Consumer and privacy advocates would like to create a Do Not Track list similar to the Do Not Call list, which would allow internet users to opt out of being tracked for the purposes of serving targeted advertising.
Discuss.
[H/T to Shaker Janice.]
Discussion Thread: Do Not Track List
Greyhounds-a-Go-Go
This weekend, our local rescue had their annual Greyhound Picnic. Food! Music! Door prizes! And ONE BILLION greyhounds!
The weather was pretty dreary, unfortunately, and it was raining most of the time we were there, but it was still fun to see 100+ greyhounds running around together and being their comical, graceful selves. They are truly the most elegant goofballs. At one point, nearly the whole lot ran up the hill in one giant throng, curving around together like a school of fish, their collective gallop like a thundering orchestra. It was breathtaking.
Video description: Footage of the greyhounds in the ginormous dog run at the picnic, including some of Dudz running around and getting trampled (oof!) as all the dogs goof around. Set to Elizabeth Mitchell's cover of "Ladybug Picnic," which you can purchase here.
Pix below the fold…
Dudley and his doppelganger, Logan.
Dudley is wearing his racing muzzle in that picture because we were about to take him into the dog run, where muzzles are required just a safety precaution. Everywhere else at the picnic, they are allowed to be muzzle-free.
The Space Cowpokes' rescue in New Jersey also had their annual Greyhound Picnic this weekend, and Space Cowboy sent me this great pic of him with his boy Alfie, who is Dudley's fourth or fifth cousin:
"Who's such a good boy?!"
If you're interested in adopting a retired racer, you can find a rescue near you here.
More on the Rage of the Rich
In Which Mr. Deling Responds to Someone Who Might Be Professor Todd Henderson, by Brad DeLong.
A must-read.
[Via LeMew.]
I Keep My Bootstraps on Display in the Conservatory
Reading Paul Krugman's column about the anger among rich Americans at the prospect of paying higher taxes, it occurs to me that the the Bootstraps Rap ("nobody ever gave me nuttin'!") is nowhere to be heard when it comes to taxation. The same people who don't want the government spending money to feed and house desperate people are whinging like spoiled toddlers about the government potentially not spending money to subsidize their ridiculously low tax rate.
Sure, they frame it as the government taking something from them, but, in practice, lower tax rates (lower income) effect the fed's bottom line in ultimately the same way higher welfare rates (higher outgoing) does. So the framing is just a way to make themselves feel better about projecting their narratives of laziness and greed onto poor folks.
You know, conservatives always talk about how they want to return to some magical Golden Age of America, circa 1945 to 1960, and I say we start with bringing back the 80%+ tax rate that the wealthiest Americans paid at that time. Yay for nostalgia.
Big Tent
[Trigger warning for institutional homophobia.]
Over the weekend, the AP reported that the Montana Republican Party adopted an official platform earlier this year that "keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997." Yes, that's right—in the year two thousand and fucking ten, the Montana GOP wants to criminalize being gay/bi.
The fact that it's still the official party policy more than 12 years later, despite a tidal shift in public attitudes since then and the party's own pledge of support for individual freedoms, has exasperated some GOP members.Has Republican John Brueggeman actually ever met any other Republicans? Did dude Rip Van Winkle the Bush years, when the Republican Party wanted to amend the US constitution to codify anti-gay bigotry into the document established to "secure the Blessings of Liberty" for this nation's residents? Does he understand that "I believe people should be legally allowed to be gay, but be denied comprehensive equal rights, like the right of marriage and the right to serve openly in the US military" is a fundamentally horseshit position?
"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said last week. "Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn't be in the Republican Party."
...Brueggeman suspects that the vast majority of the party believes, as he does, that the Republican party should remove statement. It's against every conservative principle for limited government and issues like this exemplify how a political party can interfere with the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents.
"I just hope it's something that's so sensitive that people don't want to touch it," he said. "Even if there wasn't a Supreme Court decision, does anyone really believe that it should be illegal?"
Montana Human Rights Network organizer Kim Abbott said the GOP platform statement does not represent the attitudes of most Montanans, and it shows that the party is out of touch with the prevalent view of the people they are supposed to represent.Indeed. The actual wording of the plank is: "Homosexual acts: We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."
Either the GOP thinks that there are no gay people in Montana (in which case, the legislation is unnecessary!), or they are talking about "the people of Montana" and gay/lesbian/bisexual people are mutually exclusive groups, which is dehumanizing and marginalizing language of the sort one finds in the playbooks of eliminationist fucknecks.
You can contact the Montana Republican Party here.[H/T to Shaker Brunocerous.]
Open Thread
Hosted by delicious Lemonheads.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by things that are yellow.
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!
Say It With Me: To Stop Rape, Get Men To Stop Raping
(Trigger warning for rape and rape apologia)
On the night of September 10, at a rave outside of Vancouver BC, a young woman was slipped a drug to incapacitate her, after which a group of young men filmed themselves repeatedly raping her (the video itself is not at that link; it's a link to a CBC report on an arrest of one of the suspects).
As seems to be all too often the case lately, this film has made its way onto the Internet, and though the police have made some efforts to have the video removed where they find it, we all know that once it's on the Net, it's never, ever going away. They anticipate using the child pornography laws to pursue anyone they can catch putting it up or possessing a copy themselves (as is the law in Canada; any depiction of sexual activity by people under 16, or looking like they're under 16, or of sexualized children, is deemed child pornography).
I can't find a media report of it (most have updated to the version linked above, replacing earlier stories with it), but Shaker Erin writes to say that their local station was reporting:
Listening to my local news station, they had a piece on it this afternoon. Christy Clark was asking whether parents feel that their daughters are safe, and how to educate them to stay safe, and whether those parents feel that their sons would step in to help in a situation like this, not stand around and watch. But nothing about teaching their sons (and daughters) about enthusiastic consent, not raping, etc. Even though, when first questioning the students at the high school the victim went to, almost all students were victim-blaming. Even though she had been drugged.As usual, the MSM focus is on victim-blaming: the advice all carries the usual "Well, if girls/women would just stay home and not do anything fun, they wouldn't be so vulnerable to rape," rather than what we know the situation to actually be: "If rapists would just stay home and not do anything fun, (girls/women) wouldn't be so vulnerable to rape."
If you would like to express that message to the superintendent of the local school district, who has been inviting police to give lectures on how girls can stay safe, then:
The superintendent for the Maple Meadows school district is Jan Unwin and her email is junwin@sd42.ca.I would suggest, as I usually do, a polite but very clear missive explaining how to conduct rape safety training (TRAIN THE BOYS NOT TO RAPE, DUH!).
The mailing address for the school district is: Ms. Jan Unwin
Superintendent of Schools
SD #42 (Maple Ridge)
22225 Brown Avenue
Maple Ridge, BC V2X 8N6
Phone: 604-463-4200
Fax: 604-463-0573
junwin@sd42.ca
Teaspoons up, Shakers.
ò,óP <-- is Caitie's Angry Face, with Teaspoon
Tip of the CaitieCap to Shakers Anelle, somebodyoranother, and Erin, as well as Liss for sending it on to me. Also, JenMR, who gave updated information on contacting the superintendent.
News from Shakes Manor
Iain, by email, under the subject header "Question": Do you like David Brooks?
Liss, by email, under the subject header "Answer": I'm leaving you for David Brooks.
Iain: I wish I could come up with a cogent argument for why you shouldn't do that, but he is such a superlative example of American masculinity that I can do naught but endorse your decision.
Liss: A wise and courageous gesture of this magnitude would undoubtedly stir within Mr. Brooks such a profound and fervent admiration for your moral fortitude that he would almost certainly advise me to remain your loving, doe-eyed bride. Thus shall we remain as one.
Iain: I would expect nothing less from such a magnanimous individual.
Liss: Just get your butt home already, cute stuff.
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.]
...Starring Deeky!
In which Liss re-imagines masterpieces of postmodern cinema, making them tinglingly better by adding me (Deeky: The Rutger Hauer of the Wax Trax Generation) to their classic posters. Today, the cyberpunkiest film of all time not starring Billy Idol.
Johnny Mnemonic
(Why do I look exceedingly prissy in this poster?)
(See also.)
Photo of the Day
Warrior Angels, courtesy of Gaydar, greet the pope in Twickenham, England, yesterday.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, producers of the upcoming Deeky W. Gashlycrumb biopic, Giant Jazzhands!, starring Deeky W. Gashlycrumb.
Recommended Reading:
[TW for sexual violence] Cara: On Birth Rape, Definitions, and Language Policing
[TW for sexual violence] Lisa: Welcome to Rape Culture: Sex with Drunk Girls is Funny
[TW for sexism] Fannie: Learning Gender Through Ads
[TW for racism] Shark-fu: On Bethany Storro
Andy: Gay Activists Target Senator Webb in 'DADT' Combat Boot Drop
Tigtog: It's not censorship when it's a personal decision over privately owned space.
Also: "Derailing for Dummies" has been updated!
Leave your links in comments...
"Weird" News
[Trigger Warning: Transphobia*, Objectification, Abusive Relationships. The TW also applies to the comments at Jezebel and AOL.]
For some reason Jezebel recently reposted a story from AOL's resident specialist on weird/"not normal" news:
Man Discovers Biological Mother is Bearded Lady
33-year-old Richard Lorenc's search for his biological parents revealed that his mother is Vivian Wheeler, the 62-year-old Guinness World Record-holder for "longest female beard." Lorenc was kidnapped by his father, a carnival worker, but has now reunited with his mother.
I guess (or at least, I sincerely hope) that kidnapping is kinda "weird", although I can think of better ways of describing it.
So I'm left to assume that the story of a woman who has facial hair is supposed to be weird and funny. Actually, I already knew that, what with all the people who have made this point to me in the past.
Basically this is a story about a woman who doesn't fit the gender binary (in this case she's intersex, although the author of the original article elects to use a different term), is taught by society and her abusive father to be shameful of this fact, finds a series of poorly paying jobs (which she was initially forced into by her father) based on the premise that she's funny to look at, ends up in an abusive relationship that ends with her young son being kidnapped by her partner. What a hoot!
--
*Vivian Wheeler isn't trans, but this gawkfest and ostracism is clearly driven by people marginalizing people who don't fit into the gender binary as kyriarchically defined.
Quote of the Day
"What we need to be focused on is growth, how do we create jobs, how do we expand businesses. That needs to be job one right now. And all these other issues involving, oh, fairness and things like that can wait."—My (allegedly) Democratic Senator, Evan Bayh (D-Ipshit), arguing in favor of cutting taxes for the wealthiest USians.
See also: LeMew, Susie, and BTD, who notes: "Bayh is retiring this year from politics. Thank gawd."
Indeed.
How to Write a David Brooks Column
1. Report something your "liberal friends" are saying. ("Many of my liberal friends are convinced that the Republican Party has a death wish. It is sprinting to the right-most fever swamps of American life. It will end up alienating the moderate voters it needs to win elections.")
2. Assert that they're wrong. ("There's only one problem with this theory. There is no evidence to support it.")
3. Base that assertion on an irrelevant caveat. ("The Republican Party may be moving sharply right, but there is no data to suggest that this has hurt its electoral prospects, at least this year.") Emphasis mine.
4. Insert 5-10 paragraphs of incomprehensible bullshit, peppered with folksy aphorisms, contextless factoids, and/or meaningless statistics. ("Blah blah independents blah blah 29% approval rating blah blah excesses of American culture blah blah fart.")
5. Make the very same fucking point your "liberal friends" were making. ("This doesn't mean that the Tea Party influence will be positive for Republicans over the long haul. The movement carries viruses that may infect the G.O.P. in the years ahead.")
6. Claim it's an entirely different point by virtue of irrelevant caveat. ("But that damage is all in the future.")
7. Write pithy and typically asinine conclusion. ("Right now, the Tea Party doesn't matter. The Republicans don't matter. The economy and the Democrats are handing the G.O.P. a great, unearned revival. Nothing, it seems, is more scary than one-party Democratic control.")
Now go get yourself a job at the New York Times!
You're welcome.
