Hosted by an Invader and Agnes Moorehead.
Question of the Day
I’m doing research for a paper on the unlikely friendship between two seemingly opposite characters in a play, and I’m finding a lot of common bonds between them that both enhances the drama and makes the characters more real. So naturally I’m translating that into real life to ask: How opposite are you to your best friend/partner?
Chicken. Egg. Chicken. Egg. Chicken.
A new study has found a correlation between happiness and substantive conversation:
It may sound counterintuitive, but people who spend more of their day having deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be happier, said Matthias Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona who published a study on the subject.Mehl believes that "by engaging in meaningful conversations, we manage to impose meaning on an otherwise pretty chaotic world," and wants to investigate in a subsequent study the possibility of "a cause-and-effect relationship between the kind of conversations one has and one's happiness."
"We found this so interesting, because it could have gone the other way — it could have been, 'Don't worry, be happy' — as long as you surf on the shallow level of life you're happy, and if you go into the existential depths you'll be unhappy," Dr. Mehl said.
But, he proposed, substantive conversation seemed to hold the key to happiness for two main reasons: both because human beings are driven to find and create meaning in their lives, and because we are social animals who want and need to connect with other people.
...The happiest person in the study, based on self-reports about satisfaction with life and other happiness measures as well as reports from people who knew the subject, had twice as many substantive conversations, and only one-third of the amount of small talk as the unhappiest, Dr. Mehl said. Almost every other conversation the happiest person had — 45.9 percent of the day's conversations — were substantive.
Interesting. I'm generally a very happy person, and I have almost nothing but substantive conversations. No office, no coworkers, no smalltalk.
But I don't know that I'm happy because, or primarily because, I have substantive conversations. Having substantive conversations is indeed something I frequently enjoy, but that's because I'm predisposed to enjoying substantive conversations and have people with whom to have them.
Personally, I loathe smalltalk (because I'm not particularly good at it; it's a skill, and it's not one I have in abundance). But there are people I know who love nothing more than to smalltalk with strangers, people who are not disposed at all toward substantive conversations and actually try to avoid them.
So. I'm dubious about the potential for finding causation here. I'm guessing that the type of conversations one has reflects one's communication style, and that happiness is more closely related to how well one's life provides opportunity to utilize that style.
And I eagerly look forward to discussing these ideas with you in comments!
Help the First Nations University
by Shaker Claire, a student of literature & language, who is a feminist—and will not apologize for it.
[Video Transcript at the end of the post.]
Funding cuts are threatening the First Nations University of Canada. Check out their website here to find a form letter to send to Chuck Strahl, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, and to PM Stephen Harper. Below is my slightly altered version of the form letter available on the Fund First Nations University Now! Blog. Please think about taking a few minutes to send an email or a letter. It doesn't take much effort, but it sure can mean a lot.
Dear Mr. Strahl and Mr. Harper,The CBC wrote about First Nations University here.
The recent Vancouver Olympic Games seemed to celebrate the cultures of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples. But the decision to cut funding to the First Nations University reveals a different, more troubling position: Does the Government of Canada only invest in Aboriginal Peoples when the world is watching? The First Nations University should be a source of Canadian pride. Where else can students learn from such a large concentration of Aboriginal instructors? What other school can put Aboriginal culture at the centre of the educational experience? No other school in Canada has such a wealth of indigenous knowledge.
First Nations University is a unique, and important institution. I am deeply concerned at the seeming indifference the Government of Canada is displaying toward the faculty, staff, and students at First Nations University who will be casualties of your irresponsible decision to close down the only Aboriginal university in Canada. I fear that the closure of First Nations University could reflect deep-seated racial antipathy toward First Nations people.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations has shown good faith in initiating the changes required to bring the governance structures at First Nations University into conformity with those of other universities. A working group with representation from all stakeholder groups is currently developing a revised funding and governance model for First Nations University. The University of Regina has expressed its willingness to support First Nations University.
The continuation, and indeed the future success, of First Nations University should be of the utmost concern to the Canadian Government. Funding higher education, particularly at a school with no other Canadian equivalent, is essential for the economic strength of Aboriginal Peoples, and indeed, all Canadians. Please, do not let First Nations University close.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Lacey
---------------------------
Video Transcript:
Title: FOUR FRIENDS - SAVE THE FIRST NATIONS UNIVERSITY OF CANADA
A variety of students, of different ages, genders, and ethnicities, are shown one by one, talking about First Nations University.
First Nations University of Canada is about to shut its doors. Maybe forever. And this should concern me because? Our First Nations University is the only First Nations university in Canada. Because First Nations University helps people succeed in university better than any university in Canada. Because First Nations University has over one thousand students right now, and over three thousand graduates. And First Nations University has helped over ten thousand students complete their programs.
I came to First Nations University to be a journalist. I came to First Nations University to complete my minor in Indigenous Studies. I came to First Nations University to study leadership. I came to First Nations University because I believe that every community deserves safe drinking water. I came to First Nations University to give my son a better life. What about other people? Anybody can come to First Nations University of Canada, learn about First Nations cultures, languages, histories, business. People of every colour, race, and religion. Yeah, people from every direction.
Thousands of non-Aboriginal people have studied at the First Nations University of Canada.
Universities don't just shut down, right? It could be the first university in the history of Canada to close its doors. What will happen if it just shuts down? Students will just go to another university, right? Some will. But some won't. I waited and planned for years so that I could come to the First Nations University, where I could learn about my culture. From Aboriginal teachers. From Elders. Where there's no racism in the classrooms. Do First Nations Peoples have enough education already? Hardly. Only three percent of First Nations People have university degrees compared to eighteen percent of the entire population. If the education gap between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals were to close by 2017, an additional 71 billion dollars would be injected into the economy. How's that for stimulus? And most of that money would be taxed.
So, what makes First Nations University so special? Well for one thing: It has the largest concentration of indigenous programming in the world. And the largest concentration of Aboriginal teachers, and the most Aboriginal teachers with PhDs. I don't get it. Why does the federal government want to shut down the First Nations University of Canada? The federal government says it will stop funding First Nations University on April 1st. The Department of Indian Affairs is cutting funding to First Nations postsecondary education? Don't they care about the future of Canada? Don’t they care that we're the future work force? [Man holding a toddler] Especially in provinces like Saskatchewan, where over thirty percent of the kids in school are aboriginal. [Woman holding a young child] And we are the fastest growing population in Canada. If you care about the future of this country and our communities and our cities and our future maybe you should care about the First Nations University. Would you rather your tax dollars spent on education, or incarceration? Then maybe you should support the First Nations University of Canada. All you have to do is go to fnuniv.wordpress.com [man pointing to the web address fnuniv.wordpress.com on the screen] It's right here. On your screen. I can see it, do you see it? There, you’ll find the success stories of this university. You will also find a link to a letter. Please, print out the letter and mail it to your MP. Mail it to the Prime Minister! Fax it. And call them. Tell them that First Nations University needs to be expanded, not downsized. Tell them: The First Nations University has a contribution to make to the future of Canada. And tell them now, because funding for the First Nations University ends on April 1st. That's less than a month away. So we need you to support the First Nations University of Canada. Right now! If you don't have a printer, email it!
Now, we need you to do one more thing. You need to send this to four friends. Four directions, four friends. Send it to four friends, four friends from the four directions. And the four colours: white, black, red and yellow. Four friends, so they can send it to four friends, and they'll send it to their four friends, and Ottawa will have letters coming from all directions. [Couple with young girl] Don't wait. Her future depends on it.
[On screen: GO TO: fnuniv.workpress.com Produced by: Students at the First Nations University of Canada Music composed and produced by Thomas Roussin]
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here.
[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.]
De-Friended
(Trigger warning)
So, I'm catching up on email and facebook stuff after returning home from a conference. As I scroll down the FB chatter, I notice one "friend" has linked to this article.
His comment?
"Wow, I guess he finally had enough."
Enough of what?
Photo of the Day
President Obama signs health care legislation into law on Tuesday. [Doug Mills/The New York Times]
"Greased Lightning"
Okay, so every once in a while I go to the library and pick up a stack of CDs to put on my iPod. Sometimes I'm searching for something specific, sometimes I just browse hoping to see something mildly interesting that I would never ever actually pay to own, but hey, if it's free, that's a different story.
This is s how I ended up with Olivia Newton-John's Greatest Hits. And just now some stupid ass Grease megamix shuffles up. A bit of it was "Greased Lightning." which I am sure I've heard more than a few times, even if I've never much paid attention to it.
Well, I paid attention to it today. Check out this bit of chorus:
Greased lightnin', go greased lightnin'
You are supreme, the chicks'll cream for greased lightnin'
Really?
But what got my attention was this:
With new pistons, plugs, and shocks, I can get off my rocks
You know that I ain't braggin', she's a real pussy wagon, greased lightnin'
Yeah, "she's a real pussy wagon." That's a line in the song. "A real pussy wagon." WTF?
[Cross-posted.]
Kindergarteners, YOU'RE DOOMED!!!!
One of the things I most hate is hearing my younger cousins (always female, and I mean elementary school age) bemoan their "fatness" or their need to lose weight. I want to keep them from falling deeper into the pit of despair that is the fatphobic-and-dieting culture.
As of today, I think I have finally lost. I just learned, via the NY Times, that "Baby Fat May Not Be So Cute After All."
Scientists are worried that their efforts to "end childhood obesity" aimed at school-age populations "may be, if not too little, too late." Too stop the horrible, horrible curse-of-fat, we must begin at birth:Things are starting to change: late last year an Institute of Medicine study committee was charged for the first time with developing obesity prevention recommendations specifically for the 0-to-5 set. The report, due in about 18 months, will look at the role of sleep and early feeding patterns, as well as physical activity.
I don't have much comment, except to note, there is always room to blame mamas:Many doctors are concerned about women being obese and unhealthy before pregnancy because, as they point out, the womb is the baby’s first environment
I think this could quickly take on class and color connotations as well, in a society in which the mothering of poor women, particularly poor women of color, is constantly assailed and called into question. One of the doctors quoted worked on a study that asserted "compared with their white counterparts, black and Hispanic children exhibited a range of risk factors related to child obesity."
[snip]
“The intrauterine environment of a woman with diabetes overnourishes the fetus,” said the study’s author, Dana Dabelea, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health. And that, she added, may “reset the offspring’s satiety set point, and make them predisposed to eat more.”
One of the "solutions" suggested for lowering the "risk of obesity" was breastfeeding. Black women (in the U.S.), in particular, have much lower rates of breastfeeding than other women. This might be tied up in a number of factors like the fact that many black women have low-wage jobs which don't allow for purchase of expensive pumping equipment (or breaks to pump) or the historical stigma attached to forced wet-nursing. But this could fuel the sometimes-present argument in the to-breastfeed-or-not debate that mothers who don't breastfeed don't care as much about their babies' health.
Given the blame-the-fat-mother meme, we can expect the continued condemnation of poor mothers and black mothers, who are more likely to be fat than mothers in other socio-economic and racial groups. Also, poor mothers might be eligible for programs like Food Stamps and WIC (which will provide infant formula), putting them in a position in which many people feel that their food choices should be scrutinized and judged.
Obviously, this is just what we needed: another way to assess how horribly mothers fail.
And, another way to tell kids, at an even younger age, that they fail, too. It isn't as if schools or scientists or Michelle Obama are couching their programs or suggestions in any other terms. "Prevention," "risk," "epidemic," etc. Kids are not clueless--even the little ones know when they've been judged deficient. To be fat is to be bad and immoral.
How sad that they're getting that message earlier and earlier.
In Which I Substitute an Email Exchange With Melissa for an Actual Post
A little while ago, I sent this missive to Melissa:
From: [SKM]
Subject: Blah blah blah blab Biden
Date: March 23, 2010 11:38:32 AM EDT
To: [Melissa McEwan]
Yeargh--Joe Biden is on the Teevee yarning on about how Obama "delivered on a promise". Yeah, a promise to corporations not to dent the insurance industry's income too much! Blergh.
__________
Subject: RE: Blah blah blah blab Biden
Date: March 23, 2010 12:36:58 PM EDT
LOLOLOL! You should post that.
So I did.
Seriously, though: while I am sick of seeing politicians break their arms patting themselves on the back while they use my bodily autonomy (and thus my full citizenship) as a bargaining chip, I am glad for the positive changes that the law will supposedly bring, such as an end to pre-existing condition exclusions (for those 19 and under) and rescissions this year. But I feel that the work has barely begun.
Jodi Jacobson has a post at RH Reality Check this morning entitled The Health Care Bill and Women's Health: Wins, Losses, and Challenges that provides an excellent summary of the health care reform and some directions for improvement.
CHALLENGES:
In the coming months, and to truly fulfill his campaign promises, President Obama--along with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid--must lead the nation and the Congress in making the following changes to the foundation of health reform put in place today.
At a minimum, the Administration and Congress should:
-Amend the health reform bill to establish a public option thereby increasing competition in the health insurance market. As most analysts note, the public option is popular and also would prevent insurance companies from increasing rates by exhorbitant amounts as recently happened in California.
-Eliminate the Nelson language in the health reform bill and revoke the Executive Order signed by the President.
-Eliminate gender-rating in all policies, starting in 2011.
-Eliminate pre-existing conditions for all people in 2011. It is not clear why we need to wait four years for insurance policies to eliminate pre-existing conditions. Between this moment and four years from now, untold numbers of people will have to pay exhorbitant premiums to get coverage in high-risk pools due to pre-existing conditions. It is nice to know these will be eliminated, but waiting four years defeats the purpose.
-Remove the 5-year cap on immigrants who are legal residents and allow undocumented workers to use their own funds to purchase health insurance through an exchange.
At the signing ceremony this morning, President Obama said that "we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations". Well, I don't plan to either.
UPDATE below the fold!
Melissa just sent me this with the note, Btw, have you seen this video of Biden "whispering" in Obama's ear, "This is a big fucking deal"...? LOL! Someone still doesn't understand "microphones."
Biden: Ladies and Gentleman, The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama!
Biden (to Obama): This is a big fucking deal!
Obama: Thank you, everybody!
*wild applause*
Meet-Up Reminder
The next Chicagoland Shakesville meet-up is this Saturday, March 27!
The plan, as always, is to go to our favorite Celtic pub in the early afternoon, take over their party room, and while away the afternoon and evening.
To answer some frequently asked questions...
* There is no community participation threshold one has to meet to attend. We've had lurkers at every event, and all are welcome.
* There's no age limit. It's a restaurant and pub, so you don't have to be 21 to enter; if you're old enough to read the blog and get yourself there, you're old enough to attend! And it's not a young person's event, either. We have multiple generations at every event.
* You can come anytime and stay as long (or as briefly) as you like. We've got the room for the day, starting at 1:00pm CST, and you're welcome to come and stay the whole time, or pop in just for a bit.
* There's no fee to get in. Most people who attend have something to eat and/or drink (they do separate checks for us). It helps offset the cost of the room rental for us, but it's not required.
* It is bully-free zone. Every event has had attendees who are fat, who have a visible disability, who are gender queer... Come as you are.
* The meet-ups have ranged in size from 12 people to around 50.
* Don't be intimidated! If you're shy, or have social anxiety, you'll fit right in! At every meet-up, someone has told me they almost didn't come because they're shy, or because they thought they wouldn't be clever enough to keep up with the conversation—but they're so glad they did! It's not an academic event; it's casual, mellow, silly, and fun. More than anything, we laugh.
I hope some of the previous attendees will jump into comments and share some of their experiences, to encourage others to come.
At this point, we just need to get a handle on how many people will be there, so please drop a line in comments or email Official Organizer of Meet-Ups, Shaker RedSonja, at sonja1023-at-gmail-dot-com if you're planning on coming.
As always, details will be provided to Shakers who have signaled an interest in attending.
Looking forward to seeing everyone who can come!
Swell
Actual Headline at Politico: It's back: Abortion debate reignites.
After nearly derailing the health care bill that passed the House on Sunday, the abortion issue is poised to make a political comeback, returning the familiar wedge issue to the campaign trail after a brief hiatus.I couldn't be more thrilled (where "thrilled" = "filled with a creeping feeling of dread and anxiety").
Not because the issue is "poised to make a political comeback," which is, as I've previously pointed out, total bullshit—the battle over abortion has never gone away; it's just been moved into different territory—but because the media are signaling a renewed interest in their largely dormant game of "Let's Use Abortion to Play Political Football!"
Some of the most irresponsible reporting I've seen in my life has been about "the abortion issue," inflaming defenders of choice and their opponents with rhetoric about the morality of abortion, while wholly ignoring the inarguable immorality of the terror campaign waged by anti-choice extremists.
The Washington Post's whitewashed profile of anti-abortion terrorist Randall Terry last July was quite the opening salvo in this tiresome and dangerous game. At the time, I wrote: "Are the editors over there worried there won't be anything left to write about if there isn't an incessant and constantly escalating abortion battle in this country? Are the lives of the people hurt—the doctors murdered, the clinic staff endangered, the patients harassed and threatened—by people like and/or associated with Terry so insignificant, their value totally contingent on their newsworthiness as targets, that the WaPo would actually aid Terry in a comeback?" The answer was yes.
The ongoing campaign against women and the people who provide abortion services and safe havens for them is demonstrably a campaign of terror—but no one in our media will call it terrorism.
More alarmingly, neither will anyone in our Democratically-led government. There are, in fact, a lot of things that don't get called terrorism in this country, but few of them approach the breadth of the long-term, flagrant campaign of intimidation, harassment, exhorted violence, attempted violence, actual violence, and murder of abortion providers and abortion-seeking women.
Still, our government is unwilling to call this orchestrated, overt, unapologetic campaign against women and their healthcare providers terrorism, even as increasing numbers of doctors say offering the legal service to their patients is not worth the risk—the very definition of effective terrorism. Even as physician champions of women's right to choose are murdered in cold blood. Even as "pro-life" groups openly celebrate his death and take the position that he deserved it. In the history of this blog, I've gotten death threats accompanied by pictures of dead fetuses right in my comments threads by people who know that the government, and the media, will not take them seriously.
And will, in fact, happily throw fuel on the fire, as long as the conflagration makes money. Or as long as the threat to abortion (never mind the threat to abortionists, or abortion-seekers, or abortion activists) keeps driving voters to the polls.
It's frankly devastating to see this particular mill getting handed more political grist during a Democratic presidency, but Obama the Great Bipartisan continues to treat abortion (wrongly) as a mere difference of opinion on which middle ground can be found.
Upon hearing of Dr. Tiller's death, President Obama said he was "shocked" and "outraged," but if he had been paying the slightest bit of attention to the realities of the front line of the fight to protect women's bodily autonomy, he would not have been shocked. This wasn't even the first attempt on Dr. Tiller's life; it was the merely the first successful one.
And yet President Obama still admonishes pro-choice advocates to respect the views of anti-choice activists, despite the fact there is very good reason not to afford a modicum of respect for a viewpoint that would force women to relinquish control over their own bodies to the state. Like the fact that both sides of this "debate" aren't equal, and it's not just because one side contains mainstream organizations who tacitly encourage the murder of doctors.
It's absolutely infuriating we've got a president who invites to do the invocation at his inauguration a man who equates abortion with the Holocaust, who tells lies himself about pro-choice advocates in order to play a bullshit game of "both sides are just as bad," who panders to anti-choice elements in his own party, the party ostensibly there to protect choice, and he doesn't seem to recognize or care how perilously inflammatory it all is.
Obama, and the Democrats, have ceded ground on abortion. The media is eager to play the fun and frenetic game of Abortion Tug-o-War with two "equal" sides again. And so here we are.
"It's Back." Like a B-movie monster.
Except, unlike B-movie monsters, the abortion "debate"—and its accommodation of extremists to protract a battle that should have been settled a lifetime ago—will leave real people dead in its wake.
Bread and Teaspoons Twenty-Seven
Good morning (unless it isn't where you are, in which case I wish you Good $TIME_PERIOD), and welcome to this week's installment of Shakesville's networking post, Bread and Teaspoons*.
This is a (theoretically) weekly post providing a spot for Shakers to network a little with one another, see if we can help each other out some.
NB: I have added a bit to the guidelines for what’s on-topic here, to allow the posting of useful job resources for progressives.
Also remember, if you’re running or part of a small business, you’re encouraged to drop links here for that. I’m happy to see Shakers makin’ their own way in whatever manner that is.
Here's how it works: There should be four sorts of comments here.
1) You comment here with any details of work you're seeking: where, what, that sort of thing. You give an e-mail address at which you can be reached - feel free to set up a special e-mail for it, if you don't want to post your regular one for the world to spam - and if another Shaker has a lead, they can contact you directly to pass it along.
A work-seeking comment should include:
Please do NOT include information such as your full name or telephone number, as this is and will remain a public post, and once posted, there's no taking it back (because it'll be spidered by a search engine, not because we don't want you to).
It is explicitly alright to comment to this each week with similar info.
For example, I might post a comment saying:
I'm a professional translator of French, German and Russian, with nearly 17 years of experience. I'm looking for basically any translation job, academic, commercial, personal, genealogical, you name it, with one exception: I do not currently have certification, so if you need a certified translator (usually for legal docs: birth certificates, divorce decrees, wills), you need someone else.
I am also available as a writer or editor, for academic, journalistic, creative, marketing-oriented or any other type of written communication. Basically, if you'll pay me, I'll write or edit it. My company website is found here.
You can contact me for business purposes through my business address, cait@cogitantes.net.
2) The second type of comment would be task offering: if you've got a job you think might suit someone here, consider posting it as a comment. Use the same guidelines as above: give general information here, and specific information when you exchange e-mails. An offered task might look something like this:
I have a doctoral thesis which needs proofing and editing by Thursday, is anyone available? You can reach me at ABDShaker@shakesville.miskatonic.edu.
In addition to that, I’ve decided to welcome also appropriate job resource sites for progressives, e.g. Canada’s Charity Village, which specializes in jobs with non-profits and NGOs.
3) The third kind of comment I'd love to see is success stories! We’d love to know when this works out, and people actually find some employment through our efforts. If you feel like sharing, tell us how it worked out for you. :)
**NEW CATEGORY ADDED**
4) If you’re a progressive working for or running a small business and would like to include a pointer to your business, you may do so. If you’ve never otherwise posted before here (i.e., you’re a lurker), I may check in with you to be certain you’re a Shaker and not a spammer. If it turns into a spamfest, or we start getting businesses that are of dubious progressive credentials, we may need to revisit this one, but let’s give it a try.
So, that's what we'd like to see.
What we do NOT want to see:
So there. Have at it, Shakers, for Bread and Teaspoons!
Important disclaimers: Shakesville makes no endorsement or claim as to the capabilities of anyone commenting to this post, and anyone considering hiring someone should be prepared to treat it like any other business situation: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. We're not doing any screening of this, so you'll want to make sure you check references, use safe-payment procedures (e.g., ask for a deposit), all the things you'd do when working with any stranger on the Internet. While this is intended for Shakers in general, remember that there is no real obstacle to being able to comment here, and do the things you need to do to keep yourself safe.
* As might be evident, this is an intentional reference to Bread and Roses, a longtime slogan of the left. In this case, though, my hope is that if we achieve steady bread, we will use it to power our teaspoon use.
The last several Bread and Teaspoons: Twenty-One. Twenty-Two. Twenty-Three. Twenty-Four. Twenty-Five.
Twenty-Six.
Bob Herbert Says Brilliant Things (Again)
From his column, An Absence of Class:
Some of the images from the run-up to Sunday's landmark health care vote in the House of Representatives should be seared into the nation's consciousness. We are so far, in so many ways, from being a class act.Case in point: Glenn Beck being a total jackass yet again by howling about Lewis and other Dems "comparing] themselves to the civil rights activists. How dare you!"
...In Washington on Saturday, opponents of the health care legislation spit on a black congressman and shouted racial slurs at two others, including John Lewis, one of the great heroes of the civil rights movement. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was taunted because he is gay.
At some point, we have to decide as a country that we just can't have this: We can't allow ourselves to remain silent as foaming-at-the-mouth protesters scream the vilest of epithets at members of Congress — epithets that The Times will not allow me to repeat here.
It is 2010, which means it is way past time for decent Americans to rise up against this kind of garbage, to fight it aggressively wherever it appears. And it is time for every American of good will to hold the Republican Party accountable for its role in tolerating, shielding and encouraging foul, mean-spirited and bigoted behavior in its ranks and among its strongest supporters.
...Back in the 1960s, John Lewis risked his life and endured savage beatings to secure fundamental rights for black Americans while right-wing Republicans like Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were lining up with segregationist Democrats to oppose landmark civil rights legislation.
Since then, the right-wingers have taken over the G.O.P. and Mr. Lewis, now a congressman, must still endure the garbage they have wrought.
Which is sort of a perfect encapsulation of the conservative strategy, right there: Faux outrage on behalf of people they don't know, don't recognize, don't understand, don't care about at all.
[Related Reading: Rank (and File) Bigotry.]
Question of the Day
What are the best and worst healthcare experiences you've had?
(Please make sure to include in your answer where you're located and/or what type of healthcare system in which these experiences occurred.)
Someone Get This Guy His One-Way Ticket to Costa Rica Already
Rush Limbaugh, conservative media hack and noted Horrible Human Being, is all fired up about the healthcare legislation and opened his show today with the following:
Today, as we start the radio program, America is hanging by a thread. So we have to see what we can do with a thread.Yes, America is hanging by a thread, a purpose for which you and your conservative white male listeners must determine in relation to our black male president who's done something you don't like. I definitely DON'T think you're dog whistling a lynching at all. (I definitely do think that.)
At the end of the day, our freedom has been assaulted.HA HA it's funny how you think that our freedom has been assaulted, but you thought that actual assaults on actual people during the Bush torture regime were a "fraternity prank." You are funny, Rush Limbaugh. Ha ha ha I hate you.
[Related: Quote of the Day.]
Quote of the Day
"If I could start a country with a bunch of people, they'd be the folks who were standing with us the last few days. Let's hope we don't have to do that! Let's beat that other side to a pulp! Let's take them out. Let's chase them down. There's going to be a reckoning!"—Congressperson Steve King (R-IA), speaking to Tea Party protesters on Capitol Hill protesting the healthcare legislation yesterday.
Yeah, that's appropriate.
