Shakesville

When You Have a War, There Will Be War Crimes

[Trigger warning for violence and dehumanization.]

Five soldiers face murder charges and seven others face charges associated with facilitating a cover-up "in what military authorities believe was a conspiracy to murder Afghan civilians and cover it up, along with charges they used hashish, mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs."

All of the men were members of a 2nd Infantry Division brigade operating near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010.

According to the military documents, Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs and four other soldiers were involved in throwing grenades at civilians and then shooting them in separate incidents. Three Afghan men died.

Authorities allege Gibbs kept finger bones, leg bones and a tooth from Afghan corpses. Another soldier, Spc. Michael Gagnon II, allegedly kept a skull from a corpse, according to charging documents. Several soldiers are charged with taking pictures of the corpses, and one - Spc. Corey Moore - with stabbing a corpse.

Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens is charged with lying to investigators about the deaths, saying the civilians posed a threat.

Other soldiers are charged with assaulting Afghan civilians by shooting at them, and several soldiers face charges of failing to properly account for and dispose of weapons.

Eight of the soldiers also are charged with using hashish and beating a junior soldier in an attempt to stop him from reporting them for misconduct, including hashish use.

Five of the soldiers were charged in June, and the other seven in August, but details were not known until the release of related documents by the Army this week, which underlines how little we really know about what's going on over there, and how what we do know comes through the filter of a military that ferociously protects its reputation, in service of a government that ferociously defends the honor of its military endeavors.

I continue to be unthrilled, to put it politely, that the Obama administration decided to double down in Afghanistan.

[Previously: Today in Not News: The Afghanistan War Blows, When You Have a War, Part I, The Third Woman, Obama Orders Review of Alleged War Crimes, 110 Years for Rape/Murder in Iraq, New Details on Pat Tillman's Death, continuing coverage of the suspicious death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson.]

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

And it's only four paragraphs. [TW for a brief mention of disordered eating.]

But, boy oh boy, are they doozies. Supper-sized? Is that a Freudian typo, or is that meant to be some kind of joke? And how does one justify calling a 14+ "super-(or supper-)sized" in the same space in which one notes that "two thirds of American women are over size 14," making "average-sized" a much more appropriate moniker?

Don't even get me started on "officially obese."

And while I agree that there are a lot of women plagued by "lack of confidence and self-hatred," I would argue it is the fat hatred and body policing that breeds insecurity and self-loathing that holds women back, not their totally understandable reactions to that endemic oppression.

Discussion Thread: Bechdel Books

Requested by Shaker Abra: What are some good books that pass the Bechdel Test and/or feature strong female characters?

Please note that discussion/warnings about triggering material is welcome and encouraged in this thread. Commenters are asked to preface their comments with [TW] if/when they contain potentially triggering subject matter.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Sesame Street: Z is for Zoo

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.]

Daily Dose o' Cute

Alfie (aka Ears Mcgee) gets his nap interrupted by an incoming transmission.

Quote of the Day

"It is also true that 'I know better than you what you should do with your body and I insist on the socially-sanctioned right to tell you (and to enforce it)' is a fundamental strategy for controlling women. Make our bodies fair game for public discussion and public worry and public scrutiny and you can keep us in line. … Is it really not clear to feminists how the 'obesity epidemic' is about reasserting the right to police women's bodies? Except now, we're doing it for your health! When people talk wistfully about how 'nobody cooks at home anymore' who do you think that 'nobody' used to be? When people talk about how kids don't get the same free reign of the neighborhoods they used to have, who is the unspoken monitor of all that free time? … I just don't see how any discussion that involves people policing women's bodies and trying to dictate what women do with them can ever be feminist."—Aunt B. on why fat is a feminist issue.

Top Chef Open Thread

"Smells like sweet submission."
[Image from last night's show: Angelo sniffs at potential ingredients in a market in Singapore, where the show's finale is being held.]

Last night's episode will be finely chopped and fried in a wok, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, pack your knives and go...

The Day Our Democracy Died

When the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which granted corporations, unions, and nonprofits the latitude to donate freely to political campaigns and thus effectively bankroll federal elections, I grimly mused: "It is not hyperbole to say this decision is paving the way for America to become a fully-fledged corporatocracy, which, depending on your perspective, is a sibling to fascism or a version of it. ...This decision further diminishes any voice that isn't backed with a fuckload of money. Someday, we may look back on this day and realize it was the day our democracy died."

Today, under the ominously blunt headline "Super PACs Multiply to Sway Election as Companies Freed to Give," Bloomberg reports on the proliferation of Super PACs, political action committees which can accept unlimited donations from corporations, unions, nonprofits, and individuals, and can "explicitly urge voters to support or oppose candidates, unlike ordinary PACs and nonprofit groups."

At least 25 of these Super PACs have already formed, one of which is linked to conservative mastermind Karl Rove and has already raised more than $17 million since the SCOTUS decision earlier this year.

Former FEC chair Michael Toner says the Super PACs "can say whatever they want politically in the advertising. It's very liberating."

"Liberating" is one word for it. Certainly not the word I would choose.

The Supreme Court in January ruled against prohibitions on corporate campaign spending, allowing companies to use their treasuries to support or oppose candidates. The FEC sanctioned the new PACs on July 22, saying that because of the court decision, "there is no basis to impose contribution limits" on committees that spend money independently of candidates. Most won't have to disclose contributors until mid-October.

...The new PACs allow corporations to participate in a more targeted way with "a truly effective ad," said Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman who runs the political activities law practice at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington.

"You don't have to do those kinds of commercials where it says, 'Call so-and-so,'" said Tony Massaro, the conservation group's senior vice president for political affairs. "This allows straightforward communication with voters."

..."You'll see more money spent on the Republican side," said Larry Noble, a former FEC general counsel and a lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Washington.

Former FEC chairs, former FEC general counsel... The takeover was long in the making. It's not easy to topple a democracy from the inside, while no one notices.

I Remember When This Might Have Been Called a Gaffe

But that was before the Obama administration spent two years demeaning progressives and embracing many of the policies of the Bush administration.

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday night said that former President George W. Bush deserves "a lot of credit" for his handling of the initial Iraq war drawdown. [Note from Liss: Biden references Bush's commitment to the drawdown but actually only says Bush deserves credit for caring about the troops.*]

Speaking to Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who conducted a rare serious interview with the vice president, Biden was asked what he would say to Bush as the United States meets a preliminary deadline set by President Obama in 2009 for the withdrawal of combat troops this week.

"Mr. President, thank you," said Biden, addressing a hypothetical Bush. "I've known you for all eight years of your presidency, and I've never known a time when you didn't care."

Asked whether Bush deserves credit for the end of combat operations, Biden said earnestly, "You deserve a lot of credit."

You know, it's revolting enough watching the Republicans trying to rehabilitate Bush; I really don't want to see that shit emanating from a Democratic White House. Fuck.

B-b-but God Impregnated Mary!

God is no longer a "he," at least according to the Scottish Episcopal Church. Its bishops recently debuted a new order of service that removes all masculine references to God, including but not limited to "Lord," "he," "his," and "him," the Daily Mail reports. Priests who have problems with the traditional liturgy can use the new service, but some religious figures aren't too happy with it. "It is political correctness," and "quite unnecessary," one reverend says.

Even the word "mankind" has been replaced with the word "world." And how to deal with the especially common use of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"? Those references have been changed to "Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier." (Direct Biblical quotes remain unchanged.) "God is above and beyond human gender," says another reverend. "We are not saying God is not masculine. God is also feminine. The problem is trying to use human language to describe the indescribable."

[H/T to Shaker MLM.]

Open Thread

Hosted by Wonka Bottlecaps. Love.

Question of the Day

Inspired by my post below, which will serve as my answer, since I can't think of anything else at the moment: What's your least favorite internet meme of all time?

Sad Keanu Meets Humorless Feminist

Keanu Reeves, Rebel Loiterer
I know I'm the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington, but I really despise the Sad Keanu meme. If you're not familiar with it, you can click the link to read about it in detail, but here's the brief synopsis: Photos of Keanu Reeves looking sad are Photoshopped for maximum hilarity (examples). And, yeah, it's just as stupid as it sounds.

But my issue isn't that it's stupid. Stupid can be very, very fun. My issue is that every time the Sad Keanu meme has more life breathed into it with another round of fuckery, I can't help but think: You know, maybe there are so many pictures of him looking sad because he's sad.

He's rather famously lost a close friend and colleague to a drug overdose, followed several years later by the stillborn birth of his daughter, followed several years later by the death of his daughter's mother, and his sister and best friend has been battling leukemia for more than a decade. His biological father abandoned him when he was three, and they've never reconnected, as his dad's spent time in and out of prison on drug charges.

That would make me sad, I think.

Today, BuzzFeed features, as part of the "hilarious" Sad Keanu meme, The 12 Most Depressing Keanu Reeves Quotes. Number Two is "Grief changes shape, but it never ends." Number Six is "When the people you love are gone, you're alone."

Oh, my aching sides.

I've always really liked Keanu Reeves—long-time Shakers will no doubt remember me futilely defending him in a many an "overrated/bad actors" thread, lol—and I have a sort of soft spot for him. I hope he finds the Sad Keany meme funny; if it were about me, I can imagine it finding it amusing in a way I don't find it amusing when about someone else.

But what if he doesn't…?

I guess that doesn't matter, or even occur, to the people who are busily Photoshopping pictures of Sad Keanu and posting "hilariously depressing" quotes about the loss he's had in his life.

Fist pump for Summer '10 on the internetz, brah!

Ugh.

Daily Dose o' Cute

One of Dudley's favorite new games is a dog approximation of hide-and-seek. Like a human toddler, he's pretty sure if he can't see you, then you can't see him.

"The Nose Knows."

"Covert Operative."

This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.

It's a bird (whose drumstick you should put down, you gluttonous fatsronaut)! It's a plane (passage on which you'll need to buy two seats, Fatty Boom Balatty)! It's HEXFAT II: The Hexfattening!

(From the wayback machine: HEXFAT.)

Weight Problems May Begin in the Womb: "The new findings suggest that Americans are now caught in a vicious cycle of increasing fatness, with prospective mothers starting out fatter, gaining more weight during pregnancy and giving birth to babies who are destined to become overweight adults."

It's a fat snake eating its big fat tail, yo.

[H/T to Shaker Miriam.]

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.]

Quote of the Day

"We now know which area of the body females are looking at when they are making a judgment about male dance attractiveness. If a man knows what the key moves are, he can get some training and improve his chances of attracting a female through his dance style."—Nick Neave of Northumbria University, lead researcher on a project that aimed to identify what heterosexual women found attractive in male dancers.

Apparently, Professor Neave has never watched "D-Qwon's Dance Grooves," or else he would already have known about the most flippin' sweet dance moves ever.

This is a real video that accompanied the story about this study:

Video Description: A computer-generated figure dances badly. It is labeled "Bad Dancer." The computer-generated figure then dances badly, but in a different way. It is labeled "Good Dancer." LOL.

Number of the Day

21. The percentage of respondents in a Harris Interactive Survey who chose being thinner over being smarter (14%) when offered the choice of being younger, thinner, richer, or smarter.

Richer (43%) was the first choice among respondents.

Younger was the answer of 12% of respondents, with the only less popular answer being "none of the above" at 9%.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Sesame Street: The Alligator King