"A lot of persons are concerned about their pets, but I don't know if they should necessarily trust atheists to take care of them."—Todd Strandberg, founder of the infamous evangelical rapture website, raptureready.com, offering his reservations about the Eternal Earth-Bound Pets service being offered by atheist Bart Centre, 61, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire. For $110 for a 10-year contract (and only $15 more per additional pet!), Centre hooks up rapture-ready Christians with doomed atheists who will take care of pets left ownerless after the rapture.
I'm not sure I can accurately evaluate the width of the cavernous divide between my thought processes and those of someone who so fervently believes the rapture to be a Real Thing in the World (someday) that his primary objection to the idea of charging people $110 to care for their pets after they're raptured outta here is those pets being looked after by atheists.
Who might do something untrustworthy, like cast Fido into a lake of fire and pocket their piddling fee.
Blink.
[Via.]
Quote of the Day
Tina Fey
[Trigger warning.]
You know, I sort of wanted to write this post today ranting about Tina Fey.
On 30 Rock last night, which I don't normally watch but happened to see part of last night, there was a whole "comedic" subplot about how Jane Krakowski's character gets depressed when her "favorite stalker" stops stalking her and tries to convince him to start again. Ultrafuckery.
And then there's her new Vogue cover, in which her scar (acquired in a random knife attack when she was a child) has been totally disappeared, through a combination of airbrushing, lighting, and Fey's insistence on being filmed/photographed almost exclusively from her right side, which feels really problematic to me in terms of survivor's narratives, and our expectations that women who have been assaulted mask all evidence, physical and emotional, of their trauma. And, ugh, while that's her choice, ugh, she's also choosing to make light of assault on her teevee show, ugh, and these are not unrelated issues, ugh, complicated by the responsibility of celebrity, ugh, whatever that is, ugh, and I am conflicted and irritated, ugh!
And then there's her actual interview with Vogue, in which she once again positions herself as the standard-bearer of "normalcy" (her word), and waxes retrofuck about women's fucked-up relationship with food, and sets up "curvy" and "skinny" as competing forces, and says shit like: "People will say, 'Oh, fashion magazines are so bad, they're giving girls a negative message'—but we're also the fattest country in the world, so it's not like we're all looking at fashion magazines and not eating. Maybe it just starts a shame cycle: I'm never going to look like that model, so...Chicken McNuggets it is! And conversely, I don't look at models who are crazy skinny and think I want to look like that, because a lot of them are gigantic, with giant hands and giant feet."
And all of this made me want to write a post about how Tina Fey isn't Doing Feminism Right, but then I came to my senses, and I realized that if Tina Fey weren't positioned as Hollywood's Token Feminist, and if, instead, the entertainment industry was filled with fabulous feminist and womanist women of every stripe and shape and color and age and sexuality and gender and ability and philosophy, whose ideas and projects and opinions were everywhere, as ubiquitous as the ideas and projects and opinions of misogynists, if that's the world in which we lived, I wouldn't even have to care about Tina Fey.
And that's not really Tina Fey's fault.
The Struggle For Freedom
I don't know what is going on at the bulletin board upstairs, but there is some heavy drama, apparently. Note this new sign:
It reads: "Allow others their freedoms, don't tamper with signs others post —". Are the Pagan Club and the Red Cross Blood Drive battling it for the hearts and minds of the accounting staff? I wonder.
Insert Sad Trombone Noise Here
It's always nice to end the week with a laugh:
Defeated just two years ago as the Republican presidential candidate and with his bonafides as a true conservative again being challenged, John McCain finds himself in a struggle to get even his party's nomination for another term in the Senate.Poor McCain. LOLOLOLOL!!!
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of the Hexfat Spellbook.
Recommended Reading:
Rolling Around In My Head: Disability 101
Lance Mannion: Thomas Jefferson fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho...
Doobybrain: New 2010 Penny Design Unveiled
Cliffie's Notes: Squid Invasion Of Orange County Roaring Success
AFOTD: Imperial Troop Transport
Leave your links in comments...
Yay Diversity
Race & Gender of Judges Make Enormous Differences in Rulings, Studies Find:
A judge's race or gender makes for a dramatic difference in the outcome of cases they hear—at least for cases in which race and gender allegedly play a role in the conduct of the parties, according to two recent studies.Thanks to Shaker juicepockets for sending that along.
The results were the focus of a program about "Diversity on the Bench: Is the 'Wise Latina' a Myth?," sponsored by the ABA Judicial Division at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Orlando on Saturday afternoon.
In federal racial harassment cases, one study (PDF) found that plaintiffs lost just 54 percent of the time when the judge handling the case was an African-American. Yet plaintiffs lost 81 percent of the time when the judge was Hispanic, 79 percent when the judge was white, and 67 percent of the time when the judge was Asian American.
...A second study (PDF), looked at 556 federal appellate cases involving allegations of sexual harassment or sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The finding: plaintiffs were at least twice as likely to win if a female judge was on the appellate panel.
University of Pittsburgh School of Law Professor Pat K. Chew, who co-authored the racial harassment study, said she found "the rule of law is intact" in the cases she reviewed. Judges—no matter which side they ruled for—took the same procedural steps to reach their decisions, she said.
But judges of different races took different approaches "on how to interpret the facts of the cases," she said.
...The program took its title from a much-debated comment made years ago by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
The participants never answered the question of whether a Latina judge reaches better conclusions, but at least in some cases, it appears likely that she would reach a different conclusion from a white male jurist hearing the same evidence.
It shouldn't matter, in terms of having each person's judicial needs and issues fairly addressed (and addressed using nonmarginalizing language), what the percentage of women and/or people of color and/or LGBTQIs and/or people with disabilities in judicial positions is, but it does. Just like it makes a difference whether male legislators have daughters. It always matters, because, unfortunately, we live in a very lopsided and still largely segregated culture, where a white person, for example, can go their entire lives never having to know a person of color on a personal level. That situation inevitably begets ignorance, which can manifest in overtly malicious expressions of bigtory or unintentional (but not innocuous) offense.
Today in Fat Hatin'
Hold onto your seats, fatsronauts...!
1. New research (yay! research!) "suggests that the 'tipping point' in obesity often occurs before two years of age, and sometimes as early as three months, when the child is learning how much and what to eat." OMFG.
Erylin points out that, at three months, "are trying desperately to gain ENOUGH weight. … kids grow…they get all fat, then they inch out…but every time their bmi spikes we need to rush to the doctor to get them on diet formula?"
All children put on weight before growth spurts—and surely all of us know thin adults who were chubby throughout their entire childhoods, especially men who, in adulthood, are over 6'.
I understand that some fat babies will grow up to be fat adults, but staging an intervention as early as three months of age is just gobsmacking. Especially since many fat adults weren't fat babies. (Like me.)
2. The loathsome Mike Luckovich weighs in (pun intended) on Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign with a cartoon that manages to fit DEATHFAT, HEXFAT, couch potato, and mother-blaming narratives into one square. Har har, this family's so fat even the CAT is fat! Bingo. [H/T to Shaker FemmeForever.]
Terrorizing Women, and Their Healthcare Providers, Gets Different Rules
I've got a new piece up at The Guardian's Cifa about the phone interview Scott Roeder, murderer of Dr. George Tiller, has just done from prison and is being hosted at YouTube.
Roeder, like the other violent actors of the anti-choice movement – including Shelley Shannon, who was convicted of shooting Tiller five times in 1993 – call themselves "pro-life", and are routinely referred to in news articles by the innocuous phrase "anti-abortion activists". But they are not mere activists; they are terrorists.Read the whole thing here.
After Tiller's death, I wrote: "Tiller's murder was an act of terrorism, against Tiller personally but also part of a decades-long campaign of intimidation, harassment and violence directed at abortion providers and abortion seekers. It is one of the most brazen, unapologetic terrorist campaigns in America, its co-ordination and orchestration frequently done right out in the open – at meetings, on websites, in email alerts. Yet the US government has largely failed to acknowledge its existence, even as groups like Planned Parenthood and the Southern Poverty Law Center have documented its breadth and effects."
...Dr George Tiller provided abortions because "abortion is about women's hopes, dreams, potential, the rest of their lives. Abortion is a matter of survival for women … It is my fundamental philosophy that patients are emotionally, mentally, morally, spiritually and physically competent to struggle with complex health issues and come to decisions that are appropriate for them."
This is a sentiment other physicians share who have nonetheless chosen not to provide abortions, or late-term abortions, because there exist people like Scott Roeder who will kill them in retaliation for providing a necessary and legal medical service. That's how terrorism works.
Yet Roeder is not being treated like a terrorist (except, perhaps, by his fellow extremists who regard him as a laudable martyr). Unlike the detainees at Gitmo, who mustn't even be allowed near sunlight lest they convince the sun to join with al-Qaida, Roeder is allowed to conduct interviews from his cell in which he delineates justification for his crime in such a way that tacitly urges his compatriots to repeat the act.
Love Is In The Air. And Smoke.
Lee Bretschneider (AKA Lee Braineater) has created some wry cards for Losties to pass around this Valentime's Day. Check em out, they're pretty awesome. Print them out and really stick it to the those fuckers in the Valentime's-Industrial Complex.
[A tip of the hatch to Shaker Garbo.]
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Vanshar: If you woke up and discovered that you had been given absolute authority over the entire world, what would be the first thing you did?
Divvy up responsibility and establish accountability so I no longer had absolute authority, lol.
After that: Pie for everyone.
Fat Hatred Bingo! Blame the Mother Bingo! BINGO, I Say!
A new study (yay! I love new studies!) "suggests" that "obese mothers put newborns at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and other ills." Grave news indeed. The study's co-author, Staci D. Bilbo, of Duke University, explains that the researchers' "hope" is that "these data will lead people to consider the consequences of their dietary intakes not only for their own health, but also for their children's health, and potentially even their grandchildren's health."
Think of the childrenz, Fat Moms! Because, yo:
"If there ever was a maternal hex, obesity might be it," said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of the [Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology] journal, "and as it turns out, even after the weight comes off, the biggest loser isn't a mother, but her child."Maternal hex! HEXFAT!
Now, if you're a fat-assed fatsronaut like me, you may be wondering just what the study entailed that yielded these shocking conclusions about HEXFAT. Well, wonder no more:
Bilbo and colleagues placed rats on one of three diets (low-fat, high-saturated fat, and high-trans fat) four weeks prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. The high-fat diets rendered the mice clinically obese.Hmm. It's probably just all the fat clogging my brain, but I can't help but notice that extrapolating this data to human women means assuming that every human woman who is fat is fat because of high-fat diets. Which is a pretty fat assumption.
The newborn pups' brains were analyzed. Offspring born to mothers on the high-fat diets showed increased immune cell activation and release of injurious substances known as cytokines, all right after birth. The changes stuck even until the newborns became adults, and even after they were put on low-fat diets.
Additionally, by axiomatically linking "high-fat diet" to "obese mother," the findings are being directed at fat bodies rather than fat diets, excluding from warnings thin women with high metabolisms who eat a fat-rich diet.
That is, if warnings are even warranted:
The study, done on rats, found that their body chemistry changed for life if mom was obese. Researchers expect the same phenomenon would occur in humans, given the similar physiologies, but more research is needed to confirm that.More research is needed. The headline at MSNBC reads: "Mom's obesity puts kids at risk for host of ills." Research schmesearch.
HEXFAT!!!!!!!!!eleventy!
[H/T to Shaker Broce.]
Get Well Soon, Bubba
Bill Clinton was hospitalized in New York City today for chest pains; a spokesperson later confirmed he has had two stents implanted in one of his coronary arteries. He is recovering from the procedure and is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days.
Get well soon, Bubba.
As an aside, the above-linked article (which Shaker Blusilva sent to me under the amusing subject line "Bill Clinton v. DEATH!FAT") has since been updated, but originally read, in total:
Former President Bill Clinton, who is 63, was hospitalized in New York City today for chest pains.One of the edits included adding: "[Hillary Clinton] flew to New York City immediately this afternoon."
Clinton was rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. ABC News' chief political correspondent George Stephanopoulos reported that sources said he was taken to the hospital "likely for a stent procedure."
Clinton's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was seen this afternoon leaving the Oval Office and did not seem "too concerned" or "in a rush."
Clinton, who has suffered from overweight often in his life, lost considerable poundage after his previous heart problem. The pain could come from a partial blockage of an artery and the stent would reopen the passage.
The media never tires of calling Bill Clinton fat and Hillary Clinton a soulless harpy.
Iran
[Trigger warning.]
Today is the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used the occasion of his anniversary address to announce that Iran is now a nuclear state: "Ahmadinejad asserted Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of higher-grade enriched uranium and declared that his country is now a 'nuclear state,' although he continued to deny that Iran has any intention of building nuclear weapons."
White House Spokesperson Robert Gibbs responded: "Iran has made a series of statements that are based on politics, not on physics."
Meanwhile: "Hundreds of thousands of pro-government Iranians have been rallying to mark the 31st anniversary of Iran's revolution. ... The opposition has been trying to stage counter-demonstrations, but faced a big security crackdown, and several of its leaders have reportedly been attacked."
CNN:
Militia members also beat the wife of opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi with batons, according to postings on the social networking Web site Facebook and opposition Web sites.And because strife in Iran just wouldn't be complete with posturing in the US Congress, Senators Lieberman and McCain have introduced a bill to single out "individuals for sanctions instead of whole governments."
The forces were preventing opposition leaders and their followers -- the so-called Green Movement -- from reaching Azadi Square (Freedom Square) in central Tehran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered an anniversary address extolling the country's nuclear program to supporters. They fired on crowds in some areas and pepper-sprayed demonstrators in others, opposition groups said.
CNN has not been able to independently confirm opposition reports.
"This would authorize the president to deny visas and freeze economic assets for people in Iran who are responsible for the kind of brutality that we're seeing on these videos," Lieberman said during an appearance on MSNBC.It's a rare day indeed that I look at proposed legislation ostensibly designed to combat human rights abuses and respond with "LOLWTF FAIL."
...Lieberman said that the sanctions being proposed would have the benefit of not having to go through the United Nations Security Council, where China has been reluctant to go along with tougher rules for Iran.
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, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113. 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.
Assvertising
by Shaker TheSeaHag
[Trigger warning.]
I was flipping through the new issue of Lucky the other day and got hit with a (possibly NSFW) Diesel ad that can be viewed here.
For those who can't or don't wish to view the image, it depicts a (white, very thin) woman in a bikini or bra and underpants, who seems to be on photo safari—just, you know, without the rest of her clothes. She's standing in a grassy, sunlit area, camera slung around her neck, but is using one hand to hold her underpants/bikini bottom away from her body while the other points her camera down to take a photograph. So engrossed is she in this that she doesn't notice the big ol' lion standing perhaps a dozen feet behind her. The slogan, in big, bright yellow letters, reads, "SMART MAY HAVE THE BRAINS, BUT STUPID HAS THE BALLS."
Yes, really.
Apparently, this is part of Diesel's new "Stupid" campaign—yes, really—for which the most commonly used slogan among the images (many of which can be viewed at the above link) appears to be, as in the ad linked above, "Smart may have the brains, but stupid has the balls." The rest of the images for this campaign can be found here (click "View the Campaign"), but I direct you there with both a NSFW warning and a TRIGGER WARNING because a few of the images are disturbing in various ways.
