HA HA of course he's not just racist, no doy. He's also deeply sexist, too:
"It this shirt has a few wrinkles in it, it's not my wife's fault."—Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), quoted by ABC News Radio.Don't worry—she ironed it like a good little wife should, but I'm just a big manly lug who gets my shirt all wrinkled up when I take my jacket off.
With another presidential election comes a bunch of Republican candidates who say thinly-veiled racist things against Obama and then pretend that anyone who calls that shit out is a liberal hysteric.
Texas Governor and full-tilt asshole Rick Perry, in Iowa earlier today:
Perry focused his fire on President Obama, who will be in a different part of the state later Monday.He didn't mean it that way blah blah fart.
"He says he's on a listening tour," Perry said, "so I'm going to talk to him."
"Mr. President, you need to free up the employers of this country to create jobs." Perry called on Obama to "free up this country" from "stifling regulation."
"I'm a pro-business governor, I don't make any apologies about it and I will be a pro-business president."
Perry warned that a "big black cloud" hangs over the country.
On a church sign on the way to the dog park (this was quite a few weeks ago now, but let's just pretend I didn't keep forgetting to post it and that I only saw it this weekend, to keep it topical):
This blogaround brought to you by owls.
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Resistance: That Time Again
Cord: We're Next: Why America's Riots May Not Be Far Behind London's
Jeff: [TW for racism; xenophobia] David Sedaris thinks Chinese people (and food) are repulsive, which makes me sad, because I used to like David Sedaris.
Andrew: [TW for homophobia; sexual assault] Lawyer for Tyler Clementi's Roomie Asks That Charges Be Dropped
Melissa: Studio - A New Film Magazine Targeted at Women Launches in the UK
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
"He should go after the problem with everything he's got. He should travel the country and go where people are not employed and let the country know he cares about this in the pit of his stomach. … I don't think we've seen nearly enough. We've seen virtually nothing."—Peter Buttenwieser, a major Democratic fundraiser who is supporting President Obama's reelection bid, but wants him to pay more attention to job creation, quoted in a piece by Peter Nicholas for the LA Times, "Democrats urge Obama to be more aggressive on jobs."
Good advice.
The greatest mystery of our generation, I'm sure.
[Trigger warning for misogyny; sexual objectification; dehumanization.]
Approximately five weeks after Elevatorgate, i.e. the latest round of "Where All the Atheist Ladies At?", I click through to Pharyngula at FTB to see that PZ Myers, who was rightly up in arms about the sexism directed at a woman on his team, has posted a piece about Rep. Michele Bachmann which includes a sexually suggestive picture of her from the Iowa State Fair about to eat a corndog and calls her a reptile.
[My mistrust is] born of the multitude of mundane betrayals that mark my every relationship with a man—the casual rape joke, the use of a female slur, the careless demonization of the feminine in everyday conversation, the accusations of overreaction, the eyerolling and exasperated sighs in response to polite requests to please not use misogynist epithets in my presence or to please use non-gendered language ("humankind").PZ Myers is a smart guy, and he is capable of understanding that if he wants women to trust him and his space and the community of which he is a prominent part, then he can't continually expect them to overlook (and endorse) casual misogyny being wielded against other women.
There are the insidious assumptions guiding our interactions—the supposition that I will regard being exceptionalized as a compliment ("you're not like those other women"), and the presumption that I am an ally against certain kinds of women. Surely, we're all in agreement that Britney Spears is a dirty slut who deserves nothing but a steady stream of misogynist vitriol whenever her name is mentioned, right? Always the subtle pressure to abandon my principles to trash this woman or that woman, as if I'll never twig to the reality that there's always a justification for unleashing the misogyny, for hating a woman in ways reserved only for women. I am exhorted to join in the cruel revelry, and when I refuse, suddenly the target is on my back. And so it goes.
...I am expected to nod in agreement, and I am nudged and admonished to agree. I am expected to say these things are not true of me, but are true of women (am I seceding from the union?); I am expected to put my stamp of token approval on the stereotypes. Yes, it's true. Between you and me, it's all true. That's what is wanted from me. Abdication of my principles and pride, in service to a patriarchal system that will only use my collusion to further subjugate me. This is a thing that is asked of me by men who purport to care for me.
...Not every man does all of these things, or even most of them, and certainly not all the time. But it only takes one, randomly and occasionally, exploding in a shower of cartoon stars like an unexpected punch in the nose, to send me staggering sideways, wondering what just happened.
After coming in third in the GOP king/queen-making Iowa Straw Poll over the weekend, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty has dropped out of the presidential race.
"We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward," Pawlenty said this morning in an exclusive interview on "This Week." "That didn't happen, so I'm announcing this morning on your show that I'm going to be ending my campaign for president."Pawlenty received only 14% of the vote behind winner Rep. Michele Bachmann (!) and Rep. Ron Paul, who received 28% and 27% of the vote, respectively.
"I'm very, very grateful for the people of Iowa," Pawlenty added. "I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist, so we're going to end the campaign."
Over the weekend, there was a terrible incident at the Indiana State Fair, which is one of the biggest state fairs in the country. During bad weather, a huge gust of wind blew over the rigging on the main stage just before the band Sugarland was set to perform, and the entire thing collapsed into the audience, killing five people and injuring dozens more.
Below is video of the incident, which may be upsetting, but shows how quickly it really happened:
[Please note that Dudley and Zelda bare their teeth at each other in this video. They're just playing, but if seeing dogs bare their teeth is triggering or otherwise problematic for you, you should skip this video.]
[Trigger warning for clergy abuse; rape culture.]
Priorities! The New York State Catholic Conference has them! And they are terrible!
According to reports filed with the Commission on Public Integrity, the Conference hired three lobbying firms in the first six months of 2011. Two firms worked exclusively opposing legislation that would give child sex crime victims more time to bring lawsuits or criminal charges. The third firm spent most of its time on such legislation.Emphasis mine.
Collectively, the Conference paid the three firms just over $111,000 in fees and expenses. The firms lobbied the governor, the State Senate, and the Assembly. The Church is concerned with limiting its financial liability in lawsuits resulting from allegations of sexual abuse of children by priests.
This blogaround brought to you by reproductive choice.
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Susie: Who Won't Hire the Unemployed?
Adrienne: [TW for racism] Native Ex-NBC Employee "Siouxs" for Harassment
moyazb: (More) Love for Awkward Black Girl
And so much joy to Blue Gal and Drifty, on their wedding day.
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
[Trigger warning for transphobia]
On Tuesday, I posted about an advertisement for Always pads that's been making its way around the Internet.
Liss recently received a statement from Leo Burnett UK, the agency responsible for the film:
All creative agencies will look at different creative ideas to push boundaries and engage consumers. We will occasionally make test films to try and bring an idea to life without a request from the client. These films are for internal use only, for us to understand the power of an idea and are not for publication. The creative was never commissioned nor approved by P&G. We regret this has been made public without our approval or authorization and apologise for any offence caused.
[Trigger warning for sexual violence; body policing; misogyny.]
Rick Santorum, on his extreme abortion views, at the Republican Debate last night:
Moderator: Our next question is for Senator Santorum: In June, you said, quote, "I believe that any doctor who performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so." You would allow no exceptions for cases of rape and incest. [Santorum nods.] Polls have long shown that large majorities of Americans support at least some exceptions for abortion. Are your views too much even for many conservatives to support?Yes, Rick Santorum, to be victimized twice would be a horrible thing—and many women who get pregnant via rape consider being forced to carry to term a pregnancy caused by rape and bear their rapist's child a revictimization of their bodies. Which is why women have a choice. No pregnant rape survivor is required to get an abortion; and no pregnant rape survivor should be denied an abortion, either. And if you genuinely believed that to be victimized twice is a horrible thing, you would agree with me, you despicable, body-policing, misogynistic, hypocritical dipshit.
Santorum: You know, the Supreme Court of the Unites States, on a recent case, said that a man who committed rape could not be killed, would not be subject to the death penalty—yet the child [sic] conceived as a result of that rape could be. That to me sounds like a country that doesn't have its morals correct. That child [sic] did nothing wrong. That child [sic] is— [pauses for audience applause]. That child [sic] is an innocent victim. To be victimized twice would be a horrible thing.
It is an innocent human life. It is genetically human from the moment of conception—it is a human life—and we in America should be big enough to try to surround ourselves and help women in those terrible situations—they've been traumatized already! To put them through another trauma of an abortion I think is, uh, is too much to ask, and I so I would, I would just absolutely stand and say that ONE violence in enough!
