"I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? But this is nonsense!"—House Republican Leader John Boehner, spittin' mad at House Democrats for pulling a tricksy political gambit to move ahead with a vote on extending tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or less.
Quote of the Day
"I'm trying to catch my breath so I don't refer to this maneuver going on today as chicken crap, all right? But this is nonsense!"—House Republican Leader John Boehner, spittin' mad at House Democrats for pulling a tricksy political gambit to move ahead with a vote on extending tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or less.
Top Chef Open Thread
Top Chef All-Stars premiered last night, bringing back all our favorite cheftestants, as well as Mike Isabella. I was very excited to see lots of my old favies, especially Carla, who I will allow to sum up my excitement at her return (meta!):
This episode will be thinly sliced and served with spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happened, please pack your knives and go.
Number of the Day
$1,049,783,150: "Congressional earmarks have been one of the primary targets of the tea party, representing the nexus of the movement’s arch foes — government spending and Washington influence peddling. ... But it appears that tea party's self-proclaimed representatives in Washington haven't been putting their money where their mouths are. Hotline On Call reports today that members of House Tea Party Caucus, founded by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to 'represent the views of our constituents,' requested over $1 billion in earmarks during the last fiscal year."
Principles!
Next Stop, Menstruation Huts!
What the everloving fuck: "Female staffers at a company in Norway have been told to wear red bracelets when they have their periods – to clue in the boss that this is the reason for more frequent bathroom visits."
Blink.
[H/T to Shaker tereska13]
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Keeping Romance Alive in the Age of Female Empowerment.
It's hard to pick what my favorite passage is from that stinking garbage fart of an article, but I think I'm going to have to give my vote to: "The male ego can be a more fragile thing than the female ego, which is used to a regular battering and has hence developed a sense of humor!" Yikes.
Perhaps you'd like to contact the New York Times' public editor and politely inquire why it is that serious articles about women's/queer issues—like domestic violence, multigenerational parenting, homophobia's affect on children with gay parents, gender bias and sexual harassment, stalking, and rape—end up in the Style section, but articles like this piece of heteronormative, misogynist shit get filed in World News.
[H/T to Shaker Emily.]
Feel the Homomentum!
The Illinois Senate has passed a bill for civil unions.
Springfield, IL — Landmark civil unions legislation, giving committed long-term partners important legal protections afforded to other Illinois families, has cleared another hurdle as the Illinois Senate voted Wednesday to pass the bill.The legislation will probably be signed in the city of Chicago before the end of the year. I was watching the local news this morning and there's been a lot of spluttering from "family" organizations, but for the most part, the reaction has been very positive. Yay.
"There is electricity all around," The Civil Rights Agenda (TCRA) president Jacob Meister told ChicagoPride.com moments after the vote. "Today is a victory for our democracy and the fight for the civil rights of the LGBT community."
The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act (SB 1716) passed to cheers in the Senate by a 32-24-1 vote Wednesday. The bill passed the Illinois House by a 61-52 majority vote on Tuesday. (read full coverage of the House vote) The crucial piece of legislation now moves to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who made a campaign promise to sign it into law.
What distinguishes this civil unions bill from others is that it adds visitation rights at hospitals and making end-of-life decisions to the couple.
And, of course:
State Sen. and Rev. James Meeks (D-Chicago), who is running for Chicago Mayor, was the only Democrat to cross party lines to vote against the bill. State Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) is the only senator who voted present.I'm shocked! SHOCKED, I tell you!
LPGA Opens Its Ranks to Women Who Are Trans
The players have voted, and the requirement stipulating that members of the the women's professional golf association must be "female at birth" will be removed from the women's tour rules. The change should be final within a few weeks.
The change was prompted by a lawsuit filed by Lana Lawless, a woman who is trans and was disallowed from competing in this year's annual women's long-drive golf championship after the Long Drivers of America adopted the LPGA's transphobic policy. Once the players were asked to revisit the policy, they voted to change it.
Player Christine Kerr commented: "We certainly don't want to discriminate against anybody, that's not what the LPGA is about. And if she can qualify, she'll be able to play. We're like, the last sports organization to do it, it's just we've never really had to look at it before."
Quite obviously, the policy should have never been there in the first place, but it was, and inclusion moving forward is a great outcome.
[TW for non-consensual gender assignment] As an aside, "female at birth" rules are truly inane. What does it even mean to be "female at birth," really? It says "female" on my birth certificate, but I could be intersex and not even know it. It used to be routine (and still is, in many places) to assign infants as female after botched circumcisions or surgeries to "fix" atypical genitalia. Many (most?) people to whom this happens go through life never knowing about it. Nor would the LPGA, or anyone else who has "female at birth" rules. The idea that "female at birth" is protecting a sport (or whatever organization) from any women with an alleged (nope) advantage (nope) is predicated on disappearing all the women who are "female at birth" by virtue of a doctor's hand or the natural concealment of bits that might indicate otherwise to a culture who can't see intersex woman as a singular concept and not two mutually exclusive ones.
Point is, "female at birth" rules are pointless.
[H/Ts to Shakers cynical1 and koach. Commenting Guidelines: "B-b-but trans women have an unfair advantage!" and "Men will say they're trans just to compete against women!" will not be debated in this thread. Don't even go there.]
Blog Note, Part Deux
Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes, and thank you to everyone who kicked a little extra into the kitty this month. I can't even tell you how appreciative I am for the support and encouragement. Also my thanks to Kenny Blogginz, who drove with me this afternoon in case my car died and I needed a ride home.
I managed to get the car started and over to our mechanic's, only for them to tell me they can't figure out what needs fixed without looking at the car while it's having the problem. So. Iain and I have to make some decisions tonight about whether to leave the car there (provided it's willing to start again) and rent a car in the interim, or just keep driving it and pay for a tow when it dies again. Neither one is a particularly appealing option, lolsob.
Kind of a craptacular scenario really, the not knowing. But there it is. I wish I had more concrete news to share.
In any case, I'll probably be back tomorrow in some capacity. Now I have to go attend to Dudley, who managed to cut his leg on something (not seriously) and is bleeding on the couch. Raining...pouring!
Blog Note
Our car died this morning, and we have only the one car in a town with no public transportation, so that's a pretty big deal for us. Which means I'm going to be trying to sort out getting the car to the mechanic and hopefully getting it fixed today.
In the last few months, we've had to replace our water heater, our refrigerator, and our oven—and our kitchen faucet is currently leaking and needs to be replaced. This couldn't have come at a worse time. Fucking hell, I'm so ready for this year to be over.
I'll be back as soon as I can.
Question of the Day
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Speaking of disablist language...
Care of The Frisky comes the jaw-dropping 10 Types Of Female Emotional Cripples.
As we’ve stated previously, we all have issues. And yes, that includes the womenfolk. Even though we feel that women may be more open to tackling the emotional obstacles that cripple them, there are still a lot of ladies out there rolling around in wheelchairs or soliciting a man to push them.Wow. And that doesn't even begin to get into the actual profiles of the "Female Emotional Cripples."
Ami will admit that throughout much of her 20s she used an emotional wheelchair to help her get around. But she made it her mission to get up and walk again. And that she did with quite a bit of time and effort. She doesn’t walk perfectly ... but she’s moving. And just to be clear, perfection is not the goal. It’s our responsibility as mature women to be aware of our emotional obstacles and to manage them. We may never totally eradicate them but we must do what is necessary to stay healthy and keep on walking (or at least limping) through life.
Which I will leave you to dissect in comments.
Don't worry, btw. There's one for the lads, too.
Daily Dose o' Cute
Video Description: I needed a new pair of boots, which arrived last night. The box was, naturally, the Greatest Thing Ever as far as the cats were concerned, who spent the entire evening hopping in and out of the box. Plus some Dudz in the background. Set to Billy Joel's "Root Beer Rag."
Also last night, Sophie, who has been desperate to cuddle with Dudley since he first arrived, hopped up on the sofa with him and gave it a go:
Video Description: Sophie hops up on the couch and curls up next to Dudley's snout. And then, as if realizing, "Holy shit, I am the same size as this beast's head! Erm, maybe this was a bad idea." she has second thoughts and hops down into the aforementioned box, where she regards him contemplatively from a distance. And within the safety of her cardboard fortress.
Quote of the Day
"At what point does 'it gets better' stop and 'it is better' set in?" -- Deirdra Kiai, progressive game developer whose Life Flashes By is now in beta.
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.]
Pentagon Report on DADT
The long-awaited Pentagon report on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell was released this afternoon. The whole thing can be read here.
Igor's got the Top 9 Findings from the report and notes:
in a press conference announcing the results of the Pentagon's 10-month review of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, Working Group co-chairs Defense Department General Counsel Jeh C. Johnson and Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, concluded that the risk of repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to overall military effectiveness is low and Gates even urged Congress to act on repeal before the Courts overturn the policy.One of their recommendations for implementation of the repeal is allowing "service members who have been previously separated under Don't Ask, Don't Tell [to] be permitted to apply for reentry into the military." Blub.
"Now that we have completed this review, I strongly urge the Senate to pass this legislation and send it to the president for signature before the end of this year," he said.
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's executive director and Army veteran Aubrey Sarvis comments: "This exhaustive report is overwhelmingly positive and constructive. The Pentagon validated what repeal advocates and social scientists have been saying about open service for over a decade. Still, some initial resistance may come from one or more of the service chiefs – the very leaders who will be charged with implementing this change. Those chiefs will need to salute and lead in bringing about this needed change. Fortunately, the chiefs have already made it clear they will do precisely that if Congress acts. Now, it's up to the Senate to make repeal happen this year."
Come on, Senators. Do the right thing.
Contact your senators and ask them to repeal DADT now.
