[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
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!
Breaking News: Romney Says Something Sensible!
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change.Romney went on to say he thinks the US needs to "break its dependence on foreign oil, and expand alternative energies including solar, wind, nuclear and clean coal.". He also said that it's a global issue and other countries need to get on board this train. Ok, well, moderately sensible anyway. Much more sensible than anything else being said by GOPers. Lest we forget:
"I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," he told a crowd of about 200 at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire.
"It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors."
At an event in Manchester last week, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, also running for president, said that climate change is "the newest excuse to take control of lives" by "left-wing intellectuals."Which is much more in line with the current (House) GOP, what with their extreme loathing of the environment.
I wonder when Romney will apologize for his egregious remarks? /snort
Of course, he couldn't end on anything remotely resembling not toeing the line as he said, in a question regarding abortion, that "decisions on abortion law should be returned to state jurisdiction.". Barf.
The Brightest Light, Out of Darkness
[Trigger warning for trauma and self-harm.]
I have written before about what it means to me to be a survivor who has rescued a dog who is also a survivor, so it will probably come as no surprise that my heart has been utterly melted into a huge gooey puddle over this story about an air force veteran with PTSD who sought out a fighting dog as a companion for his anger, but found unconditional love and healing instead—and then went on to found an org dedicated to pairing other vets and dogs who have survived trauma. Megablub.
[Transcript below. Video via Time.]
David Sharpe, USAF veteran and founder of Pets to Vets: [over images of Sharpe playing with Cheyenne, a brown and white pitbull, and another dog] Cheyenne is my savior. She's the love of my life. She has always been there for me through thick and thin. My name is David Sharpe, and I served for six years in the United States Air Force, Security Forces.
[over images of Sharpe in the military, seguing into video of Sharpe playing with Cheyenne, then to footage of Sharpe talking directly into the camera] It all started after 9/11, when we got forward deployed again, to Uzbekistan, and a couple of our buddies didn't make it back, and so, I came back finally in March of 2002, and I pretty much segregated myself from my family and friends. My friends—we would go out, and they would say, "Hey, Dave, do you want a beer?" I'm like, "No, I'm gonna cruise around this bar," and the first guy who looks at me longer than two seconds, I'm gonna pop him. They said, "We can't hang out with you anymore, Dave; you're out of control." And I was like, "Fine, I don't need you anyway."
[over images of Sharpe walking through a shelter, interspersed with footage of Sharpe speaking to camera] So, my friend came over, and he said, "Let's check out this pitbull rescue." I said, "Hell, yeah—I'm a fighter; I want a fighting dog." I go down there, and there's this one puppy that's not paying me any mind, but all the others are all around me. And then I remember, she came over to me and she licked my hand, sniffed it, and then left. And then she just laid back down in the dirt in the opposite side of that pen, and I said, "I'm gonna get her."
[to dog, who's off-screen] Cheyenne, you remember that? Come here. Come here. You bum! You're a bum. You are a bum. [leans down and picks her up, holds her and cuddles her like a baby] She's a baby. This is a baby! Big baby. This is her.
[over images of Sharpe and Cheyenne playing on the bed] I brought her home, and, a couple weeks later, she witnessed me punching holes in the walls and beating up the refrigerator door—and this was normal for me during this time. I see this little tail, out of the corner of my eye, and I look down at her, and she's looking at me [cocks head back and forth like a curious dog], you know, doing this, waving her head back and forth, and I looked down at her, and I just picked her up, and took her back to my bed, and just started crying, and talking about everything that had happened—what I experienced, what I'm going through. And [deep sigh] it felt like a ten thousand pound weight was lifted off my chest. It literally did.
Staff Sergeant Bradley Fasnacht, who has been diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injury: [over images of him with his dog, Zapper, a multi-colored blue heeler mix] When I first got back from my deployment, I remember we were sitting at a coffee shop, and I just felt like everything was closing in on me, and I just wheeled myself out of the coffee shop as soon as possible, and I just sat back and waited for it to blow up—I was having flashbacks, just, it was crazy.
I ended up picking up Zapper from the P2V foundation. There's, uh, there's certain things that, you know, I only talk to Zapper about. Not that I don't think my family understands or want to hear—it's just that, you know, you always have that thing, "Will they judge me over this or not?" You know, you just really don't want to tell your story to just anybody— You got these doctors who, you know, they've heard it; but they haven't seen it. You know, so you just talk to your dog, man. Talk to Zapper. He just lets me get it off my chest and lets me get it out there.
Sharpe: [over images of veterans and dogs] Eighteen veterans commit suicide, each day in this country. Eighteen. Also on the other end of this spectrum, there's four million animals, sheltered animals, killed in this country every year. So that's what we do. We take four million, and we pair 'em up with the 6,500 per year—it's kind of like a Match.com between a shelter pet and a veteran or emergency first responder.
[over images of a scarred pitbull puppy] This little guy was used for fighting—he was a toy for other dogs to beat up on. And they don't have a choice. [getting choked up while looking down at dog, who is looking back up at him] Sorry. What better companion to have than a veteran, like us, or a firefighter or police officer, to help this little guy out, right? [sniffs] He has the physical scars on the outside, but we have the mental scars on the inside, so that's where we heal each other and meet in the middle of the road, you know?
[over images of him wrasslin' with Cheyenne at home, and then of Cheyenne licking his face, and then the two of them cuddling] I can share anything and everything with her—unconditional love. And so, really, like, I got a good family that loves me, friends that love me, and I got her.
Film Corner!
What—did you think I wasn't going to do a Film Corner! about the upcoming summer box office smash and renowned preposition hog Rise of the Planet of the Apes, starring Professor James Franco? You're so weird.
SCIENCE! People in hazmat suits handling Important Tubes in sterile environments. In voiceover, Professor James Franco, CEO of ScienceCorp says, "We're talking about huge potential for millions of people!" Cut to ScienceCorp HQ, where Professor James Franco explains that the potion in the Important Tubes is called The Cure (no relation) and it "enables the brain to cure itself." Of WHAT?! He doesn't say. I bet The Cure enables the brain to cure itself of the need for sleep.
David Oyelowo tells Professor James Franco to start testing The Cure on chimpanzees. A baby monkey arrives in a box. (Note: It is a baby chimpanzee. Chimpanzees are not monkeys, they are apes, but I am going to be calling them monkeys throughout this post, much to the chagrin of pedants everywhere, because monkeys is both a funnier word than chimpanzee and easier to type. If it makes you feel any better, pedants, they aren't real chimpanzees, anyway. They're CGI monkeys.) His name is Caesar, no doy, because he's going to be a monkey emperor and shit.
Caesar is growing up. He's very smart! Looks like The Cure enables monkey brains to cure themselves of their monkosity, because Caesar is totes humany. I also notice that Caesar the CGI Monkey looks very much like Gollum with monkey fur, and I make a funny joke inside my head that Andy Serkis is playing Caesar. Then I look at the IMDb listing and see that Andy Serkis is playing Caesar. :( "You are very good at playing CGI humanoids!"—Hollywood (cc. New Zealand). Is that what actors want to hear? That's definitely what actors want to hear. Right? I hope that is what actors want to hear, because Andy Serkis is a very fine actor, and it would make me sad if he is not flattered by being given lots of work as a CGI humanoid.
"What was that? I can't hear you over the jets in my 24-carat hot tub filled with rubies and champagne!"—Andy Serkis. Good point, Andy Serkis.
Anyway!
Freida Pinto wonders where Caesar fits in. (Ladies are so nurtury and empathetic!) David Oyelowo says, "Caesar fits in REAL NICE in this cage I got right here!" (I'm paraphrasing.) Professor James Franco has angst. Someone should cast that guy as James Dean. Caesar is, care of the thespian talentry of Andy Serkis, angry about being locked up, and, as one would expect a monkey who's "smarter than his human counterpart" to do, picks the shit out of a lock on his cage. Probably looking for beer, he finds a mini-fridge full of The Cure. He gives it to all the other prisoners in monkey jail.
"They are contaminated!" says David Oyelowo. "Put those apes down!" Professor James Franco is having none of that shit. He doesn't actually say, "If by contaminated, you mean AWESOME, then, yeah, THEY ARE!" but I can tell he's thinking it.
Uh-oh. Monkeys everywhere. They're ruining everything! It's a monkey war! HOLY SHIT!!!
"Evolution Becomes Revolution" says some text, even though evolution has fuck-all to do with this movie. Possibly that is just a ploy to ensure prominent placement in the Creation Museum.
Ahh! More monkey war! Your guns and helicopters are no match for smart monkeys! (What?)
Coming August 5 to a theater near your ass.
[Via Andy.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Sometimes, I say to Iain, "We should adopt another dog, so Dudley has a puppeh playmate." To which he says, "No way. That's too many legs in this house! There's a 20-leg maximum!" At which point I respond by pointing out that, irrespective of there being an entire house in which the cats and dog can hang out, they're always in the same room we are. We could live in a refrigerator box, and they'd be perfectly happy.
Right now, Dudley is lying on the floor beside me, Olivia is sprawled across the top of my desk, Sophie is draped across the top of the monitor, and Matilda is on a chair next to me. If I get up to take a piss, they will all follow me into the tiniest bathroom imaginable, and then follow me back to the office once I'm done.
And this is the scene in our living room on a typical night:
Big Couch
Little Couch
As you can see, the kitteh girls kindly left two seats open, so Iain and I would feel welcome to join them. I rest my case.
Quote of the Day
"I do not believe the Republican Party should focus only on our economic life, to the neglect of our human life."—GOP presidential contender Jon Huntsman, speaking today in DC at Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Conference, aka Another Iteration of Annual Fuckery by the American Family Values Children Christian Liberty Freedom Patriot Association Foundation Organization.
lol your assertion that the Republican Party cares about economics anymore. Or anything other than criminalizing abortion.
"I do not believe the Republican Party should focus only on eroding women's rights, to the neglect of EVERYTHING ELSE."—Me.
As governor of Utah, I supported and signed every pro-life [sic] bill that came to my desk. I signed the bill that made second trimester abortions illegal and increased the penalty for doing so. I signed the bill to allow women to know about the pain that abortion causes an unborn child [sic]. I signed the bill requiring parental permission for an abortion. I signed the bill that would trigger a ban on abortions in Utah if Roe vs. Wade were overturned.[Via.]
You see, I do not believe the Republican Party should focus only on our economic life, to the neglect of our human life. That is a trade we should not make. If Republicans ignore life, the deficit we will face is one that is much more destructive. It will be a deficit of the heart and of the soul.
An Observation
It is long past time for a national prime-time address by our ostensibly pro-choice Democratic president about the Republican all-out assault on reproductive rights across this country.
More than half the population is directly affected by the GOP's erosion of abortion rights. Needless to say, even people who cannot personally give birth are affected by the whims of the anti-choice brigade, too. This is a national issue.
If anti-choice legislation in all 50 states as well as the federal Congress doesn't warrant a Democratic president's attention, doesn't move him to address this full-tilt attack on every American's ability to control hir reproduction, which we consider one of the most fundamental rights of the modern world, doesn't cause within his gut a burning need to passionately defend every Uterine-American's access to basic medical care, including what is frequently a life-saving procedure, I can't imagine what will.
Speak up, Mr. President.
SPEAK THE FUCK UP.
Third Verse, Even Worse than the First
Not to be outdone by the rest of America, earlier this week the Louisiana House Health and Welfare Committee approved (by a 10-2 margin!) a bill that would ban all abortion, fullstop.
It gets worse. Remember Personhood USA? The legislation adopts their position that human life begins at fertilization, which raises all kinds of terrifying questions.
Under the proposed law, the state could sentence doctors who perform an abortion to fifteen years in prison.
As is the case with Indiana, if the bill becomes Louisiana law, it would do so it violation of federal law. While it's not clear what the federal government's response would be, it could put Louisiana's Medicaid funding at risk. Of course, given some prominent Republicans' views on Medicaid, I don't think it's a stretch to say that some conservatives are unconcerned, if not enthusiastic, about destroying Medicaid in their state.
This legislation in Louisiana, coupled with events in Indiana, is a key moment for reproductive rights in the United States. The Obama administration absolutely needs to respond with the full force of the federal government.
Indiana has denied women access to health care in direct violation of federal law. Louisiana is attempting to follow the Hoosier state's lead. Denying government funding to those who hate government is not a solution. It is long past time for the White House to take action to uphold the law of this nation.
Instead, I hear crickets.
H/t: Queen Emily
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, proud publisher of the upcoming coffee table book, Deeky W. Gashlycrumb's 10,000 Pictures of My Butt.
Recommended Reading:
Andy: Same-Sex Couples Have 33 Civil Unions in Mass Chicago Event
crunktastic: [TW for rape/violence] "Man Down": On Rihanna, Rape, and Violence
Allan: [TW for sexual harassment] Rep. Anthony Weiner Was Shining a Light on Justice Clarence Thomas' Ethical Problems When He Was Suddenly Accused of Sexual Harassment
Tami: Stop Saying "X Is the Last Acceptable Form of Bigotry"
Peter: When Republicans Are Elected, Women Pay the Price
Jeff: Polls Show Huge Public Support for Gay and Transgender Workplace Protections
Robin: [TW for sexual violence] What Can You Say About a "Conceived in Rape" Tour?
STFU Celebs: [TW for sexual violence; rape jokes] Donald Glover Thinks Rape Is Hilarious
John: 10,000-Brick Lego Sandcrawler
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Edwards Indicted
Former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards has been indicted on charges that he used campaign contributions to cover up an affair: "Edwards, 57, was charged with conspiracy, illegal campaign contributions and making false statements, according to a 19-page indictment. Ahead of the expected indictment, his attorney denied any wrongdoing. An arrest warrant has been issued for Edwards according to court records filed in District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina."
You know, I'm angry at Edwards for a lot of things, but none so much as the fact that he was the most prominent credible commentator about the increasing divide between the poor and the wealthy in this country. He could have been the guy to eventually lead us out of this economic quagmire with compassionate rhetoric about a divided nation and progressive economic policies, and he pissed it all away.
We needed someone like you, John Edwards. We still do.
Obviously
Dudley is pro-choice, no doy.
He is, as it turns out, one of many dogs who are pro-choice (and a few cats, too), because dogs (and cats) know what's up.
Dudz also wanted me to pass on that he feels like greyhounds, along with dogs used for breeding in puppy mills or used for dog fighting, have a special role to play in the pro-choice movement, because they really understand the difference between a life in which you're forced to use your body in ways you wouldn't choose and a life in which you aren't.
"I've heard all those anti-choice people say that bodies with uteri are 'designed to have babies,' so that's what they should do," Dudley told me. "Okay, sure. Just like greyhounds' bodies are 'designed to run'—but there's a difference between being made to run and choosing to run. And, as far as I can tell, giving people reproductive choices is the same as being able to run, if and when I want to, just for the joy of it. Which is way better."
[Video Description: Scenes of Dudley running around the dog park, set to "Gonna Fly Now."]
Dogs4Choice.
(FYI: Dudz totes got SO many peanut butter treats for posing so nicely for such a good cause.)
Number of the Day
4%: The real private-sector wage growth over the past decade, which falls "far short of any 10-year period since World War II, according to Commerce Department data. In fact, if the data are to be believed, economywide wage gains have even lagged those in the decade of the Great Depression (adjusted for deflation)."
Two years into the recovery, and 10 years after the nation fell into a post-dot-com bubble recession, this legacy of near-stagnant wages has helped ground the economy despite unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus — and even an impressive bull market.To say the least.
Over the past decade, real private-sector wage growth has scraped bottom at 4%, just below the 5% increase from 1929 to 1939, government data show.
To put that in perspective, since the Great Depression, 10-year gains in real private wages had always exceeded 25% with one exception: the period ended in 1982-83, when the jobless rate spiked above 10% and wage gains briefly decelerated to 16%.
...The long dry spell for real wage gains tests the natural resilience of America's consumer economy.
There's a lot of blaming and shaming of USians for frivolous spending and living beyond their means and being recklessly avaristic consumers—and, you know, I'm sure there are people like that, but I sure don't know a hell of a lot of them. (Or any of them.) I know of a lot of people who get accused of being irresponsible when they lose their homes because of unemployment, or medical bills, or predatory lending, or some combination thereof.
And all of that finger-pointing masks the reality reflected in the above numbers: The average standard and cost of living in the US have changed dramatically over the course of a single generation.
I now live in the same town in which I grew up, on the other end of the same street on which I grew up, in a smaller house than the one in which I grew up, and in which my parents still live at the other end of the street. My dad was a public high school teacher, and, until I was 18, my parents, sister, and I (and a menagerie of cats, dogs, turtles, and birds) lived on his salary—and, although I never had expensive clothes and my parents never had the best cars or the nicest electronics, we did all right, and my parents managed to save money for retirement to boot. Iain and I have no kids, share one car, have no savings, and two full-time salaries.
There is simply no way we could have the same life that I had growing up in the same place 30 years ago.
That's the reality of wage stagnation in the US.
And it's the result of greed, but not on the employee side of the paycheck.
Question of the Day
If you were offered a biebillion dollars* to change your name to the name of a Very Famous Person—someone who, if not virtually a global household name, is at least super-famous where you live—and you couldn't ever tell anyone why you'd changed your name and couldn't ever change it again, whom would you choose and why?
For a biebillion dollars, I would become Rip Taylor, effective immediately, no doy.
---------------------------
* Or whatever sum of money would make this hypothetical worth your while. To be used in any way you see fit.
Route 2012
Willard makes it official. Palin steps on his toes. Pawlenty and Bachmann, despite spin to the contrary, are not BFFs, are not glad they met in English class, and do not wish each other tons of fun over the summer. Huntsman's getting the side eye from George Will. Herman Cain who? Gingrich is finished, or maybe not, yawn. Other people doing things. Fart.
Seen
From the "Great Reads: New in Paperback" section of People magazine: "STILL MISSING by Chevy Stevens: A young Realtor tries to reclaim her life after a crazed rapist holds her captive. Just enough chills to start your summer off right."
Do I need to explain what's wrong with this? Please tell me I don't need to explain what's wrong with this.
Indiana Farts in the Government's General Direction
So you recall that Indiana decided to defund Planned Parenthood by violating the rules of Medicaid? The government was all "Uhm, no." in response. Well, Indiana responds by telling the gov't to take its no and shove it:
Indiana officials said Thursday they will defy a federal order to continue funding Planned Parenthood and other clinics that offer abortion services.I see.
Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a law in May that would cut off federal funding from Indiana clinics that perform abortions. The law is primarily aimed at the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics, which get federal family planning grants to administer services unrelated to abortion.
[...]
"The way the law was written, it went into effect the moment the governor signed it," Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, said in a telephone interview.
"We were just advised by our lawyers that we should continue to enforce Indiana law."
There is a hearing scheduled for next Monday (Planned Parenthood sued) before U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt. Judge Walton Pratt has stated she will rule on the issue by July 1st.
Quote of the Day
[Trigger warning for sexism; gender essentialism.]
"I feel more emotionally connected to this apple than I do to a person I've just slept with. Women reading that will think that's awful. But that's what men are made of."—Robbie Williams, Pop Singer and Professor of Manology at Science University.
As far as "men are just irrepressible sex-beasts" quotes go, this one is actually pretty tame. But that's kind of the point. It's just another casual reminder, another reductive assertion about monolithic mankind nonchalantly inserted into an interview with a grown-up boybander, that men are made of sex and indifference.
Once again, I will note that it is feminists who have the reputation as man-haters, but it isn't feminists who routinely talk about men like they're emotionless, exploitative garbage. It's Patriarchy enthusiasts like our friend Mr. Williams.
And, yeah, I can imagine a few women thinking that it's awful to say that all men use women (and/or other men?) for sex, but I know a few men who might not be thrilled with that assessment, too.
The real curiosity is why I don't know more of them.
