The Chambers Brothers: "Time Has Come Today"
Troy Davis
This is the last day to take action to save Troy Davis' life. Please use your teaspoon, if you can.
Sure
Mike Huckabee says: "The abortion industry [is] a multimillion dollar industry specifically designed in order to terminate life and make people rich. Let's not kid ourselves; this is not about elevating women this is about elevating wealth on behalf of those who profit from the sale of death."
LOL yup.
Every reproductive rights advocate I know is rolling in dough! WE ARE SO RICH!
True Fact: Every time someone gets an abortion, every professional-grade steampunk abortion robot such as myself gets a 10¢ commission. That's why I live in steampunk mansion with a gold-plated bidet.
This Is What Patriotism Looks Like
Patriotism is a concept that is easily regarded as something vaguely sinister, because of the people who wage wars of choice justified by lies about national safety, or something ridiculous, because of the people who reduce patriotism to flag lapel pins and trite bumper-stickers, or something divisive, because of the people who deem insufficiently patriotic, as if low expectations are evidence of respect, anyone who criticizes hir own government because they expect more.
It's sad, really, that patriotism is so often regarded as nothing more than a weapon or a joke, or an expression of mindless nationalism, because there are expressions of patriotism which are really beautiful, especially within social justice movements.
This is what authentic patriotism looks like:
More than two years after former infantry officer Daniel Choi came out on a talk show as a gay service member – an event that led to his discharge - the Iraq war veteran says he will re-enlist in the U.S. Army following Tuesday's repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.And that looked like this:
"Going back to the military will be a vindication," Choi told POLITICO. [I'm] going back because I fought to go back. The seriousness of our claims was not just political theatre – it was really drawn from our lives. I sacrificed so much so I could go back."
In October 2010, he attempted to rejoin the U.S. Army, but has gone back and forth since then. Choi has scheduled appointment with a military recruiter to talk about joining the Army Reserves later this week.
Choi became a gay rights icon after the West Point grad told television host Rachel Maddow that he was gay back in March 2009. His resulting military discharge galvanized opposition to DADT, which allowed for gay individuals to be removed from service. Choi's activism led to trouble with the law, and he was later arrested for chaining himself to the White House fence during a protest.
Lt. Dan Choi, center, is arrested for handcuffing himself to the fence outside the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010, during a protest for gay rights, during which protesters demanded that President Obama keep his promise to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell. [AP Photo]Lieutenant Dan Choi, a West Point grad, an Arabic translator, an environmental engineer, an infantry officer who served in Iraq, and a New York National Guardsman, was pulled off the fence, arrested, and dragged down the street in front of the White House, a symbol of the nation he had offered his life to protect, a service for which he was told "No, thank you," because he is gay.
Treated like a second-class citizen by the nation he loved so much he was willing to sacrifice himself to defend it, Choi endeavored to make that nation a more inclusive place, a better place.
And now that the first battle in this war for military equality has been won, Lt. Dan Choi is not turning his back on the nation who turned its back on him, but is instead considering reenlisting in the military, making use of the opportunity that he was integral in helping to create for others.
His widely-covered ordeal made him a star in the gay rights movement. But he says his reenlistment will be for those who weren't fortunate enough to have the kind of spotlight that he did. "Not everyone is lucky enough to come out on the Rachel Maddow Show," he said.That, right there, is a patriot.
Question of the Day
What smell commonly regarded as unpleasant do find appealing?
I seem to like a lot of smells most people find icky: Cigarettes, gasoline, the musty, stale, vaguely smoky smell that resides in vintage purses and on the pages of old books. I don't even mind skunk, from a reasonable distance.
I also quite like the smell of horse and cow manure—the latter of which, I should note, I have never smelled on factory farms (where it may be unpleasant), only on family dairy farms, where the grassy, earthy smell of hay- and grass-fed animals' manure I find to be quite agreeable. They are also smells I associate, respectively, with horseback riding and with visiting the dairy farm of a family friend in Upstate New York, both activities I have long enjoyed, so the scents have a nostalgic element to them for me that certainly adds to their appeal.
Pig shit, on the other hand, I find absolutely intolerable.
The Most Compelling Argument for Raising Taxes Yet
Bill O'Reilly, Professional Fuckhead: Here's the unintended consequence of Mr. Obama's revenue-enhancing plan—and, I must tell you, I want the feds to get more revenue. I don't want to starve them, as some people do. We need a robust military, a good transportation system, and protections all over the place. But if you tax achievement, some of the achievers are going to pack it in.First of all, he is President Obama, O'Reilly, you execrable gob. Secondly, taxing someone's personal income does not affect their corporate earnings, so threatening to quit is out of spite, not the inability to continue to pay employees—which O'Reilly knows, and note his careful language. Finally, no, it's not "very possible" that O'Reilly will be paying a tax rate of more than 50%.
Again, let's take me: My corporations employ scores of people. They depend on me to do what I do, so they can make a nice salary. If Barack Obama begins taxing me more than 50%, which is very possible, I don't know how much longer I'm gonna do this.
I like my job, but there comes a point when taxation becomes oppressive. Is the country really entitled to half a person's income?
There are, however, self-employed people in this country paying close to that tax rate already—and I don't hear O'Reilly giving a fuck about them, because, of course, it's not about "taxing achievement," but about taxing millionaires.
[Via Media Matters.]
Quote of the Day
"Thousands of bridges, just like this one, are nearing the end of their designed life spans and can become structurally deficient at any time."—James Corless, Director of Transportation for America, commenting on the 18% of bridges in Indiana which have found to be structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
Two weeks ago, Governor Mitch Daniels "ordered the 50-year-old Sherman Minton Bridge closed ... after inspectors found cracks in the steel span. ... Indiana has 2,591 highway bridges. Of those, 146 were rated 'structurally deficient' and 323 earned a 'functionally obsolete' rating, according to December 2010 statistics compiled by the Federal Highway Administration."
Hopefully we can fix them with BOOTSTRAPS!
I emailed this story to Iain, who replied, "Is the one abortion clinic in Indiana accessible only via a series of rickety bridges?" LOLsob forever and ever and ever.
[H/T to Shaker Andrea.]
The Vatican Is Very Helpful, As Usual
by Shaker Jenny
[Trigger warning for transphobia.]
Okay, so the Vatican has issued a position paper regarding 'sex change operations'. Yay, this has got to be good (or we'll have to redefine what 'good' is, I suppose).
The article states: "The key point is that the (transsexual) surgical operation is so superficial and external that it does not change the personality. If the person was male, he remains male. If she was female, she remains female…"
I find myself in the unusual position of sort of agreeing with the main point here: A trans woman was a woman and a trans man was a man prior to SRS and having the body changed to align with that reality doesn't change that underlying fact. Not surprisingly, the Vatican and I differ on the actual interpretation!
They proclaim that trans identities are invalid and a result of "mental instability" or "psychic disorder". They also claim "recent medical evidence suggested that in a majority of cases the procedure increases the likelihood of depression and psychic disturbance." This is very much at odds with the accepted medical Standards of Care, recommendations of the AMA, and the vast preponderance of personal accounts from transsexual identifying people in my acquaintance (myself included). At the very least I say: Citation Needed!
It is my experience that any remaining post-operative 'depression and psychic disturbance' is a result of having to deal with retrofuck misogynistic patriarchal power structures trying to invalidate my identity.
Anyway…
They also conclude that:
• Existing priests that have a "'sex change' can continue to exercise their ministry privately if it does not cause scandal."—'cause they're totes still dudes, of course. Naturally, they reserve the right to expel said individual following a tribunal ('cause we didn't get enough of those during the Inquisition).
• People who have undergone a sex-change operation cannot enter into a valid marriage, either because they would be marrying someone of the same sex in the eyes of the church or because their mental state casts doubt on their ability to make and uphold their marriage vows. (Existing marriage are okay "unless a church tribunal determines that a transsexual disposition predated the wedding ceremony".)
These are their logical conclusions drawn from a flawed initial assumption: That trans women are originally men and trans men are originally women, and the fact that 'sex change' doesn't change an individual's gender.
Sigh.
Forgive me for being unaccountably 'depressed and psychically disturbed'.
Number of the Day
100%: The percentage increase in adoptions at a Texas Dachshund rescue after professional photographer Teresa Berg volunteered to take their adoption photos.
Male Anchor, sitting beside dog: We've heard that a dog is [humankind's] best friend, and Sam here is a good friend. [dog yawns] But who might be a homeless dog's best friend? Possibly the woman our Steve Hartman went to meet.More here.
Steve Hartman, in voiceover, over images of Teresa Berg taking pictures of dogs: Teresa Berg of Dallas, Texas is a professional pet photographer with a major league pet peeve. [cut to Berg sitting at her computer showing online pet pix to Hartman; Berg is heard saying, "It could be so much more appealing…"] Her issue: Bad dog adoption photos. [They chat briefly about a bad picture.] Shelters and rescues post these pictures to try to entice people to adopt. [Berg comments briefly on another picture.] But Teresa says the effect is often just the opposite—that thousands of dogs are euthanized every year for no other reason than bad marketing.
Berg: I can't stand the thought of, you know, for want of a good picture, that a dog goes homeless. [She shrugs, choked up.]
Hartman, in voiceover, over images of Berg photographing more dogs: That's why, a few years ago, Teresa started working for homeless dogs, pro bono, if you will—volunteering to take their adoption photos. She worked almost exclusively with a Dachshund rescue group, run by Kathleen Coleman.
Coleman: We were getting adoptions, but it was just slow going.
Hartman, in voiceover, over images of Berg photographing more dogs, then over old and new photos: So, Teresa retook all the pictures of all the dogs Kathleen had posted online—brought 'em in focus and put 'em in pearls, got 'em out of jail and onto the couch, and replaced the Nick Nolte mug shots with Dog Fancy cover shots. After the retakes, every one of these dogs got adopted in record time. And today, adoptions at the rescue are up one hundred percent.
Coleman: Pictures make a difference. That dog looks like it could be my friend.
Hartman, over images taken by Berg of a Dachshund named Liberty: This was Liberty's picture. The day after it was posted, three people called to adopt her. [over video of Berg welcoming people to a class] Teresa is now determined to multiply her results by training volunteers from other rescues and shelters—and by persuading other professional photographers to lend their cameras to the cause.
Berg: If every photographer just took in one rescue group, we could save so many more dogs. We really could.
Hartman, in voiceover: She's talking tens of thousands of lives. Picture that.
[Via.]
Thanks, Chaz!
I didn't watch Dancing with the Stars last night, but, after seeing a lot written about Chaz Bono's performance, I sought it out so I could watch it. And it was exactly as joyful and fun as I kept reading it was. I'm sure there are corners of the internetz inhabited by people who say other things, nasty things, for reasons other than simply not appreciating what is basically bad amateur dancing, but all I can do is feel pity for people whose bigotry prevents them from enjoying watching Chaz Bono and Lacey Schwimmer dance.
Video Description: Chaz Bono and Lacey Schwimmer do the cha-cha.
It takes some serious bravery to face the eleventy metric fucktons of body policing, for being trans and for being fat, that Chaz Bono faces and get on national television and do something that demands focus on your body. (And defies expectations of what fat bodies are supposed to do.) That's some inspiring teaspoonery, right there. Thanks, Chaz.
Rhetorical Question of the Day
Should the title of this article really be "In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out," or should it be, say, "Obama responds to female staffers' complaints about being frozen out"?
Because, first of all, it isn't that the female staffers "felt" marginalized, but that they were actually marginalized. And, if the rest of the information in the piece is accurate, once Valerie Jarrett laid it out for Obama that known misogynist assholes Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel were marginalizing women (if only someone could have warned the president!), Obama made a genuine effort to change that dynamic, which is a more important story and a more honest headline than what the WaPo offers.
The More Things Change...
[Trigger warning for rape culture, misogyny, racism, and ableism.]
So, last night, I decided to watch the pilots of two of the new woman-centered sitcoms that two of the networks had to offer us (ladies!) this fall: First, I watched CBS' 2 Broke Girls, which stars Kat Dennings as a cynical waitress and struggling cupcake entrepreneur, and Beth Behrs as the daughter of a Bernie Madoff-type scoundrel who has taken a job at the diner and become Dennings' roommate because the feds seized the family's assets, including her trust fund. Both of the actresses are young, white, and conventionally attractive.
Three minutes into the show, there was racism all over the place. The owner/manager of the diner, played by Matthew Moy, is a ridiculous Asian stereotype: He has Americanized his name to Bryce, prompting Dennings to exclaim, "So your name is Bryce Lee?" Huge laugh.
Garrett Morris is cast as a ridiculous Black stereotype, tasked with delivering unbelievable lines like: "You might as well be a night maid at the Schwarzenegger house, because you got screwed!" and: "That girl is working harder than Stephen Hawking trying to put in cufflinks!" Yiiiiiiiiiiikes.
There are more racist jokes (such as they are) and gender essentialist claptrap all over the place, and then there is this scene: The erstwhile heiress, with nowhere to go, falls asleep on the subway, where the career waitress discovers her. When she touches her to awaken her, the heiress startles and tasers her (with her pink taser, natch). Apologetically, the heiress explains, "I thought I was being raped!" To which the tasee replies, "That's not what rape feels like!" Huge laugh.
On the upside, at least it was a rape joke indicating that rape is bad. On the not-upside, an audience roared at a female character acknowledging having been raped. Whoops.
There is something positive to be said for 2 Broke Girls: Both lead female characters are allowed to be smart and capable and competent. Their relationship is not set up as a competition, but as a complementary friendship. It was really quite radical and wonderful. Too bad there's so much garbage undermining what could have made for a really neat show.
Next, I watched NBC's Whitney, a star vehicle for Whitney Cummings, who coincidentally co-created 2 Broke Girls with Sex and the City's Michael Patrick King. Whitney has no discernible hook: It's a crappy sitcom about a white, straight, conventionally attractive woman in a relationship with a white, straight, conventionally attractive dude. They have some boring friends, all of whom are white, except for Neal, played by Maulik Pancholy, whom Whitney's mother mistakes for a doctor and a valet. Hardy har.
Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, blah blah.
And then there is this scene: Whitney is insecure about their relationship because their third anniversary is coming up and they don't have sex four times a week, which Cosmo says they should be having. She asks her boyfriend if he remembers what they did on their last anniversary. "You took Tylenol PM. In the AM," he says. She replies, "I got the bottles mixed up! And, as I recall, you had sex with me anyway!" And he retorts, "It was our ANNIVERSARY!" Huge laugh.
So, basically, we are asked to find Whitney's boyfriend a likable character despite the fact that he raped her on their anniversary. Um, no. He is horrible and this show is garbage.
After I was done with my research into The Television Industry Speaks to Women, Fall 2011, I flipped over to an old episode of Laverne & Shirley, from 1976. In the episode, Hector (Greg Antonacci) has gotten mad that neither Laverne (Penny Marshall) nor Shirley (Cindy Williams) will go out with him, so he writes their names and number on the men's bathroom wall at Vinnie's Pool Hall, along with a note that they're "easy."
Laverne and Shirley don't know he's done this, so they're mystified by the sexually harassing prank calls they're getting and pleased when two guys they work with call them for a date.
The two guys show up for their date and immediately try to rape Laverne and Shirley. The scene is played for laughs, and gets a huge laugh from the audience.
I was born in 1974. For my entire lifetime, a woman-centered comedy show must contain "jokes" about the female lead(s) getting raped or almost getting raped, in order to appeal to a mass audience. If that doesn't perfectly illustrate that we live in a rape culture, I can't imagine what would.
Posse In Effect
Because Joe Arpaio is a ginormous racist douchebag, he's decided to get to the bottom of this whole presidential birth certificate thing once and for all. Whut? Yeah, I know, everyone thought that was settled. Right?
Well, no. Of course not. There could be a video of Obama coming out of the birth canal and being wrapped in an American flag at the base of the Washington Monument and a certain group of people (assholes) still wouldn't believe he's an American. I mean, first off, he's not white, so how could he be? We all knew that Obama releasing his birth certificate (twice) wasn't going to shut them up. No amount of placation will quiet the racist clowns who hate having a black man as their president.
That's why Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has assembled his fabled Cold Case Posse to find out if Obama's birth certificate is fraudulent or not.
No word on how they're going to do that or who is even on the posse. I'm hoping they've hired renowned document expert and historian Benjamin Franklin Gates. That guy can get to the bottom of any conspiracy!
Arpaio assures us "This investigation does not involve politics." That's a relief! "When I get allegations brought to me by the citizens of Maricopa County, I look into the allegations, just like I am doing here." Oh, okay.
The complaint originated from Arizona's Surprise Tea Party, an obviously non-partisan group. Brian Reilly, a spokesman for the group, said he and the other teabaggers are looking forward to cooperating with the sheriff's investigation. Super!
The investigation is not being funded by taxpayers, but by the Cold Case Posse's 501(c)3, a charitable organization.
Breaking Bad Open Thread
Somewhere in Mexico Gus, Jesse and Mike play a spirited game Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
Sunday's episode will be discussed in infinitesimal detail, so if you haven't seen it, and don't want any spoilers, take your añejo and move along...
Two Facts
1. David Brooks is still being paid to write a garbage column for the New York Times.
2. David Brooks says he's a sap, but, really, he's a jejune, wearisome, sanctimonious concern troll of such profound tedium that to actually be a sap would be a dynamic improvement of exponential proportions.
Photo of the Day
A man who is active-duty in the Navy, and only gave his name as Matt, wears a shirt being signed by others that reads "I survived DADT." After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military ban on openly gay servicemembers has officially been lifted today. [AP Photo]This is a cause for celebration. Yay!
Still: There are servicemembers still serving in units where there remains lingering hostility, who yet face pressure to stay closeted. My thoughts are also with them, and my hopes are for every corner of military culture to catch up with the policy as quickly as possible.
