If the world were to suddenly and irrevocably split into three dimensional realities—one being Utopia, one being Armageddon, and one being something between those extremes—and you could choose which world you wanted to inhabit, which one would you choose (and why)?
Now, I'm a Utopian-leaning dyke, but believe it or not, this is the kind of question I have actually asked people I know, and the answers have not always been as unified as I expected. (One friend said they worried that Utopia would be boring.)
Question of the Day
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
[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. See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.]
RIP Jon Swift
The great blogger Jon Swift, who, in addition to writing his own amazing blog, was a contributor to Shakesville and my colleague at newcritics, and whose real name was Al Weisel, has died.
I found out via our mutual friend Tom Watson, who reports that Al's mother posted a comment to the Jon Swift blog sharing the circumstances of his death:
I don't know how else to tell you all who love this blog. I am Jon Swift's Mom and I guess I'm going to OUT him. He was Al Weisel, my beloved son. Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. We, his 2 sisters, his brother, his partner and his best friend since he was 9 years old were with him as he took his last breath. We have all lost a shining start who warmed our hearts, tormented us and made us laugh as he giggled at our pulling something over on us. He passed away on February 27, 2010. My beloved child will live on in so many hearts. I miss him more than I can say. If you are on Facebook, go to organizations and join "Friends of Al Weisel, Unite!" It will give you just a taste of how special he was. Farewell, Jon (Al)I had emailed Al, Jon as I knew him, a few days before, and hadn't heard back from him, which was a little unusual, but not terribly so. He drifted in and out of blogging, when real life accommodated or got in the way. I was a genuine fan of his writing, and he was an absolutely delightful guy in every conversation I had with him.
I feel really fortunate to have known him and had the opportunity to read the work of someone so devilishly clever and enviably talented. And I feel so, so sad that he's gone.
My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
RIP Al.
Texting! With Liss and Deeky!
Deeky: You know what? MC Hammer is kind of a shitty MC.
Liss: He's 2 legit 2 quit!
Deeky: He's 2 shit 2 quit. He was just on the radio. And I think this was the first time I listened to U Can't Touch This all the way through. It was shit.
Liss: He's 2 legit 2 submit 2 ur crit!
Deeky: LOLOLOLOL!
Liss: He's 2 legit 2 submit 2 ur hit on his shiznit u nitwit!
Deeky: That's a better rhyme than anything he ever spit out.
Later...
Deeky: If the last six of your twelve albums suck, have you failed as an artist? I'm talking to you, Ministry.
Liss: And u 2, U2.
Deeky: LOL! Yesterday's frozen custard trivia question was what is Bono's real name.
Liss: Bono's real name is "The Edge."
Deeky: LOLz for real.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Deeky Brand Strap-Ons, preferred by Competitive Assfucking Champions the world over.
Recommended Reading:
Steve: First Same-Sex Marriage Licenses Issued in DC
Maha: Politicians Behaving Badly
Dorothy Snarker: A League of Our Own
Denis: Madison Paige Does Pull Triggers
Angry Asian Man: The Worst Movie Trailer I Have Ever Seen
And Happy One-Year Blogiversary to Akimbo!
Leave your links in comments...
Today in Fat Hatin'
Shaker cheezwiz emails: "Et tu, Salon?"
I'll leave you to fisk in comments, and simply point out that my favorite passage has to be:
If I'd heard someone making this argument four years ago, I probably would have rolled my eyes. What's changed between then and now is a 2-year-old (mine), two pregnancies (I'm currently in my third trimester for No. 2), and 15 pounds of excess weight that have made my second pregnancy a lot more uncomfortable than my first."Because my personal circumstances changed, now my position for everyone has changed! So now I totes support the shaming of women so that they'll lose weight after pregnancy!"
Where have I heard this argument before...? Oh, right. It's the same bullshit rationale used by self-loathing social conservatives who refuse to acknowledge innate characteristics and have absolutely no self-control over their own behavior, so they seek to legislate morality, as if criminalizing sodomy will magically make them straight or criminalizing abortion will stop them taking their knocked-up daughters through picket lines on which they stood the day before to get through the doors of the abortion clinic.
Though the author asserts "I take full responsibility for this predicament," she really doesn't; she blames society—if only you had shamed me, I wouldn't be so fat! Which may be true. For her.
But for all the rest of us who don't lose weight under the pressure of mountainous shame, and don't fucking need that shit, she can do us all a favor and STFU. Because the fact that her willpower is contingent on the critical judgment of perfect strangers really isn't our fucking problem.
Today in Transphobia
If you can't view the image, it's the cover (via Cover Awards) of pop culture rag Life & Style Weekly, featuring before-and-after pix of Shiloh Jolie-Pitt with longer hair and shorter hair, reading: "Why is Angelina turning Shiloh into a boy?" Beneath the large yellow headline, subtext reads: "A boy's haircut and clothes. Calls her 'John.' No girlie things. Is it harming the 3-year-old?"
ZOMG!!!eleventy! It's a girl-child with a gender-neutral haircut! O NOES! Let us all immediately commence upon BLAMING HER MOTHER!!!
(And her mother only. It's only her mother, Angelina Jolie, who is reportedly "turning Shiloh into a boy," but her father, Brad Pitt, has no parenting role, or at least no parenting responsibility, because of his very manly penis. Or something. I don't claim to understand how the minds of the jack-booted gender normative enforcers work. But luckily, Life & Style has EXPERTS! To weigh in! On this important subject!
Alana Kelen, who is a senior fashion stylist at VH1, tells us that "Shiloh is pushing the boundaries of a tomboy look and crossing over to cross-dresser territory."
Okay. And? If that were true it would be bad why...?
Well, maybe celebrity stylist Gili Rashal-Niv can shed some light on the subject: "I get that times are tough but does Angie really need to have Shiloh sharing clothes with her brothers? Hopefully we won't be seeing Maddox in one of Shiloh's dresses any time soon."
Oh Maude forbid! Not a BOY IN A DRESS! AIEEEEEEEEE!
Tell us what's what, Glenn Stanton, director of Family Formation Studies for Focus on the Family (WTF?!): "They need help, they need guidance of what that looks like. It's important to teach our children that gender distinction is very healthy."
Why? BECAUSE GOD SAYS SO, THAT'S WHY, YOU FILTHY HEATHENS!
Our last expert to opine on the international crisis of a three-year-old's gender presentation is parenting coach Karen Deerwester, who says: "Giving preschool-age children the freedom and flexibility to experiment with how they want to be seen in the world is a wonderful gift."
Wow. How eminently sensible.
In addition to, and inextricably tied up with, the transphobia at work here, there's also the familiar stank of misogyny, and the curling stench of homophobia, all stewing in the fetid pot of gendered heteronormativity: Girls must look feminine, according to the rigid definitions of feminine beauty as prescribed by the kyriarchy, so that they may serve their primary purpose as sexualized objects of the male gaze.
And though it's not explicit, there is also an element of racism underlying the insistence that Jolie is "ruining" her white (biological) daughter by "turning her into a boy," an objection that wasn't raised when her Asian (adopted) sons have had longer ("feminine") hair, or when her African-American (adopted) daughter has worn her older brothers' hand-me-downs, as does Shiloh.
Further, we have yet another example of a child's agency being denied, or treated like it doesn't even exist.
Maybe Shiloh asked for that haircut. Maybe she likes dressing up like a boy, like lots of little girls with opposite-sex parents do, because it makes them feel close to their dads. Maybe she asked to be called "John" because it's her grandfather's name.
Or maybe zie asked for that haircut and dresses up like a boy and asked to be called John because zie's transgender.
And lucky enough to have parents who respect hir as an individual.
Either way, it's none of our goddamned business. And I resent being obliged to put an alternative to this shit out into the universe. Because it really isn't my business—but the notion that a child who doesn't conform to hir birth gender is somehow less than certainly is.
[Related Reading: To Tutu or Not to Tutu?]
New Must-Read Publication!
h/t my friend James -- also Here.
Not Terrorism in Texas
Following on the heels of Spudsy's post about the explosion of right-wing extremist groups in the last year, this story in the Texas Observer is even more terrifying: A conservative militant group called Repent Amarillo has spent the last year terrorizing a swingers club, gay bars, and liberal churches, among others. Led by David Grisham, a security guard at nuclear-bomb facility (!) who moonlights as a pastor, Repent Amarillo's "special forces" have protested and harassed everyone who makes their way onto the group's enemies list by virtue of being insufficiently right-wing conservative Christian (as defined by them, natch):
Jobs have been lost, families estranged, assault charges filed and businesses shuttered. So far, no public official has stood up to defend these businesses, which operate legally. To the contrary, Repent Amarillo has managed to turn the city's own laws and employees into an effective weapon. Amarillo, it turns out, doesn't have the stomach to stick up for gays, swingers, strippers or even Unitarians.Repent Amarillo's website (to which I won't directly link, but it's easy enough to find if you're so inclined) explains that the group is "comprised of two groups…working together to compliment [sic] and support one another for the purpose of spiritual warfare." The groups are the Intercessory Prayer Group, who are tasked with "do[ing] battle within the spiritual realm to prepare the ground for the planting of God's seeds, tear down demonic strongholds, and cast out demonic spirits that harass our efforts," and the Soldier Group, staffed with "bold believers willing to confront the world," and tasked with "plant[ing] God's seeds in the ground" after being "schooled in the 'Way of the Master' method of witnessing to the lost."
…Repent Amarillo became an almost-constant presence [at the swingers club, Route 66], shouting through bullhorns, blasting Christian music, haranguing club members, following swingers in vehicles and sticking video cameras into people's faces. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has been called out twice. Police records show that nearby businesses have called frequently with noise complaints. Repent even showed up on occasion when the Route 66 building was rented out for non-swinger events. "They have been here every time we open our doors, regardless of what kind of functions we have, whether I'm down here doing maintenance, cleaning, whatever," Mac [one of the club owners] says.
…Perhaps the most insidious tactic Repent uses is trying to destroy the reputation of the swingers. In Amarillo, people can be ostracized over a whiff of impropriety. On one tape, Grisham directs followers to get the license-plate numbers in the Route 66 parking lot. "A new couple can be here three or four hours," says Mac. "Whenever they leave, the Repent Amarillo group will call them by first and last name, know where they live, know where they work, just within a very few hours."
Randall Sammons says he was fired from his job of 13 years in August after his boss learned Sammons was a swinger from another employee, a Repent member. … Russell Grisham, David's 20-year-old son who has a conviction on his record for hacking the computer system at his high school, has posted the names, photos and workplaces of swingers on the Internet, including one man whose wife works for a school district. … In at least two instances, Repent members called swingers' employers.
The website goes on to list "some of the possible missions that these two groups may be called upon to work."
1. Gay pride events.I utterly fail to see how this is not being regarded as a terrorist manifesto.
2. Earth worship events such as "Earth Day"
3. Pro-abortion events or places such as Planned Parenthood
4. Breast cancer events such as "Race for the Cure" to illuminate the link between abortion and breast cancer.
5. Opening day of public schools to reach out to students.
6. Spring break events.
7. Demonically based concerts.
8. Halloween events.
9. Other events that may arise that the ministry feels called to confront.
These large events may involve both the intercessory prayer AND the soldier groups. Some of the smaller events that can be accomplished in between the larger events may be:
1. Sexually oriented businesses such as pornography shops, strip joints, and XXX-rated theaters.
2. Idolatry locations such as palm readers, false religions, and witchcraft. Many of the smaller missions listed above may be just prayer oriented missions for tearing down demonic strongholds or they may involve more aggressive use of soldiers and prayer warriors. Some other missions occasionally employed may be "undercover operations" where the groups show up together but are not publicly visible together to effect the outcome of a public meeting such as city commissioners meetings, etc.
Except, of course, for the usual: It's not terrorism when it's white men committing it or only marginalized groups and their allies targeted by it.
Try to imagine, for one moment, a brown-skinned man with a foreign name being allowed to wage a campaign of intimidation of this scale, including openly hosting a website with militaristic rhetoric, against Upstanding Christian White MenTM for an entire year while working as a security guard at a nuclear facility, without the authorities paying him any mind at all.
Yeah. Try to imagine that for one moment without bursting into laughter at the absurdity of the proposition.
[H/T to CaitieCat, via email.]
Holy Shit
A new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center states that right-wing extremist groups have grown 244% in the last year.
Repeated for emphasis. Two hundred forty-four percent. In the last year.
I'm sure the title of the report, "Rage on the Right," will cause the predictable mouth-frothing by the usual suspects, sending this straight down the memory hole to join the Department of Homeland Security's report.The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation.
Hate groups stayed at record levels — almost 1,000 — despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, so-called "Patriot" groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight.
And then they can get right back to work.
(Via.)
Lost Open Thread
Last night's episode will be discussed in infinitesimal detail, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, move along...
Meanwhile...
Pennsylvania seems to be very close to establishing a single-payer health care system for the state:
They claim to have the best legislation, which will provide everyone with healthcare, pay for it, and in fact save people and businesses money, as well as getting around the federal restrictions Congressman Dennis Kucinich has attempted unsuccessfully thus far to waive for states. In Pennsylvania they have Democratic and Republican cosponsors. Imagine that in Washington, D.C.! And they have a governor ready to sign the bill into law.See HealthCare4AllPA for more info.
Important Announcement
I don't care how many people Megan Fox has slept with.
So much do I not care about it that I would not even mention it at all were it not for the media's obsession with it.
The latest item across which I've stumbled is the unintentionally hilariously titled "Megan Fox Has Had Limited Lovers," by which the writers mean limited in number, not in prowess, despite the fact that one might reasonably expect to find beneath such a headline an article about all the men who have failed to bring Megan Fox to orgasm, say.
The article is a perfect example of the tone routinely engaged to discuss Fox's sex life, or lack thereof:
The 'Transformers' actress, who is regarded as one of the world's sexiest women, insists she has only been intimate with long-term partner Brian Austin Green and her first boyfriend as she can only have sex with people she loves.Translation: "Megan Fox, who is SUPERHOT, dubiously claims to not be a TOTES SLUT.
Megan, who has previously claimed she is bisexual, insists she is nothing like her sex siren image and is happy living a quiet life with former 'Beverly Hills 90210' star Brian and his eight-year-old son, Kassius.Translation: "Megan Fox, who is SUPERHOT, dubiously claims to not be a TOTES SLUT.
The construction is always the same.
And what I find most interesting about it is that Fox is essentially navigating the exact balance that our cultural narratives suggest we expect of our ingenues: Be a willing sex object, but don't be a slut. And since she can neither be dismissed as a prude or viciously slut-shamed, she is instead called a liar.
Can't win. Can't fucking win.
[Recommended Reading: Sady's great piece "Megan Fox: Sex Symbol, Mouthy Slut, Or Something Else Entirely?"]
Perry Wins Primary in Texas
Our old friend Texas Governor Rick Perry has won the hard-fought gubernatorial Republican primary against our old friend Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Yay?
I'm sorry, Texas. That was gonna be a shit sandwich either way.
You know I can relate. I've got two words for you: Mitch Daniels.
Perry will now race for reelection against the winner of the Democratic primary, former Houston mayor Bill White.
Open Thread
And a genie who'll grant a wish,
Golly, it's awesome! At Pee-Wee's Playhouse!
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Beo_Shaffer: What are some of your favorite movies/books/webcomics that pass the Bechdel test?
Actual Headline
Obama embraces GOP health care proposals.
Sigh.
President Barack Obama extended a bipartisan olive branch to GOP leaders in the health care debate Tuesday, stating in a letter that he is willing to consider several of their ideas in a compromise plan.That the GOP is unhappy with the concessions should not be mistaken for a commentary that the concessions are merely sops to bipartisanship. These are material proposals, and some of them are garbage. For example, the "high-deductible health plans" being referred to are Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and Obama's willingness to "help to encourage more people to take advantage of HSAs" is not a good thing.
Specifically, the president said he may be willing to:
– commit $50 million to fund state initiatives designed to reduce medical malpractice costs;
– allow undercover investigations of health care providers receiving Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs;
– boost Medicaid reimbursements to doctors in certain states; and
– include language in the final bill ensuring certain high-deductible health plans can be offered in the health exchange.
The president said his decision to consider the GOP ideas was a result of last week's health care summit.
"The meeting was a good opportunity to move past the usual rhetoric and sound-bites that have come to characterize this debate and identify areas on which we agree and disagree," he wrote. I "left convinced that the Republican and Democratic approaches to health care have more in common than most people think."
GOP leaders were unsatisfied with Obama's concessions. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the president's ideas were little more than a few items "inadequately addressed in a 2,700-page bill."
Bush was pushing HSAs for years, under that old conservative canard about having more control over one's own money, but the truth about HSAs is that they will inevitably result in more exposure to financial ruin at a vulnerable point in one's life. Ezra Klein has written extensively about the various problems with HSAs, and this Hilzoy piece is a good primer, too.
Texting! With Liss and Deeky!
Deeky: That video you sent me is hilarious.
Liss: I laughed my tits off at figure skating being gayer than "competitive assfucking."
[Relevant transcript starting at 0:38: "Is Johnny Weir too gay for figure skating? Wait—is that even possible? Figure skating is the gayest sport of all time. In fact, let's take a look at where it falls on our official Sports Sexuality Spectrum: On the hetero extreme, there's football, then hockey, then baseball, then tennis, croquet, wrestling, ascot-tying, scented candle-making, competitive assfucking, figure skating. The sport is gay! Deal with it!" H/T for the video to Shaker Veace.]
Deeky: That may be my new favorite phrase.
Later…
Liss: It sounds like Leno's return to The Tonight Show was as totes awesome as we expected. [Sends Gabe's review of the horrendous disaster.]
Deeky: LOLOLOLOLOL!
Liss: "So the set is a low rent garbage disaster."
Deeky: Seriously, if I could figure out a way to put "low rent garbage disaster" and "competitive assfucking" into one sentence, I might explode.
Liss: "Deeky wanted to bring Matt Damon to the competitive assfucking tournament, but Damon was unavailable, so he brought that low rent garbage disaster Ben Affleck instead."
Deeky: LOLOLOLOL! Clean up on aisle five!
