I really have no fucking idea what is going on in the Obama administration. Reports about the president's State of the Union address tonight suggest that Obama's not going to use the opportunity to rally the troops and rekindle passions for flailing healthcare reform, over which the Democratic Congressional caucus is in utter disarray. Instead, as the WaPonotes, he "is not expected to call for a precise way forward, although he will reiterate his commitment to the cause."
Yeah, good call. We wouldn't want our president getting all distracted with leadership and shit.
Lest you think that's merely a bit of acerbic hyperbole, Ezra Klein reports:
Every Hill office I've spoken to in the past week has had the same complaint. "Where," they ask, "is the White House?"
There's been no clear message on the way forward for health-care reform. No clear articulation of preferences. No public leadership to speak of. The administration is taking temperatures rather than twisting arms. The White House press team is blasting out speeches where the president says he'll never stop fighting on health care but pointedly refuses to throw a punch. The president is giving interviews where he seems to endorse paring the bill back and also seems to argue against doing anything of the kind. The daily message has run from banks to freezes, and early leaks suggest that tonight's speech will focus on education.
…[E]veryone agrees on one thing: Tonight's speech is the most important of his young presidency, and it will be the most revealing of his career. Does he stand and fight for a health-care bill he believes to be a historic and necessary step forward? Or does he back away from it, letting some gestures toward his commitment to the issue stand in for the determined leadership — and the political gamble — that would represent real commitment to the issue?
If healthcare insurance reform does happen, it may well be because Congressional Dems made it happendespite the president.
This story from today's Seattle Times is an especially egregious example of how our culture minimizes the gravity of sexual crimes—particularly crimes committed against sex workers, because ha ha, they must see it as a compliment:
Lusty Lady performers had admirer from above.
Maybe he was just confused about how peep shows work.
Seattle police arrested a man around 2 a.m. Saturday for investigation of malicious mischief after he climbed into the space above the ceiling at the Lusty Lady in an apparent attempt to get into the women's dressing room.
According to a police report, the man came in the front door of the famed downtown peep-show club — backward — then went into a viewing stall. He somehow got into the ceiling crawl space overhead.
Then, he crashed partially through the glass-panel ceiling above the dance floor, startling a performer below when his legs came through the glass.
The man was still in the crawl space when police arrived, and was arrested after he jumped down, the report says. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief.
The man made no statements to explain his actions, the report says. But his Lusty Lady lark caused so much damage the club had to be shut down for the night, the report says.
The man was released from jail Monday night.
This—again—is rape culture—normalizing and thereby minimizing the severity of sexual assault and coercion (and perpetuating the belief that sex workers can't be sexually assaulted) by treating what must have been a terrifying experience as a compliment. A misunderstanding. A hilarious "lark" by a well-intended, if bumbling, "admirer."
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth blog: Welcome to the Teen-Artist Project! If you know any high school students in the Fort Worth area, pass this one along.
[Trigger warning. Cross-referenced with Rape Is Hilarious. Thanks to Shaker Elke for the heads-up.]
Today, we welcome a repeat offender, CNN's Rick Sanchez, last seen diminishing the gravity of "date rape." Here, he introduces a segment on a story out of Ohio, in which a woman was raped in broad daylight, but no one stopped to help (though several people did call 911). Now, there is a lot wrong with this segment (which I will leave you to dissect in comments), but in Sanchez's introduction, he says one of the most ghastly things I've ever heard in all the terrible reporting about sexual violence that I've seen:
[Full transcript of entire segment below. For the record, I used CNN's show transcripts.]
We're going to take you now through something that's very interesting. It's a terrible and puzzling story. A young man, a teenager, is in jail today in Toledo, Ohio. The reason he's in a jail in Toledo, Ohio, was because of an alleged sexual assault. The case is still pending in large measure, but people call it out-out rape, and he has told police, "I was doing what I was doing," but here's the punch line, right?! It all happened in plain view of witnesses, in broad daylight, next to a street while people were driving by!
The punch line? Wow.
I can think of fewer turns of phrase that are less appropriate to use in relation to a story about sexual violence than "but here's the punch line."
Even leaving aside the particular insensitivity of the specific phrase, the entire construction of the premise is horseshit. No well-informed anchor should be expressing surprise that a woman was raped in broad daylight, in front of witnesses, without physical intervention. It's dishonest to treat such a thing as a rare event, to regard the details as a "punch line," or a "catch," or any other euphemism that suggests they are remarkable.
In the five years I've been doing this, I've written up numerous stories of women being attacked, sexually or otherwise, in front of witnesses who failed to help (and calling 911 isn't failing to help, btw). (Apparently the recent gang rape in California has already fallen completely out of Sanchez's head.) Even given the most charitable interpretation of Sanchez's grim "punch line" term, that he intended merely to indicate a shock rather than a joke, it's still wildly inappropriate and irresponsible.
Talking about every one of these cases as if it's extraordinary is an eminently useful way of concealing the rape culture. By denying the iterations of its manifestation, by persistently ignoring the evidence of connectivity, we can shake our heads gravely at each totally unique and unrelated incident, thus collectively freeing ourselves from any responsibility for addressing a cultural problem.
Which always works out pretty well for rapists.
RICK SANCHEZ: We're going to take you now through something that's very interesting. It's a terrible and puzzling story. A young man, a teenager, is in jail today in Toledo, Ohio. The reason he's in a jail in Toledo, Ohio, was because of an alleged sexual assault. The case is still pending in large measure, but people call it out-out rape, and he has told police, "I was doing what I was doing," but here's the punch line, right?! It all happened in plain view of witnesses, in broad daylight, next to a street while people were driving by! Right?
BROOKE BALDWIN: Right. That's the thing. It's one of those stories that certainly was on our radar, and it made me think, what would you do if you were driving by? You would hope you would stop and do something. But that's the thing. No one did anything as far as getting out of a car. Imagine, especially, ladies, you're 26, you're walking -- this woman was walking to the library, like you said, broad daylight. This guy popped out of nowhere, takes a pair of scissors to your neck, forces you to the ground, and rapes you. No one stops to help.
SANCHEZ: And this is that area, by the way -- I'm drawing a picture for folks, and we'll be able to see part of it. It's like the easement between the sidewalk and the street, right?
BALDWIN: Right. Broad daylight, again. One woman who drove by did call 9-1-1. Here is a portion of that call. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: 9-1-1.
CALLER: I think there is somebody either taking advantage or raping somebody on Royalton by Birchell, about two streets more west or something. It's a black guy is taking off the pants of a white woman and they are laying on the sidewalk.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: You say this is a black male?
CALLER: Yes. With a white girl on the ground and her legs are all exposed. He's between her legs.
UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: You didn't see any weapons, did you?
CALLER: No, I didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So we should point out, you know, yes, we reached out to that woman to try to have her on. She was so emotional she broke down on the phone. She relives it every day. It happens next week. She has nightmares.
SANCHEZ: And it was hard to make the call. I understand --
BALDWIN: They're not quite sure if it was consensual or not.
SANCHEZ: Exactly. It's easy to blame people. Why didn't you immediately go over there? Sometimes you're so uncomfortable with things you see, you're not quite sure what to make of it.
BALDWIN: What's going on? Is she consenting or not? The bottom line, there were a number of people who passed by in cars. They were honking at the suspect, 15 years old. He did not stop violating this woman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. SAM HARRIS, TOLEDO, OHIO POLICE: People had seen you and you knew you were interrupted and why did you continue? And the only explanation he could say is that I wanted to finish.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: "I wanted to finish." Now, that suspect was caught just hours later. Here he is pixilated. He's a juvenile. Police claim he hid confess to not only raping this woman, who was a total stranger, but also to stealing her cell phone afterwards. Why did he do it? Apparently, he told police he saw the woman walking alone, made up his mind he wanted to have sex with her.
He did sit in juvenile court with his mom by his side where he was arraigned on charges of rape and robbery. He has no criminal record. Prosecutors will try him as an adult, which means a much heftier sentence if he's convicted.
SANCHEZ: There is absolutely no evidence that you have seen that would lead us to believe that his defense might be that she consented in any way, correct?
BALDWIN: Not that I have seen.
SANCHEZ: It was as described by police at this point, and what seems to sound to us -- not a legal definition, but certainly a common sense definition -- of an admission he's given about this.
BALDWIN: Absolutely. And people just passed by.
SANCHEZ: What do we know about the woman?
BALDWIN: We know that was she was 26. Apparently there are reports from others that she lived in a home, she suffered from bipolar disorder and also Asperger syndrome on the spectrum of autism, which makes it worse.
SANCHEZ: That's makes her probably more of a victim in this case than what we originally even thought of.
BALDWIN: It's tough for any woman. It's just tough for anyone.
SANCHEZ: Let's do this -- hang out here, if you can. We're going to do some more on this story. I think it's important.
In just a moment, if you stick with us, I will talk live to one of the women that you heard moments ago, one of the women that actually witnessed the sex crime as it was happening. What did she see? What did she do?
She's going to take us through her story -- a difficult story, we understand, and we consider her courage for coming on and wanting to share this. But stay there and we'll get through this in just a little bit. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Let me go back to the story that we were sharing with you just moments ago that has so many people in Toledo, Ohio appalled. I want to show you the crime scene. This is where it happened. See it right there? Broad daylight. You don't see a lot of cover. It's not like there are bushes somebody can hide behind, as it was described by police. It's out in the open. If someone is on that sidewalk doing something and motorists are driving by, they will see it. It's a busy cross street in Toledo.
The alleged rape of a woman by a 15-year-old boy occurred there in broad daylight, cars going by. The victim says she was screaming. How could it happen? Cars honked and said, stop. According to one description police gave us, the suspect looked up and then continued.
Joining me now from Toledo is Ashlee McCoy. She knows this neighborhood. In fact, she grew up in the neighborhood. She was driving by that day as well, and she is one of the people who saw this happen. Also joining us is Brooke Baldwin who has been drilling down on this story as well.
And before we even start the interview, we also should say we have tried to contact the other side. We called the attorneys.
BALDWIN: We reached out to the defense attorneys, as well.
SANCHEZ: No comment so far.
BALDWIN: No comment so far.
SANCHEZ: All right, let's start with you, if we can, Ashlee. What time was it? What did you see? Describe for our viewers what you saw that day.
ASHLEE MCCOY, WITNESS: It was 2:30 in the afternoon. I was driving down the street with my kids and my babysitter. And, you know, he had noticed something up above on the sidewalk. And I looked and we were like, wow, that's crazy.
SANCHEZ: Can you see a monitor right now?
MCCOY: No.
SANCHEZ: All right, I'll describe it for you. We are looking at a corner intersection. There seems to be a fire hydrant there on the right.
MCCOY: OK.
SANCHEZ: And there is a street. And it looks like the street goes straight, but there is a left turn. Can you tell our viewers where this incident was happening so we get a better idea?
MCCOY: It was right before a corner.
SANCHEZ: Right.
MCCOY: On the left-hand side.
SANCHEZ: Right. MCCOY: On the side of somebody's house, on the sidewalk.
SANCHEZ: So we are looking basically then as you describe it, I think the picture we're looking reflects the area we are talking about. It's not like it was behind a bush. It wasn't behind, you know, a placard or -- it was literally out in the open.
MCCOY: Yes. Yes.
We weren't sure on what was happening. We just seen two people having sex, and that's what it looked like. We didn't see no signs of struggle or a cry for help or anything.
I had laid on my horn because we thought it was two teenagers. So I laid on my horn to tell them, you know, get up, that's not right.
Well, we had a drove off and the person that I was with -- he said that, you know, that's just weird. That doesn't seem right. So he had went back to the scene, and that's when the police and the fire trucks and all that was there.
SANCHEZ: Wait. The person who was riding in your car with you after driving by...
MCCOY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: So when you first drive by your impression was, this is weird, but maybe it's just two people having sex. Let me just go on.
MCCOY: Oh, we thought for --
SANCHEZ: Later on -- go ahead.
MCCOY: I said, we thought for sure that it was just two people having sex. There was no other -- you know, anything that indicated that anything else but them having sex.
SANCHEZ: So interestingly enough, other motorists went by and reported to police as in the sound we shared with viewers moments ago that, to them, it was a rape. Obviously that could be because they saw something you didn't see when you went by, right? You didn't all go out at the same time. I get that.
MCCOY: Right. Right.
SANCHEZ: I get that.
Has there been a lot of criticism in town? Have you felt like, my god, maybe I should have been more on top of this? I should have been more aware?
MCCOY: Well, yes, there's been a lot of criticism. But I had my kids in my car, so even if I did see something that showed she was being raped, I probably would have just called 9-1-1 because I had my babies in my car.
SANCHEZ: That makes sense.
BALDWIN: Ashlee, let me ask you this, and I don't know if it was perhaps female intuition eventually that you thought, you know, this probably wasn't consensual sex. Something wasn't right.
Do you think -- because I feel like there have been a lot of stories the news lately where we wonder after the fact, why didn't someone speak up? Is there something you and perhaps all of us can glean from this kind of incident?
MCCOY: I didn't think anything of it. I just thought it was consensual sex. There was no signs of her being raped as far as any struggle or a cry for help.
SANCHEZ: What about now?
MCCOY: I laid on my horn.
BALDWIN: Now...
MCCOY: Now?
BALDWIN: Now do you wish you had stopped?
MCCOY: Yes. I mean, of course. But I -- like I said, there is nothing else I could have done besides call 9-1-1 because I had my kids in my car.
SANCHEZ: One more thing -- I have to ask you one more thing, because I heard you say "I laid on my horn," which doesn't sound like a quick beep, toot-toot thing. You laid on your horn.
MCCOY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: So it was a loud sound?
MCCOY: Yes. And basically it was just like telling them to get up and move because that wasn't right, because I thought they were just young teenagers having sex on the sidewalk.
SANCHEZ: Right. But my question is when you laid on your horn, that act was taking place, what was his reaction? What happened?
MCCOY: His reaction was he just looked up and he just continued doing what he was doing.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
MCCOY: She just -- it was nothing different.
[edit]
SANCHEZ: —the alleged perpetrator, a high school freshman. I want you to hear what the police officers are saying about this accused.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SGT. SAM HARRIS, TOLEDO, OHIO, POLICE DEPARTMENT: If someone's brazen enough at age 15 to grab an unknown female off the street in the middle of the day, I think the chances of his actions continuing are very likely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That was sergeant Sam Harris of the Toledo Police Department, 33 years on the force. He is my next guest. We're going to talk about the kid in a moment, this high school freshman.
First, though, let me ask you this, if we could, Officer. What is a citizen's duty in a case like this? Broad daylight, crowded street, if I were to see something like this, or here -- better yet -- suppose my wife were driving down the street and she was to see this, how would you want her -- how would you want her to respond?
HARRIS: Just exactly as the caller whose 911 tape you played. Call the police immediately. Supply them with as much and complete information as they can, and then let the police respond from that point on.
SANCHEZ: At what point, Sergeant, would you want someone who feels capable of going in there and trying to either break it up or save this young lady?
HARRIS: Well, we don't encourage people to become involved in a physical nature on their own, due to the risks they may entail on their own. In this case...
SANCHEZ: Ever? Ever?
HARRIS: Well, you know, it's a personal decision. I would like to think that, if a young, virile male was to, you know, be able to stop the assault, they would, but, in this case, the suspect was armed with a pair of scissors, which he had already threatened the female with, his victim.
And if he was brazen enough to threaten and rape a female on a city street in broad daylight, who's to say what he might have done had someone tried to intervene?
There's this thing called filk*, see. Started some long time ago, and I know there are enough fen** hereabouts that there might be some amusement if I were to irregularly post things that amuse me, and which I have written. Irregularly, because as you may have noticed, I'm not especially good at "every $TIME_PERIOD" things. I try, but life interferes, or depression does, and then it doesn't happen.
Besides, Liss said I could, so yahboo, sucks to you. :P
The idea is to take a known song, and shift the lyrics til they say what I want them to say. I don't call this parody, because I'm not doing it to parody the original song, far from it: I tend to use songs I enjoy, in fact, often the Smiths, even (someday I'll finish No Rush And No Bush, I hope!). My hope, when I can get it just right, is to do a lyric set which maintains the spirit and emotion of the original, but puts them in a new light, or applies them to a new topic.
I'll start off today with a short one, this from last April:
Somewhere Absent of Rainbows
Somewhere, absent of rainbows, no one's gay And so hetero marriage stays absolutely safe.
Somewhere, absent of rainbows, states aren't blue And the dreams of evangelists really do come true.
Someday I'll pray so very hard and wake up where the values are just fine, see? Where gays will marry girly girls And dykes please men with curly curls That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere, absent of rainbows, guys stay guys. Trans folk stay where they were born Or even better, die.
If hetero people safely wed Somewhere that all the gays are dead Why then oh why can't I?
Yesterday, James O'Keefe, best known for dressing like a "pimp" and catching ACORN employees on hidden cameras offering advice on how to conceal various illegal acts, and three other "conservative journalists"—Joseph Basel, Stan Dai, and Robert Flanagan, son of William Flanagan, the acting US attorney for the Western District of Louisiana—were arrested and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony, after trying to tap the phones in a district office of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana).
According to the news release Tuesday and an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Steven Rayes, who is based in New Orleans, Basel and Flanagan attempted to gain access to Landrieu's office Monday while posing as telephone repairmen.
The two men were "each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light green fluorescent vest, a tool belt and a construction-style hard hat when they entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building," the release noted.
...O'Keefe, who had been waiting in the office before the pair arrived, recorded their actions with a cell phone, said the affidavit by Rayes.
..."This is a very unusual situation and somewhat unsettling for me and my staff," Landrieu said in a statement Tuesday night.
Think Progress notes that "Fox News has been one of the biggest supporters of James O'Keefe," and conservative media figure Andrew Breitbart, who runs the blog Big Government, "which helped make O'Keefe a star and pays him to be a contributor, claims that it had no knowledge of what the four individuals were up to."
Last Thursday, O'Keefe "gave a speech to the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a libertarian group in New Orleans."
The New Orleans event was promoted with this glowing statement about O'Keefe by the Pelican Institute: "James has been a pioneer in the use of new media to drive these kinds of important stories. He will discuss the role of new media and show examples of effective investigative reporting."
...Robert Flanagan's attorney, J. Garrison Jordan, said he believes his client works for the Pelican Institute. Asked the motivation for the alleged wiretap plot, he said: "I think it was poor judgment. I don't think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime."
Just a silly prank! Let's all chalk it up to boys being boys and call it a day! Because how could anyone expect four men in their 20s to understand the difference between "investigative reporting" and "committing a felony"...? The nerve!
This is all the fault of the liberal media, somehow.
Every time I'm in the bookstore, and I visit the occult section, all I see is a big ol' giant wall of Oprah's magnum opus, The Secret. This is not an occult book; this a fictional children's story about positive thinking and there are no demons or dragons in it anywhere. (I won't be fooled again, Oprah! *shakes fist*)
All hilarious repartee aside, it genuinely frightens and enrages me to see so many copies of this book because it's one thing to find the power of positive thinking on your own, but quite another to have it declared the Official Book of the United States of America by the nation's Media Empress, who expects people to shell out $25 to gain access to a secret that amounts to "it's your fault that your life is so shitty."
What book, or author, you regularly see displayed in a bookstore annoys you every time you see it?
This is our show of listener contributions. Thanks to everyone who shared a bit of their creativity with me. There are some really great things here. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Playlist:
FraidyKat: Free Improvisation Nancy Lorenz (AKA Napalmnacey): New Lovin' The Matthew Show: The World Of One Percenters HBB & The Special Guests: I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll Sarah Bernard: A Sunny Day In Montreal Clare Worley: Mariolina Lady & the Tramps: Liberate Yourself The Guilloteens: Evil Morning Kills Me Space Cowboy: Tune Of Roger Kate Saik: Allerseelen Miranda K. Pennington: My Johnny Has Gone For Soldier Suzanna Winter: Stars and the Moon Shiyiya: Where Did The Cro-Magnons Turn Wrong Meghan Bell: Girl Child Jocelyn Craig : I Won't Go Back Kathy McCarty: Raining OK OK OK: Distance
Here is a link to the podcast blog where you can download the show.
You can also play the show in a pop-up. (Which is the recommended way to read Shakesville, just FYI.)
The show is available via iTunes, and on Feedburner. The RSS is here, if you need it.
People who are taking care of sick parents aren't going to turn to each other and say brightly, "At least when this is all over we can use our tax credits to pay a few of the bills we're racking up here!"
...People who have to figure out what to do about the kids today because the school's declared a snow day, the babysitter canceled, and the boss has warned them that one more day off this month's out of the question, call in sick again and that's it, you're out of here, aren't going to pause in their worrying and scrambling to comfort themselves with the thought that they've got a tax credit coming.
People, real people, need help now. Why on earth doesn't President Obama seem to understand that? Why does no one in Washington seem to understand that?
The scaly-eyed gecko (Lepidoblepharis buchwaldi)—also a new species—can perch comfortably atop a pencil eraser, even as an adult.
"They crawl around in leaf litter on the forest floor, and they are so small they are very hard to find," biologist Hamilton explained. "All of these things take a lot of time to find, and if we don't get to work and put in a lot of hours we're going to miss ever seeing a lot of these little things." [Photograph by Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI]
In case you haven't heard (and if you haven't, I'm sorry to do this to you), Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck are "teaming up and going on tour." No, they're not engaging in some right-wing Simon & Garfunkel rip-off (although that would probably be only slightly less painful than reality), the "Bold and Fresh" tour appears to be nothing more than two hot gasbags sitting on their privileged asses and grousing about everything they don't like. Hint: If it ain't White, Christian, Cis and Male, it'll probably make their list.
Tickets are roughly 45 bucks. Of course there's merchandise.
I'm sure you're all dying to know what you're missing. How could you not, with a title like that? (He's Bold! He's Fresh! They're cops!) Let's just say that O'Reilly is already on a roll. It wasn't enough to suggest that the CIA should kidnap Pelosi and Reid and waterboard Pelosi, no no no. Bill had to pontificate on the south side of Chicago. Because Obama is from Chicago, and, well, it must be horrible.
O'REILLY: I'm seeing a guy who's very, very committed to the government. To government, the government's going to solve the problems, and I'm going I don't know how that's possible. If you've ever been to the South Side of Chicago, I mean, it's a disaster, all right? It's like Haiti, it's like -- I've been to Haiti a couple of times. I support some charities there, but Haiti just never gets better, no matter how much money you put in there because they don't have a system. And I said the government can't do it but, Obama really believes the government can do it.
Wow. I never even knew we had an earthquake on the south side. Wait, of course we didn't. So I wonder what Bill is talking about?
A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about "profiteering."
..."We are very concerned about the appearance of [Tea Party Nation, the convention organizer] profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement," [Philip Glass, the national director of the National Precinct Alliance] said in a statement. "We were under the impression that T.P.N. was a nonprofit organization like N.P.A., interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena."
Why, oh why, would he be so concerned about profiteering and exploitation by such good people?!
The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier.
LOL! Ya think?!
And they have balked at Ms. Palin's speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.
Apparently, Palin didn't get the memo that the going rate is $4.95.
My mother told me she saw a clip of this movie that showed Bogart petting a big floppy white rabbit and saying, "Many people have died, due to...due to...circumstances." She thinks it's the forerunner to Blofeld's cat and Monty Python's Flopsy ("There, poor Flopsy's dead, and never called me mother!"; the secret service dentistry sketch). I tried to find the Bogart bunny clip, but to no avail.
X—weird symbol of humanity’s most dangerous secret. The forbidden barrier that science must never cross! But in an amazing climax to a revolutionary medical discovery, its terrible power is delivered into the ruthless hands of a man the world once destroyed—a revenge-haunted genius, taking his name from the unknown inferno from which he returns. Dr. X: the mark of a madman who lives to kill. And who must kill to live!
Rosemary Lane: Dr. Xavier?
Bogart: Yes, I am Dr. Xavier.
Rosemary Lane: You can’t be!
Bogart: I’ll be very careful. I’ve always been careful—even though I had to kill.
Rosemary Lane: (whispers) You’re the blood killer!
[scream]
Text on screen: Back from the grave to find his betrayer! “The Return of Doctor X”
[gunshot]
Text on screen: Starring Humphrey Bogart in his strangest portrayal
Wayne Morris following his trail of TERROR! Rosemary Lane, Trapped by his Lust for Life! Dennis Morgan, Leading Science’s Battle Against his Unleashed Fury!
Bogart: You told them about me!
John Litel: I didn’t have to —they found out for themselves!
Bogart: You’re lying!
John Litel: Shhhh!
Bogart: Does he know everything?
John Litel: No, only that I brought you back to life.
Bogart: I should really kill you, Flegg, for what you’ve done to me.
John Litel: Only give me a little longer!
Bogart: One week—that’s all.
Detective: There’s a killer loose in the city and you can help us find him
Lya Lys: I told you I don’t know anything
Detective: What about that fella Kane?
Bogart: What about Kane?
John Litel: My work ended not in failure, but in disaster! Disaster for me, disaster for Mr. X. The necessity for additional transfusions of human blood became increasingly frequent. Gentleman, I am responsible for the—[gunshot]
Text on screen: “The Return of Doctor X” Thrilling advance into life’s weird “No Man’s Land”!
Shaker H2 sent me this awesomely hilarious video of a Lost fan named Mike from Long Island who wrangled his extended Italian family "to help him recreate key moments of the series." Definite spoiler warning if you're not up-to-date through the end of Season 5 yet.
[I don't even know how I'd begin to transcribe this video in a way that makes any kind of sense—it would be a lot of "middle-aged guy who is playing Jack and middle-aged woman who is playing Kate turn to younger guy who is playing Sawyer in this scene, which is a recreation the scene from Season One in which..."—so the above paraphrase will regretfully have to suffice.]
As I mentioned last week, Iain and I have been rewatching Season 5 to gear up for the sixth and final season of the Best. Show. Evarrrr. And as the last season progresses, I am getting increasingly quivery with excitement for Lost's return.
We just watched "Some Like It Hoth" last night, which is one of my favorite episodes of all time. I lurrrrrve the genesis of Miles and Hurley as Lost's Laurel and Hardy (or Abbott and Costello, if you prefer). And OMG '90s punk Miles with his fake eyebrow piercings (complete with actual fake eyebrow). Rage Against the Machine, man! LULZ.
Use this thread to SQUEEEEEE!, make predictions, ask questions, whatever you like. Just please be considerate and add a spoiler warning to the beginning of comments that contain Season 5 spoilers, for those who aren't quite finished with the last season yet. It only just came out on video recently, so there are a few Shaker Losties still getting caught up.
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