In case you don't subscribe to Mother Jones and you're not the kinda of asshole who reads it online for free (:cough:), permit me to draw your attention to a feature in the current edition:
[Trigger warning for ableist language] Eleven charts that explain what's wrong with America.
I don't think the massive income inequality in the US will surprise many Shakers, and some of the graphs are re-runs, but the MoJo piece is still a really sweet set of graphics. There aren't enough slide transitions in the world (although comb vertical? :swoon:) to make this not depressing.
In case you can't (or don't want to) open the link, here's a synopsis:
In America:
1) The super rich are much richer than the rest of us (where "much" equals OMFG).
2) They control an inordinate proportion of the US' net worth.
3) They're getting a lot richer, too, while you're likely getting poorer,
4) not that all USians have figured out how bad things have gotten.
5) If you were in Congress, you might not know or care about the income gap either, given that you'd likely be super rich,
6) and interested in protecting people like you from anything that might reduce
7) the massive growth of corporate profits and unemployment
8) or that might address the whopping inequality between CEO and worker salaries
9) or otherwise reversing the steady decline in the US' top income tax rate,
10) or the decline in US reliance on corporate taxes.
11) But again, you're probably not super-rich, which means that you're making a lot less than you would have if folks at the top felt like sharing the fruits of economic growth with you. (They don't.)
Class War! (Illustrated Version)
Two Facts
1. Funding education is an excellent idea, but it doesn't do much good unless you have professional teachers making a livable wage to do the educating.
2. David Brooks doesn't understand this.
Sure
Fetus to testify on Ohio abortion bill:
A fetus has been scheduled as a legislative witness in Ohio on a unique bill that proposes outlawing abortions after the first heartbeat can be medically detected.I don't even know what to say anymore. I cannot conceive of one new way to say the same things I have said, at this point, literally hundreds of times before about this contemptible horseshit.
Faith2Action, the anti-abortion group that has targeted Ohio to pilot the measure, called the in-utero witness the youngest to ever come before the House Health Committee at 9 weeks old.
Faith2Action president Janet Folger Porter said the intent is to show lawmakers who will be affected by the bill, which abortion rights groups oppose. Ohio Right to Life has not endorsed the measure.
An aide to committee Chairman Lynn Wacxmlann said a pregnant woman will be brought before the committee and an ultrasound image of her uterus will be projected onto a screen. The heartbeat of the fetus will be visible in color.
This bill is nothing more than state-sponsored terrorism, in defense of an inherently violent ideology, and wheeling in a pregnant woman so her fetus can "testify" is a fucking sideshow—a red herring dressed as a rodeo clown to distract from the key principle at issue: Whether we acknowledge women as autonomous human beings with the right of self-determination and accord them the agency they deserve and a respect for their ability to make the best choices for themselves, or whether we fucking don't.
Glenn Beck Is a Garbage Nightmare
I know. No doy. But sometimes he goes so far over the top that it's breathtaking, even when your expectations are that he's a garbage nightmare who emits nothing but a steady stream of diarrheic disgorgances putrid with the oppressive stank of bigotry, hatred, and stupid.
[Trigger warning for sexual violence and hostility to agency.]
Case in point: One of Glenn Beck's catastrophically clueless listeners admits he's not sure how to argue why women who are pregnant as the result of rape should be forced to carry that pregnancy to term and give birth to their rapist's baby.
Beck's guest, anti-choicer Lila Rose, helpfully explains that women who terminate pregnancies caused by rape are cowards, while Beck adds that they are eugenicists.
[Transcript below.]
I also love (where love = "loathe with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns") Lila Rose's brave assertion that people born of the result of rape are human beings, too, and are not to blame for the rape, as if the survivors who terminate pregnancies resulting from rape, and the people who defend their right to do so, might be arguing otherwise. Smells like straw!
And, you know, as someone who has written extensively about how being an anti-rape advocate retroactively gives meaning to having been raped, an otherwise senseless crime against my body and mind, I fully support (and understand) any survivor who finds purpose in carrying to term a pregnancy resulting from rape.
Thing is, I recognize that what is meaningful for me is not meaningful for everyone. Frankly, being a survivor has given me a virtually sacrosanct respect for allowing women to do whatever they want with their bodies.
Which will be various things. Because survivors are not a monolith.
I don't know who the fuck Lila Rose thinks she is, self-appointing herself our spokesperson, especially when she doesn't even identify as a survivor herself, but she really needs to STFU.
And, for the record, abortion is not an inherently violent act. Forcible birth, on the other hand, is.
[Commenting Guidelines: Disablist comments musing about Beck's psychological state or outright calling him crazy, nuts, deranged, delusional, unstable, a lunatic, in need of commitment, etc. are both unwelcome and not on-topic. I have a mental disorder, for example. It doesn't make me a lying rightwing dipshit.]
Glenn Beck: Nels Robinson is from Montana. He says he is a conservative and a constitutionalist, but…
Nels Robinson, Beck listener: But I'm having a I have a hard issue with, um, the aspect of, like, a rape case, or, uh, violence—something like that, as a conservative, what other conservatives feel about, you know, abortion in that case.
Beck: Yeah, so, you're kinda with me, that you're, you're so strong on this, except you get fuzzy when it—right?
Robinson: Yes.
Beck: And most people are like that. How do you answer that?
Lila Rose, President of Live Action: So, first of all, I want to talk about my friend Rebecca, and she's a pro-life speaker, and she was the victim, the [makes air-quotes] "product," of a rape. But she's just as much a human being as you or I are. So, that's the first thing there, is that unborn children that are conceived by violence of a rape, that is not the fault, their fault; that's the fault of their father, who's a criminal who needs to be put behind bars, et cetera.
But the other aspect here is, is the solution to the PAIN of a rape or incest victim an abortion? Is abortion something that they're going to—ten, fifteen, twenty years later—going to be happy that it happened? Is that going to take away the suffering of their rape? And I think you'll talk to rape victims and, and the ones that have BRAVELY chosen to go through with the pregnancy and give that child a chance, and they're not gonna say, "Oh, I wish I'd had an abortion." They're gonna say, "Wow, that was a redemptive part of this suffering; that was something that helped to redeem it." But abortion adds more violence to a violent act of rape.
Beck: I will, I will tell ya another argument, um, another argument for it would be, um, "Well, he's got the genes. You know, that child's got the genes of a rapist. " And that goes back to eugenics. That goes back to the argument, "Oh, you've gotta get rid of 'em, because they're imbeciles." Or they're criminals, and they'll always be criminals—and as, um, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, you know, isn't three generations of imbeciles enough?
Question of the Day
What is your favorite film that never won an Academy Award?
Harold and Maude, which wasn't even nominated for anything.
Quote of the Day
"It was the President, and a Republican Congress and the Reagan peace dividend, and a bubble economy, we later learned, that produced that surplus."—My garbage nightmare of a governor, Mitch Daniels, on who and what should get credit for the federal budget surplus that we had when Clinton left office, which immediately disappeared when Bush took office with Mitch Daniels as his budget director.
The "Reagan Peace Dividend." LULZ.
[H/T to Shaker Ellen.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Laser Cat will destroy you.
Remember when we first got Sophie, and she was an impossibly tiny kitten with a grown-up face...? Now she's an impossibly tiny cat with permanent kitten-face.
That's some Benjamin Button shit, right there!
Rhetorical Question of the Day
How many Tea Partiers had to show up at townhall meetings across the country before the Liberal Media started paying so much attention to them that there's now a "Tea Party Caucus" in Congress?'
Because thousands of pro-choicers rallied in 55 cites worldwide this weekend, in response to the GOP's legislative attack on choice, and the Liberal Media has barely made a peep about it.
I'm sure that's just a coincidence.
Number of the Day
50%: The percentage of movie tickets bought by men last year. And thus also the percentage of movie tickets bought by women last year.
As my pal Melissa Silverstein points out, "This number is very important—Hollywood lives and breathes on the narrative that young men drive the box office. That is just not true."
She also notes that women actually comprise a higher percentage "of the frequent moviegoers in the 18-24 category."
Ahem.
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by James Franco, because James Franco.
Recommended Reading:
Stephanie: 2011 Post-Oscar Response
Fannie: But... Girls?... Playing Baseball?
Living ~400lbs: Plus-Sized Athletes (with Heads) [TW for body policing]
Tami: Can a sista with rainbow hair get respect?
Lauredhel: Another T-Shirt We Didn't Need [TW for rape "humor"]
Andy: Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Wyoming House
Leave your links in comments...
The People's House
Madison, Wisconsin is laid out in a conventional way, with two of the state's most important institutions (the Capitol and the state's flagship university) facing each other. In this instance, a mile-long stretch of restaurants, bookstores, and shops separates Bascom Hall, headquarters of the University of Wisconsin's administration, from the headquarters of the state's government.
For any number of reasons (including fire), Bascom Hall isn't as exciting for visitors as the hill upon which it sits. The gathering place on campus is the Memorial Union (or "the Union"), on the shore of Lake Mendota.
The size of the community built up around Wisconsin's largest university, a public university, never ceases to amaze me. Even in Upstate New York, I'm never far from another Badger. Even with the size of our extended family, the University makes room for visitors to sit on its terrace, munching on bratwurst over a game of checkers or a free concert. How could it not? It is, after all, Wisconsin's university-- our university.
On a less imposing hill on the other end of State Street from Bascom Hall sits our Capitol. It's a beautiful building, and a symbol of the Capitol city. Madison does not allow construction of buildings downtown that are taller than the Capitol, and skirmishes have been known to break out over efforts that would block views of our building.
The first four years was in Madison, I lived on Mansion Hill (in the sitting room), a mere three blocks from the Capitol. It was part of the neighborhood. The Capitol looms large in the life of the city. Between winters, Madisonians, as well as people from throughout Wisconsin and beyond shop for veggies (and cheese!), attend concerts, and generally relax on the square surrounding the Capitol. When the temperature drops, we ski around it.
We also make use of the insides of our Capitol. I've toured the grand building. I've celebrated the life of a late Senator. I've used the bathroom. I've walked through it just because, and yes, I've attended protests. There were no metal detectors, no dogs, no questions.
When my sweetie and I got married, we did it in the Capitol rotunda (and not :ahem: on the first floor). In hindsight, there's plenty of symbolism behind two women getting married in the seat of state government as curious onlookers cheered. But that's another story, really. All we were thinking at the time was that the Capitol was an a gorgeous building that was open to us, that was already part of our lives.
While we did have to fill out a request with the Capitol Police, it was a formality. You can't have too many lesbians getting married in the same place at the same time, I suppose. As at the University to the west, there are some restrictions. You can't hold a kegger in the Assembly chambers, just as you can't walk off the street and reserve any room in the Memorial Union for any purpose at any time. The public's buildings are available to all, but we manage them cooperatively, with an eye toward their purposes. Particularly in the case of the Capitol, public assembly to discuss the state of government is one purpose of the space, and not one that conflicts with a handful of elected officials discussing legislation. I believe these sorts of priorities are why there was no skiing this year, too.
It is with great sadness that I observe Governor Walker's decision to close our state Capitol. And to bring in police dogs for some reason. I don't believe the people who designed and oversaw the building of our Capitol nearly 100 years ago were ardent trade unionists, but I hope that they'd welcome the people of Wisconsin into the house that the people of our state built and paid for. And the people of Wisconsin includes the pizza delivery person.
The Three Corporate Stooges
What an absolutely delightful article about Republican Governors Mitch Daniels (Indiana), Scott Walker (Wisconsin), and Chris Christie (New Jersey)!
In private, three of the Republican governors at the center of a growing national debate over public sector workers commiserate in telephone calls and e-mail messages. In public, the three — now members, it seems, of a newly established fraternity — sound like one another's biggest boosters."Fewer unions, more beer bongs!"—The slogan for newly established fraternity Alpha Epsilon Barf, whose founding members are getting PhDs in Reaganomics from Garbage University.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, whose proposal to cut collective bargaining rights for government workers has drawn thousands of protesters outside the state Capitol in Madison, has described Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana as a "great inspiration" and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey as a confidant.Cute camaraderie! It's so adorable that Mark Burnett needs to stick their asses in a fancy mansion with a puppy and turn that shit into a reality show for ABC. "Three and a Half Governors." Awwwww!
Mr. Christie, whose is famous for his clashes with the New Jersey teachers' unions, has praised Mr. Daniels as "a great help to me." And the Indiana governor, who ended collective bargaining for state workers six years ago, has defended Mr. Walker's choices. "He is simply keeping a commitment that he made very openly in running for office," Mr. Daniels said in an interview over the weekend.
No one will even notice that these highly privileged, straight, white, conservative men are corporate stooges who are conspiring to ruin our lives. It's just TOO CUTE!
HIGH FIVES.
[H/T to Shaker Melissa.]
Open Thread: World Protests
There's so much going on! Demonstrations have spread to Oman; Egypt's getting back online; Tunisia is moving forward; Qaddafi's still holding on in Libya...! Here's a round-up of some of the stuff I've read this morning. As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to leave additional links in comments.
Al Jazeera—Protesters march in Tripoli: "At least 300 people are protesting in the east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, chanting slogans against their leader Muammar Gaddafi. Protesters began the rally in the Tajoura district on Monday after the funeral of a person killed in attacks on demonstrators by pro-Gaddafi militias last week."
The Guardian—Libya crisis: EU agrees sanctions as UK warns of 'day of reckoning' for Gaddafi: "The European Union has agreed a range of sanctions against Libya as international diplomatic efforts are stepped up against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said the measures, including an arms embargo, asset freeze and visa ban, were aimed at reinforcing the UN security council sanctions against Libya approved over the weekend. In Geneva, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, warned 'nothing is off the table', while William Hague, the British foreign secretary, said there would be a 'day of reckoning' for anyone involved in supporting Gaddafi's human rights abuses against protesters in Libya."
New York Times—Refugee Agency Speaks of Emergency on Libya's Borders: "The United Nations refugee agency says almost 100,000 people have fled Libya's fighting to neighboring Tunisia and Egypt in what it called a humanitarian emergency. The numbers seem to have increased over the weekend as armed rebel forces moved closer to a showdown with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his loyalists who were standing their ground in Tripoli, the capital, and a handful of other places."
CNN—Libya bombs military base in region held by protesters: "A Libyan military jet bombed a base in eastern Libya on Monday, as embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi fought to hold onto his regime. ... Several soldiers told CNN they switched their allegiance after refusing to use weapons against peaceful demonstrators."
Al Jazeera—Clinton urges Gaddafi to step down: "Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said the government of Muammar Gaddafi must be held to account over atrocities committed in Libya as she reiterated calls for the leader to step down. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, Clinton said Gaddafi must leave power 'now, without further violence or delay'."
New York Times—Protests in Oman Spread: "Demonstrators blocked roads and clashed with police on Monday in Oman, the normally quiet oil-rich country along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, as three-day old protests calling for political reforms and better living conditions spread to Muscat, the capital."
CNN—Tunisian prime minister resigns amid renewed protests: "Tunisia's interim president tapped Al-Baji Qa'ed Al-Sebsi as the country's new prime minister Sunday, after the previous prime minister resigned amid protests, state-run media reported. Former Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi's resignation Sunday came a day after three people were killed during protests in the capital, Tunis. 'I am resigning today because I am not willing to be a person that takes decisions that could cause casualties,' he told reporters Sunday."
Al Jazeera—Yemen 'to declare unity government': "Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, is to announce a government of national unity 'within the next 24 hours', government sources have told Al Jazeera. The move comes as thousands more protesters joined demonstrations against Saleh's 32-year rule on Monday. Hashem Ahelbarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Yemen, said: 'It's a last ditch effort to try and appease the mounting tension here in the capital and across the country.'"
The Guardian—Banned books return to shelves in Egypt and Tunisia: "Works by censored authors available again in wake of revolutions."
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Trigger warning for stalking, heterocentrism, and for ableist language at the link.]
In love? Don't get stuck on stupid.
I have a real issue with taking it as read that everyone acts "ridiculous" when they are in the throes of a crush, if "ridiculous" is defined as "finding pathetic excuses to call again when he doesn't call back right away, or scheming to run into her outside her office 'by accident'."
I also have a real issue with the idea that getting married (which, of course, not everyone is even legally allowed to do) is an instant remedy for acting "ridiculous." Getting married is not a magical cure for insecurity and/or entitlement.
In fact, marriage (or any other long-term commitment) actually stands to exacerbate feelings of insecurity and/or entitlement in people who enter the partnership expecting it to salve a lack of confidence or an insidious possessiveness.
Positing marriage as a solution to "creepiness" is absurd. And very nearly as objectionable as normalizing and minimizing stalking behavior as some sort of universal "creepiness" in which we all engage, because love makes us fools.
Oscars Open Thread
Hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway speak onstage during the 83rd Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre on February 27, 2011 in Hollywood, California. [Getty Images]
