Hosted by Wrigley's Spearmint.
Question of the Day
What's your favorite food cooked outside, be it via an imu or lovo or hāngi or clambake or other earth oven, a tandoor, a grill or barbecue pit, a spit, a solar cooker, a kettle boil, a skewer over a campfire, or some other method altogether?
Daily Dose o' Cute
Dudley
Sophie
Olivia
Matilda
Monday Blogaround
Today's blogaround is brought to you by Matilda McEwan, maker of The Look. The Look: it says all that really needs to be said.
Historiann: Stars & Stripes Forever: Marla Miller’s Betsy Ross and the Making of America
GarlandGrey at Tiger Beatdown: Fond Memories of Vagina: Martin Amis’ The Pregnant Widow
Southern Fried Science: Bonehenge – Community action in science outreach
Neuroskeptic: XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Continued (Again)
Grant Jacobs: XMRV prompts media thought: ask for the “state of play” (Via Ed Yong)
BeckySharper at The Pursuit of Harpyness: Real American Art
Sujatha at Accidental Blogger: Freedom on the Fourth?
Michael Le: An Open Letter To Racebending.com Detractors. (Note: Le minimizes the problem of gender-based inequality in media when he writes, "In the states, we find it very easy to fight the gender stereotypes [kids] may be exposed to." However, he responds well to the issue in comments. So, read the comments!)
Susan Orlean: Hash
Laila Lalami: The Beautiful Game
Share your links in comments!
Today's Edition of "Conniving and Sinister"
(Taken from an actual conversation Deeky and I had yesterday...)
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 (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
Today in no, not really
You may have heard that the Republicans are still *totes* concerned about budget deficits, the future, the children, wev...
Indeed: What. Ever.
I was a nerdy political kid in the 80s, and the biggest thing I heard over and over and over again was about how the US needed to invest bazillions of dollars in the disinterestedly-named Strategic Defense Initiative, which as far as I can tell was a bunch of cartoons lifted from sci-fi literature. (Seriously, the Wikipedia entry contains like, three potential Floyd album covers.)
And then there was Iraq. And then Iraq again. And also Afghanistan. And of course, our government's efforts in Latin America (and really, *everywhere*) that were the organic herb-infused Aïoli on the massively over-priced sandwich that's been American foreign policy since before I was born.
What I'm saying is this: Your newfound concern about the deficit? I'm not buying it.
Whenever it's time (and really, when isn't it time?) to provide social services to working Americans (including, interestingly enough, veterans), there's not enough money. Whenever multi-national corporations have interests that need defending, whenever there are resources in the Global South, it's loans ahoy!
The bigger question is: why is nobody with power calling the Republicans on this? It's hardly as if I've hit on some sort of super secret pattern here.
Shaker Help Request
Hulloo, Shakers far and near, I address myself particularly to those among us who are living in Portland (the West Coast one, in OR).
For the last four months, a friend of mine (I'll call her A) has been staying with me; she came to Canada from the US to be with her partner, but the partner turned out to have some interpersonal issues which made the relationship unsafe for her. She stayed in a shelter a bit, and then moved into my library/guestroom. She's got to go back to the US now, and has chosen Portland as her destination (she's from New England). As you might expect in the situation, she's not over-blessed with the dinero at the moment, for reasons I won't go into in a public post. Suffice to say, she's been working, but not at such a rate as to be able to save much.
She's already gotten onto the waiting list for a homeless shelter there, but it'll be anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months before the spot comes open (really, it should be a couple of weeks, based on the way the list has moved so far, but I want to be conservative in estimating, if in nothing else in my life).
The help she's requesting is that she needs somewhere to lay her head of an evening, as a bridge between arrival and getting through the waiting list at the shelter. She expects to find work fairly quickly after arrival, because she has a skillset which is generally in-demand all over the continent.
If anyone knows of where A might find shelter in this bridge period until the shelter spot opens up, you'd have my deep gratitude.
I can vouch for her personally; I've known her online and sometimes in person for several years, and found her to be completely trustworthy. Shaker Rikibeth also knows her quite well (for over 20 years, she tells me), as does Shaker differentdrummer (both shared a house with her some years ago) and possibly some others among you (my local friends).
A's a reader here, rather than a commenter, but she's definitely our kind of people. I can be reached at this e-mail, if you would like to respond privately to me.
Guess Who
Do you know whose platform this is? Excerpts:
We shall ever build anew, that our children and their children, without distinction because of race, creed or color, may know the blessings of our free land.Have an idea yet? Some more clues:
We believe that basic to governmental integrity are unimpeachable ethical standards and irreproachable personal conduct by all people in government. We shall continue our insistence on honesty as an indispensable requirement of public service. We shall continue to root out corruption whenever and wherever it appears.
We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs—expansion of social security—broadened coverage in unemployment insurance —improved housing—and better health protection for all our people. We are determined that our government remain warmly responsive to the urgent social and economic problems of our people.
[...]
We shall continue vigorously to support the United Nations.
[...]
The spirit of our people is the strength of our nation.
America does not prosper unless all Americans prosper.
Government must have a heart as well as a head.
Courage in principle, cooperation in practice make freedom positive.
[...]
Business and Economic Policy
We shall continue to advocate the maintenance and expansion of a strong, efficient, privately-owned and operated and soundly financed system of transportation that will serve all of the needs of our Nation under Federal regulatory policies that will enable each carrier to realize its inherent economic advantages and its full competitive capabilities.
[...]
Labor
...[C]ontinue to fight for dynamic and progressive programs which, among other things, will:
Stimulate improved job safety of our workers, through assistance to the States, employees and employers;
Continue and further perfect its programs of assistance to the millions of workers with special employment problems, such as older workers, handicapped workers, members of minority groups, and migratory workers;
Strengthen and improve the Federal-State Employment Service and improve the effectiveness of the unemployment insurance system;
Protect by law, the assets of employee welfare and benefit plans so that workers who are the beneficiaries can be assured of their rightful benefits;
Assure equal pay for equal work regardless of Sex;
Clarify and strengthen the eight-hour laws for the benefit of workers who are subject to federal wage standards on Federal and Federally-assisted construction, and maintain and continue the vigorous administration of the Federal prevailing minimum wage law for public supply contracts;
Extend the protection of the Federal minimum wage laws to as many more workers as is possible and practicable;
Continue to fight for the elimination of discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry or sex;
Provide assistance to improve the economic conditions of areas faced with persistent and substantial unemployment;
...[P]rotect more effectively the rights of labor unions, management, the individual worker, and the public. The protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy...
[...]
Health, Education and WelfareIf you guessed The Republican Party Platform of 1956, you are correct!
...[T]he physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of the people is as important as their economic health. It will continue to support this conviction with vigorous action.
[...]
...[L]eadership has enlarged Federal assistance for construction of hospitals, emphasizing low-cost care of chronic diseases and the special problems of older persons, and increased Federal aid for medical care of the needy.
We have asked the largest increase in research funds ever sought in one year to intensify attacks on cancer, mental illness, heart disease and other dread diseases.
We demand once again, [...], Federal assistance to help build facilities to train more physicians and scientists.
We have encouraged a notable expansion and improvement of voluntary health insurance, and urge that reinsurance and pooling arrangements be authorized to speed this progress.
We have strengthened the Food and Drug Administration, and we have increased the vocational rehabilitation program to enable a larger number of the disabled to return to satisfying activity.
We have supported measures that have made more housing available than ever before in history, reduced urban slums in local-federal partnership, stimulated record home ownership, and authorized additional low-rent public housing.
We initiated the first flood insurance program in history under Government sponsorship in cooperation with private enterprise.
We shall continue to seek extension and perfection of a sound social security system.
[...]
Immigration
...[S]upports an immigration policy which is in keeping with the traditions of America in providing a haven for oppressed peoples, and which is based on equality of treatment, freedom from implications of discrimination between racial, nationality and religious groups, and flexible enough to conform to changing needs and conditions.
We believe that such a policy serves our self-interest, reflects our responsibility for world leadership and develops maximum cooperation with other nations in resolving problems in this area.
[...]
Recreation, parks and wildlife.
We favor a comprehensive study of the effect upon wildlife of the drainage of our wetlands.
We subscribe to the general objectives of groups seeking to guard the beauty of our land and to promote clean, attractive surroundings throughout America.
We recognize the need for maintaining isolated wilderness areas to provide opportunity for future generations...
As a whole, it's certainly not a perfect/progressive platform (tax cuts! tax cuts! rah! rah! rah!), of course, but my, how things have changed, eh?
Open Thread
Hosted by a Sigg water bottle.
This weeks' open threads have been brought to you by people and things I chose completely at random.
The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Breaking News
RNC Chair Michael Steele is still a complete dodo.
[The Afghanistan War] was a war of Obama's choosing. This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in. ... It was the president who was trying to be cute by half by flipping a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he's such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right, because everyone who has tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways to engage in Afghanistan.For the record, the war in Afghanistan started in 2001, when Barack Obama was a state senator in Illinois.
Decent Vizzini impression, though.
Daily Dose o' Cute
"Are we going to dog park? CAN we go to the dog park? PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG PAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRK!!!"
Random YouTubery for the Losties
(Not That You Have to Be a Lostie to Enjoy It!)
I made it to "Sun and Jin's Theme" before I started blubbing all over the place.
Elena Kagan and Flagg 2.0
Ret. Army Capt. Flagg Youngblood (namesake of this guy?) was invited by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan yesterday. He had a bitter tale to tell.
A tale of discrimination, of being treated as less than, of being deemed "not worthy to do so much as to gather up the crumbs under Harvard’s table", of being permitted to participate in the bounty that is this nation, or at least Harvard, only if he stayed in the kitchen, in his place by the back door — "by the garbage."
Who imposed this despicable treatment on Capt. Youngblood? Well, ok, not on him exactly. But though Youngblood was not himself the victim of the shameful treatment he described, as military outreach director for Young America's Foundation, he feels the pain of those who were: members of the U.S. military — in a time of war!
Who is the villain who wielded her power in this iron-fisted way to diminish, humiliate and lessen the opportunities of her fellow citizens? Elena Kagan, that's who. While Dean at Harvard Law School, Kagan denied military recruiters access to the school's career services office, for a time, in keeping with established University policy, while nevertheless permitting them complete freedom to recruit among the School's students.
The policy did not actually single out the military for discriminatory treatment. It prohibits only helping in their recruiting efforts any employer which discriminates on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, or other factors. The military is such an employer by virtue of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell law.
So — technically — Kagan was acting in support of non-discrimination. But that's no excuse, as far as Youngblood is concerned. Illustrating the hardship military recruiters had been put to in not having the use of the career services office as they freely went about their recruitment efforts on campus, Youngblood invoked the plight of African-Americans in the days of legal segregation.
"Imagine Dean Kagan on a lunch counter," he said. Oh, damn. Wait . . imagine what? Well, never mind that. The essential point, as Youngblood pointed out, is this:Separate but equal is, quite simply, not equal.
And when you deprive military recruiters of the fundamental human right to use the Harvard Law School's career services office, for no better reason than the fact that you "abhor the military's discriminatory recruitment policy" believing it to be "a profound wrong — a moral injustice of the first order", you violate that basic, well-established principle.
Why is that so hard for someone like Elena Kagan to understand?
Perhaps because some who don't respect members of the military as full members of society are willing to overlook her discriminatory ways. People like Capt. Kurt White, head of the Harvard Law Armed Forces Association, who was a veteran and a student at Harvard while Kagan was Dean. White testified Kagan had been supportive of student vets at the school, and in doing so had "made a big difference in the lives of the small group of us veterans."
White's appreciation of the importance of equality for all may be suspect in some quarters, however, as he was testifying at the invitation of Democratic members of the committee. Another such invitee was Lilly Ledbetter.
Said Ms. Ledbetter of her own struggle for equal treatment, "I learned who is on the Supreme Court makes all the difference."
I Guess I Didn't Get the Memo
...that bashing Indians is now not only acceptable but THE BEST! humor for mainstream publication (or broadcast).
Seriously, Time? This is pathetic. Everyone knows (or should know) by now that Joel Stein is a useless jerk whose useless jerkitude is evident in every syllable of the hackneyed humor that doesn't even begin to convincingly obscure his childish biases.
You know, I just love how the media is positively insistent on airing "both sides" of every issue when the issue is marginalized people asserting their rights or demanding their rightful equality.
But some dipshit with Z-list name recognition wants to write a "satirical" column that's nothing but a string of stereotypes and a lament about how [insert a group of marginalized people here] are ruining [the country, a cultural institution, some dying tradition that privileged white dudes hold dear, and/or the town in which some useless jerk grew up], and suddenly there's not a voice from "the other side" to be heard for a thousand miles.
In the interest of fairness and balance, I suggest Time contract Irrfan Khan to write a piece about why Joel Stein is a jerk.
[H/T to Shaker RedSonja.]
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 (Liss) and a biracial queerbait (Deeky) telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.]
