes, she seems so nice and just, just exactly the kind of person you'd want in charge of—of any train you were on. And I love that the woman, the drunk woman just got up and like smiled.
Hill: She did. She just kind of smiled and, you know, you see that there are two men there who helped get her up. They haven't met, actually.
Cooper: Ohhh look, a train? Okay!
Hill: She did say afterwards, "Well, I was drunk." But apparently, when Charice first saw those two men waving at her frantically, trying to tell her there was a woman on the tracks, she was actually worried that those guys were going to jump. She wasn't sure what was going on. And then it sort of all came together for her.
Cooper: What time was this at? I'm trying to look at that time plate. Do you know?
Hill: I think it was 10—it's, like, 10 and change. I think I'd read that the woman—
Cooper: At night?
Hill: Yeah. She'd been at a party.
Cooper: Okay.
Hill: She had like four 22-ounce beers.
Cooper: Oy. All right.
Hill: And then, you know—
Cooper: Yeah, all right.
Hill: Dove on the tracks.
[This is not in the clip, but I saw this on 360 last night, and Anderson Cooper actually ended this exchange by adding jauntily, "Well, note to self!"]
Blogging in My Blood
[This originally ran in April 2007.]
Mama Shakes and I spent much of the day going through old family photos and papers, reading many of the letters from my grandfather. He was a NYPD detective working the nightshift, and he often spent the quiet wee hours writing letters to her, his daughter who had moved to Indiana to attend university (and stayed to marry the Hoosier boy otherwise known as my dad). This is an excerpt from a letter to Mama Shakes, dated February 10, 1970, 2:00am. (Very specific!)
Two patrolmen downstairs laughed pretty good. Lt. Dinkelacher had just told them a sad joke. But patrolmen ALWAYS laugh at lieutenants' sad jokes. If all audiences were patrolmen and all comedians lieutenants, what a laughing place this would be! And double it for captains. I once saw a standing ovation for an Inspector who recited a poem about a dog who lost his asshole! (This is true.) I was standing and clapping like hell at the time! I may have whistled loudly, too, to overcome another sergeant (a real brownnoser) who was clapping louder than I was.
The thing about my grandfather is that he was a blogger. He loved capturing moments of his life in notes and letters and cartoons he'd draw, and, long before Photoshop or virtual exhortations to "Caption This Photo," he was clipping images from the paper and adding his own commentary, giving them to my grandma, mailing them to my mom, or hanging them on the wall at the precinct for the other cops, just to give them a laugh. Gene, my grandfather, was a Goldwater Conservative, and not in some generic sense; he actually supported Goldwater. Today, those particular politics ("keep your nose outta my pants") would make him a progressive – an irony that I'm quite certain he would have found hugely amusing, considering that Mama Shakes spent her early childhood believing "goddamnliberal" was one word. Nevertheless, he was an equal opportunity mocker, so his subjects were as likely to be Republicans as Democrats. Below are some of my favorites, which I thought the Shakers might enjoy, too. The faces have hardly changed…
[Click to embiggen. Yes, that's George H.W. Bush throwing a pitch at Shea Stadium. The Bushes: Ruining baseball across the country since the 1960s.]
[Referring to Ronald Reagan.]
[Saudi Arabia...meet Plains, Georgia.]
[Sounds about right.]
[And thus we see that the media has been garbage for at least 40 years, having dedicated a full-page spread to Nixon deplaning.]
Fin.
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
Strips One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66. In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.
I Get Letters
As always—spacing, spelling, punctuation, all original…
Melissa,
I wanted to take the time to tell you about a terrible nightmare I had last night.
It started innocently enough, me staring down a long narrow street on a cold, gray, cloudy day. Both sides of the street were lined with small identical buildings as far as the eye could see. There were women of all ages and color, coming and going from the buildings. Their faces were blank, cold, and devoid of expression. I wondered what in the hell, so I took a closer look at the name on the buildings. The name was Planned Parenthood.
Just then, I heard a loud stomping noise behind me. I turned to look, and it was a gigantic rusty old steam boiler with two legs and two arms, and what appeared to be a broken pressure relief valve on top. It was hideous. The thing was stomping and sputtering, hissing very loudly, "Come in, get your abortion, come in, get your abortions". The thing just kept hissing and stomping, waving it's arms, saying over and over, "Come in, get your abortions." I started screaming to the blank faces, "No, you don't have to do this, there are other options, please don't this."
The louder I screamed, the louder the big ugly boiler hissed, "Don't listen to that person!" "Hurry, before you change your mind, get your abortion." Then the big hideous boiler started sputtering louder and louder, and hissed, "You know, it's not really an abortion-abortion, it "reproductive rights." Then, the giant hissing boiler started stomping and charging in my direction, getting close enough for me to see an old rusty plate with a model number on it, "Melissa - Model #2009".
Just as the giant monster raised its foot to silence me, it blew up, scattered pieces of crap all over the place. I sighed, relieved I was still alive and thought everything was going to be okay. As I turned to walk away, I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. It was the monster pulling itself together, kind of like a terminator, you know, a machine.
I woke up in a cold sweat, sick to my stomach. I went to the bathroom, threw up, brushed and rinsed, and hurried to my little boys bedroom. Now, fully aware it was a horrible nightmare, I took my son's hand, and with a tear in my eye, whispered to myself, "[Name redacted], there are some twisted, sick, cruel, immoral people that would have seen you as an inconvenience when you were conceived, and sucked you out of your mother womb before you had a chance." Some of those people have names like, oh, say…………………………………….Melissa.
Then I went to my daughters room, held her hand thanked her for not listening to big hideous steam boilers (monsters). She gave birth to my first grandchild 4 1/2 months ago. She's 19, and is unwed. The baby's father lives with us, and they plan on wedding in the near future. I shuddered to think that had a poison mind, like say, yours, had gotten to my daughter at some point, and told her, "Hey, you know, it's not like abortion-abortion, it's you reproductive right to kill your unborn child, I may not have a beautiful, healthy grandson who has the potential to be anything he wants, especially LIFE, ………………………………………………………………………………Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!!!!
I'd like to send you a T-shirt that says on the front, "I survived Roe V. Wade." You should be so lucky. You can wear it whilst your stomping and hissing.
THE END ……… (and thanks to ABORTION advocates like yourself, it will literally be the end today for thousands of innocent unborn)
What a righteous cause you chose. LOL
One more thing, I'm also against the death penalty.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, who would like on this Veterans Day to thank all the people who have served and also take a moment to singly recognize the people who are discharged from service under the profoundly anti-patriotic Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Donate to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund here.
Recommended Reading:
Paula Neira, RN, CEN, Esq., LT, USNR: Thanking a Special Veteran
Andy: Barney Frank Says 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal to Be on Fiscal 2011 Defense Bill
Anna: Recommended Reading for November 11
Audacia: World Health Organization Releases Major Report on Women
Echidne: Just Say No to Being a Woman
Latoya: Of Push, Precious, Percival, and "My Pafology"
Leave your links in comments...
Pack Up Your Bags, Feminists: We're Done!
Shaker BrianWS emails:
I instantly thought of you and Shakesville when I read this post by [our old friend] Rod Dreher.LOL!
I got a huge LOL (more an LOLSOB than anything, really) when he went back to UPDATE THE POST just to say "To clarify, I am genuinely happy that we live in a culture where White Male Hegemony is no longer privileged. That was unjust."
Like, sorry guys, I'm not feeling like I've been wacky enough today so I'm doing to declare the end of white male privilege just to up the ante a little bit!!
Awesome
Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower:
The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying.I don't even know where to begin. Fuck.
The senior official claims the US has played an influential role in encouraging the watchdog to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.
The allegations raise serious questions about the accuracy of the organisation's latest World Energy Outlook on oil demand and supply to be published tomorrow – which is used by the British and many other governments to help guide their wider energy and climate change policies.
...A second senior IEA source, who has now left but was also unwilling to give his name, said a key rule at the organisation was that it was "imperative not to anger the Americans" but the fact was that there was not as much oil in the world as had been admitted. "We have [already] entered the 'peak oil' zone. I think that the situation is really bad," he added.
[H/T to Iain.]
The Healthcare Clusterfucktastrophe Continues
Senator Ben Nelson (D-Ouchebag) says he'll "vote to block any health care bill that looks like the bill passed by the House."
"Well, first of all, it has more than a robust public option, it's got a totally government-run plan, the costs are extraordinary associated with it, it increases taxes in a way that will not pass in the Senate and I could go on and on and on," Nelson said in an interview that is part of ABC News' Subway Series with Jonathan Karl.Of course he does. Of course.
"Faced with a decision about whether or not to move a bill that is bad, I won't vote to move it," he added. "For sure."
...There is one thing about the House bill, however, that Nelson does like: the strict ban on any abortion coverage by insurance plans bought with government subsidies.
Unless the Senate bill includes a similar provision, Nelson said, he'll vote against it.See, but, here's the thing: Abortions? They're a medical procedure, and they are part of women's healthcare, even though not every woman needs/wants/gets an abortion(s). And as long as the federal taxpayer money is funding healthcare, it actually ought to be used to fund abortions. And the only reason it isn't it because abortions and healthcare are treated as mutually exclusive concepts.
"Federal taxpayer money ought not to be used to fund abortions," Nelson said. "So whether it is subsidies on premiums or whether it is tax credits or whatever it is...it should not be used to fund abortions."
Because I just haven't said it enough recently, the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funding of abortion, is a misogynist and classist piece of shit, and I cannot believe the number of Democrats who defend it.
UPDATE: In comments, Shaker ErisDiscordia points to this post by Susie over at C&L (emphasis original):
So far this week, I've turned down two fund-raising calls for the state and national Democratic party. At first, I was just angry over the Stupak amendment, but now I know I'm going to have to save that money in case I need a gynecologist. From The Nation:Let me be perfectly clear: At this point, the Democratic Party now officially has to earn my vote back.
None of the bills emerging from the House and Senate require insurers to cover all the elements of a standard gynecological "well visit," leaving essential care such as pelvic exams, domestic violence screening, counseling about sexually transmitted diseases, and, perhaps most startlingly, the provision of birth control off the list of basic benefits all insurers must cover. Nor are these services protected from "cost sharing," which means that, depending on what's in the bill that emerges from the Senate, and, later, the contents of a final bill, women could wind up having to pay for some of these services out of their own pockets....Why, if I didn't know better, I'd swear the Democratic party just doesn't care about women.
...The fault for the initial omission can be laid at the feet of Democrats, who shied away from the issue, not wanting to invite controversy, according to women's health advocates who tried unsuccessfully to get women's preventive health care included in the basic benefits package. Some of the concern had to do with cost. Adding any required service to the basic benefits package would mean the Congressional Budget Office would give the bill a higher score, or price tag, leaving it more vulnerable to attack by budget hawks. But another part of the problem clearly stems from the fact that women's bodies have become political lightning rods, even when abortion is not the issue.
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning.]
"Somehow all we can do is take the statement from the victim. Take the statement from the alleged perpetrator and then throw up our hands because they are saying conflicting things. That's not how we investigate other crimes. ... Predators look for vulnerable people and they prey on vulnerable people. And if, as a criminal justice system, we're going to essentially turn from any victim who was drinking or any victim who was in some way vulnerable, we're essentially giving a free pass to sexual predators."—Psychologist David Lisak from the University of Massachusetts, who "has spent twenty years studying the minds of rapists."
[From a CBS News article about their five-month investigation which found that "a staggering number of rape kits aren't tested." It's an article that would be significantly improved if it didn't include a fucking stock photo of a sexual assault "artistically" done in black and white. Christ.]
Dr. Lisak, by the way, appears to be the best ally to and advocate for survivors of sexual assault that I've never heard of. In the past hour, I've found this rape fact sheet [pdf] that he prepared containing a metric fuckton of good information, multiple presentations (pdf) and papers (pdf), a submission to an anthology on "Confronting Rape and Sexual Assault," and an unflinching critique of "Male Gender Socialization and the Perpetuation of Sexual Abuse." This is a man who knows how to work a goddamned teaspoon. Thanks, Dr. Lisak.
[H/T to Shaker JJ.]
SYTYCD Open Thread
Weird night last night.
My top vote goes to Ashleigh and Jakob; loved their Mandy Moore-choreographed jazz piece. Everything was perfect—the music, the choreography, the prop work, the costuming. Top shelf!
[Video Summary: Ashleigh reveals that she is a nerd; Jakob reveals that he is close friends with last season's winner, Jeanine; they work with Mandy Moore on learning the choreography that includes a cane; they dance to Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax"; Jakob tells Cat the cane is the hardest prop with which he's ever worked in his life; Adam Shankman praises their partnership, Ashleigh's growth, and Jakob's physical prowess; Mary Murphy calls it a perfect partnership and says they were phenomenal; video ends before Nigel speaks.]
My least favorites were Mollie and Nathan, whose "dream team" reputation I've never felt was deserved. I've just never been blown away—until last night, when I was blown away by how unbearably dreadful they were. Lordy begordy.
Kathryn and Legacy were among my favorites again. I don't know what the judges were watching when they lambasted Kathryn for dancing childishly; maybe they were thrown by the fact that she was costumed in freaking short-shorts and pigtails. Iain and I watched it back after the judging, and we didn't see the lack of strength or maturity about which they were complaining. Wevs.
I thought the new partnership between Channing and Victor was good, as I expected it would be. Thought they got given short shrift for what was a powerful performance. The music didn't really live up to the choreography; it might have been more moving (re: judges' complaint that their souls weren't touched, barf) if the music had been more provocative. Not that the piece used was objectively bad; it just struck me as a wee bit insubstantial for two such strong dancers.
Hated Ryan's and Ellenore's piece to Lil C's choreography. James Bond Ski Baddies Gone Wild. Ugh.
What did you think?
Veterans Day
To the men and women of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and National Guard: Thank you.
Liss with Gene, grandfather and veteran of the US Coast Guard, circa 1976.
