Just a harmless sport: "A greyhound trainer is facing a charge of animal cruelty and may face additional charges as the investigation into the deaths of at least 20 dogs at Ebro Greyhound Park continues. ... It is not immediately known exactly how many dogs died or when and how it happened. Officials have said they are waiting on necropsy results, but the complaint that triggered the investigation was spawned by underweight dogs being turned over to Greyhound Pets of America."
If there's anyone in the NWI/Chicagoland area who's interested in fostering or adopting a greyhound, email me. Our rescue currently has over three dozen retired greyhounds in foster care or in the "2nd Chance at Life" prison program, all of which are awaiting adoption, and the more that are adopted, and the more homes opened up to foster, the more dogs that can be rescued.
If you're in another location, go here to find out about rescues in your area.
There are a lot of tracks closing right now, because of the economy, which means a lot of dogs are being retired. But that's only a good thing if they've got somewhere to go.
If you thought this post was hyperbole, watch this Bill Moyers speech, delivered at Boston University on October 29, 2010, as a part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series. A complete transcript of his speech is here. The Harper's article he recommends is here.
[If the video embed doesn't work for you, you can watch it here.]
I really cannot encourage you to watch/read this speech strongly enough. This is what's happening in the US. This is what you need to know and understand about our system, and what it means for our future.
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.]
So, Iain and I have been watching Law & Order: UK on BBC America, because, for evident reasons, US-UK mash-ups are rather popular at Shakes Manor.
It's actually quite a good show, and it's fun to see how some of the early episodes of the original Law & Order have been Britishized for a UK (and anglophile) audience.
One of the interesting things I've noticed about the show is its fat people.
Notably, it has them.
Particularly fat women. You can always find a fat guy or two in the US version—"Casting call for portly Italian to play butcher on national crime drama"—but fat women are few and far between, and, when they do show up, they are fat not because Fat People Exist, but because fat is routinely used as a lazy shorthand to convey negative attributes to American audiences.
"You can tell she's a bad mother instantly because she's FAT and wearing unstylish clothes!"—The writers of Law & Order. Etc.
But on Law & Order: UK, fat women are just another part of the population. Across four episodes, I've seen a fat female cop, a fat female witness, a fat female attorney, and a fat female forensics analyst (and possibly some I'm forgetting), all of whom were fat for no other reason than because Fat People Exist.
And not inbetweenie fat—not "Bridget Jones" fat. But actually fat. Like me kinda fat.
It was remarkable to see these women on my television. Which is terribly sad, really. That shouldn't be remarkable, since the existence of fat women (and men), even in New York, is not remarkable.
I felt good seeing women who look like me in a show I was watching.
And then I felt bad, thinking about all the reasons I have so few opportunities to see women who look like me, and so many women I adore, in US-made entertainment, except as cautionary tales and punchlines.
Or, if you're more into fish, rays at the National Aquarium, Baltimore:
[Note: The video descriptions are as described. In the first, Potter the cat runs around the backyard. In the second, fish and rays swim around a tank at the aquarium.]
A few days back Liss laid down an [TW: body policing] epic post about the way in which people police themselves and each other against the perception that they eat a culturally inappropriate amount of ground beef. Having a body (particularly a female body that eats food) is a good way to disappoint strangers.
Two of my favorite ways to disappoint strangers who should really mind their own business are being queer and having a child. Gender non-conformance (and/or transsexuality and/or GLBQ-ishness) will get you some lectures and stern looks. If you have a kid, you've also probably experienced other people's disappointment, ranging from your doing pregnancy wrong to 'your kid does/doesn't do what for a living'?!? If you've decided not to have a kid, you've probably been lectured on that, too.
Thus enters the story of Boo and Cop's Wife, currently making the rounds on the internet.
Cop's Wife's child, Boo, is 5. This Halloween, Boo dressed up as Daphne, from Scooby Doo. Lots of kids dress up as lots of things, right? However, since folks are assuming that Boo is Cop's Wife's son, it wasn't that straight-forward. :sigh:
Boo was scared. Cop's Wife was supportive. Therefore, other moms chose to lecture Cop's Wife. She was [TW: homo/transphobia, ableism] having none of it.
Maude bless parents who get it. Parenting is not easy, nor is gender non-conformance. A 5 year-old dressing as Daphne is a 5 year-old dressing as Daphne. (I would have gone for Velma, but it's none of my business either). As Boo's mother said, maybe Boo's gay, maybe not. What matters is that zie rocked the orange wig.
Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice that many international legal experts say was illicit torture.
In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.
[Image: A sign for Park Central Presbyterian that reads Sunday 10:30 am, Holy Ping Pong. There's also a website, and if you go to the website you can see that it's actually the title of this Sunday's sermon about God and life, but it's my camera, and do I look like I care? No, I don't.]
I hear The Lutherans play holy table tennis. Do not mess with The Lutherans.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 04: The United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receives a Hongi (Maori Greeting) during a welcome ceremony at Parliament on November 4, 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand. Hillary Clinton is on a three day visit to New Zealand as part of a tour of the Asia Pacific region, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua-New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. [Getty Images]
I love this picture so hard.
(If any Kiwis can tell me who the woman in the photo with Clinton is, I'll add her name to the post.)
Clinton is pictured in the photo with Rose White–Tahupārae, Kaumatua of Parliament. (Thanks to Shakers The Bald Soprano and decodevo in comments.)
Since actor Charlie Sheen had a headline-making stay at the Plaza in New York and confirming that he's heading back to divorce court, ratings for Sheen's CBS hit "Two and a Half Men" have gone up.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show saw a 7 percent increase for Monday's episode, with 13.6 million tuning in.
Sure. Why wouldn't people tune in to see a self-destructive, violent, misogynist, racist, privileged jackass in a hilarious! sitcom the scripts for which are written with farts from the 1950s?
"Hey, Minerva—you read about this naked cocaine-face who held a woman hostage in his hotel room bathroom? Turns out he's got a sitcom. I gotta check that out!"
I know it's early, but I'm reasonably confident that nothing will be more deserving of the title than this piece of shit: Letter to a whiny young Democrat.
You know, just last week I was talking to a young friend of mine, a 21-year-old straight, white, cis man who knew going into the 2008 election that much of Obama's Hope and Change rhetoric was just that, but was still excited to cast a vote for him and was optimistic about his presidency. Two years later, he's profoundly disillusioned, not because he hasn't been paying attention or doesn't understand how politics work, but because he has and he does.
He's paid attention to the way Obama has governed, and to the hippie-punching. And—surprise!—after the Obama administration's strategy of alienating progressive voters (of any age) with not-progressive policies and contempt for the Democratic base, my young friend feels alienated. Huh.
And given that Obama was elected on the back of a promise to "change the way Washington works," and now he and his staff openly admit they were arrogant to believe they could do that, and have failed, why the fuck is anyone getting blamed for being disillusioned? His most significant campaign promise was made with foolish bombast. Blaming the people who believed him, particularly young liberals whose entire experience with politics had been the grim horror of the Bush administration and were longing desperately for something better, seems entirely misplaced.
And, frankly, as an experienced political observer who had no illusions about the nature of this president, but was eminently willing to give him a chance, I'm still disappointed with what he's done.
So scolding political n00bs for (alleged) apathy when they've been demonstrably let down is just seven layers of bullshit.
What one person who has never held public office would you like to see run?
It can be any public office (though you're not required to specify which), and the person you'd like to see run does not have to be someone famous. Obviously, we'd all like to see Chuck Norris run for president (no, we wouldn't), and those sorts of answers are very fun, but please feel welcome to answer that you'd love to see your mom or your brother or your BFF run for office, too.
Given the political make-up of the coming 112th Congress (which will convene on Jan. 3, 2011), I have a suggestion for you Democratic members of the Disablist-Slur-Involving-Poultry Session of the 111th Congress:
Make Sweeping Campaign Finance Reform Job One!!!!!eleventy-one!!!!
Personally, I'd prefer the following (for a start):
All television, radio, and print ads must disclose the name(s) of the purchaser(s) and the creator(s), and any purchasing group(s) must disclose all sources of funding publicly at or before the time of airing. Period. No full disclosure -- no air-time/print-space.
Any single corporation and all of its subsidiaries are limited to contributing the same amount as an individual is allowed to contribute to a candidate, political party, or organization which involves itself in a political campaign. After all -- if corporations are treated as individuals legally, they should be treated as individuals.
The limit on individual contribution to a campaign also applies to the candidate themselves (h/t to Lassarina in comments).
Campaigning is limited to 30 days before the election (h/t to 'Liss in comments).
I'd like to further suggest that you use every possible procedural gimmick available to push campaign-finance reform through both houses before Jan. 3, 2011. Try thinking "WWJD?" (What Would JohnBoehner Do?)
That Is All.
*Note: Yes, I'm aware that there are four federal holidays within the stated 60-day period, and that Congress doesn't work every Maudedamn day (even though, given the circumstances, you'd think they might consider it).
It's a wonder Dudley was retired from racing before he was even two years old. Just LOOK AT HIM go after that fuzzy white thing!
In all seriousness, it's not that Dudley doesn't have any targeting instincts; he does. (Just ask his dogpark BFF Sheba.) It's just that he's awesome with his kitteh sisters. Earlier this afternoon, everyone got a little bit of roasted turkey, and even though Matilda and Sophie are the slowest eaters on the planet, Dudz will stand aside and let them finish what's been given to them.
Olivia has started occasionally playing with his tail while he's dozing, and Matilda, for reasons unknown, loves to sniff at his paws, whether he's awake or asleep. Ever indulgent and polite, he doesn't seem to mind at all, and frequently sniffs her back in a friendly exchange that seems to say, "I will try to speak your language."
The other day, Dudz and Sophs were drinking out of his water bowl at the same time, and I thought I might explode from the cuteness. Later, she curled up in his bed (!) and fell asleep, and when he noticed her in there, he did the most hilarious double-take I've ever seen, looked at Iain and me with the best WTF look of all time, and then backed away slowly, with a body language that suggested he might have been contemplating the canine equivalent of the Twilight Zone.
Interspecies cuddling is, I believe, inevitable. But perhaps not quite imminent.
The president held a press conference this afternoon to discuss the relationship between his hat and his hands. I give Obama a zero for stealing off of other people's papers.
There were so many highlightsthings that happened that it's hard to focus linger, glassy-eyed at one of them. That said, I'm really fond of the part where Obama said the economy wasn't going well in part because the mean old Democratsprofessional left somebody or other had made businesses feel like the "bad guys." He used BP as an example.
NPR followed coverage of the press conference with a story about the Department of Labor's efforts to shut down a coal mine in Kentucky because the dudes who run Massey Energy are, in fact, bad guys. The web version of the story includes a photo of what I presume is President Obama contemplating the deaths of 29 workers at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine. Oops your timing position sucks.
So Obama and other Democrats have responded to their worst drubbing since Benjamin Grumbles was vigorously matriculating at Emmett Q. Crumblecorn's Preparatory School for Fancy Lads. But what do you think?
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.]
Welcome to Shakesville, a progressive feminist blog about politics, culture, social justice, cute things, and all that is in between. Please note that the commenting policy and the Feminism 101 section, conveniently linked at the top of the page, are required reading before commenting.
