The Occupy movement is only a little over a month old. It is a new colt, still wobbly on its legs, yet some of us want it to already be Seabiscuit.Greg Sargent—Yup: Blue collar whites do support Occupy Wall Street: "Conservatives predicting that the protests will drive away blue collar whites are trying to exploit a traditional cultural faultline that has been a feature of our politics for decades—the one between working class whites and liberal activists who resort to outsized protest tactics. But if anything, white working class voters may be looking past the theatrics and responding to Occupy Wall Street's actual message. It's very early days, and anything can happen to the movement, but this raises at least the possibility that labor organizers can begin to make some headway in tying it to a broader working class constituency."
It is, however, difficult to escape a certain impatience when you consider that the corporate greed and exploitation the movement exists to oppose have gone unquestioned and unchallenged for an unconscionably long time. There is something grotesque about the idea that 1 percent of the nation controls more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined. There is something pitiful about the idea that the bottom 90 has endured economic exploitation in silence for years.
The nation - the world itself, to judge from last weekend - needs this uprising, this line in the sand, this visceral reminder of the power of the people. We need this to be something.
On Saturday, the nation's capital provided a sharp contrast: A couple dozen mostly white protesters congregated in Washington's Freedom Plaza. They were separate from Occupy DC but hold similar ideals. Not far away, thousands marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Their rallying cry was similar, if not identical -- yet the vast majority were black.Emerging from Chicago's South Side, Occupy the Hood, which is quickly spreading to other US cities, is one attempt at bridge-building.
A few men played the bongo drums at Freedom Plaza, while a band at the nearby rally led by the Rev. Al Sharpton near the Washington Monument played a soulful, jazzy rendition of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" -- albeit with a white saxophonist -- and the crowd sang along knowingly as a speaker recited the familiar opening theme to the "Tom Joyner Morning Show."
Phil Calhoun, 44, an engineer from Crofton, Md., who was checking out the various protests, marveled at the racial disparity between the two groups even though they were preaching similar ideologies.
"Maybe it's just the nature of our society, set this up this way," he said. "But it's one thing I think we need to bridge. We need to bridge that gap."
New York Times—Qaddafi Dead as Troops Seize Stronghold, Officials Say:
The head of the Libyan military council said that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed Thursday as fighters battling the vestiges of his fallen regime wrested control of his hometown of Surt after a prolonged struggle. Al-Jazeera television showed what it said was Colonel Qaddafi's corpse as Libyans rejoiced.Qaddafi has been both actual shit-head and US boogeyman for most of my life. And I'm having pretty much the same reaction I had when I heard that bin Laden had been killed: It's good, I guess...? I have a hard time feeling awesome about anyone being killed, even when it's an irredeemable specimen of humanity's worst nature like Qaddafi. It's just a weird thing to celebrate.
Abdul Hakim Belhaj, the leader of the Tripoli military council, said on Al Jazeera that the former leader had been killed and that anti-Qaddafi forces had his body.
...As rumor of his death spread in the capital, Tripoli, car horns blared as many celebrated in the streets.
Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman, traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Afghanistan, said the department was aware of the reports "on the capture or killing of Muammar Qaddafi" but could not confirm them "at this time."
Because today is Spirit Day: "In early October 2010, Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan promulgated the observance of a new commemoration called Spirit Day, the first observance of which took place on October 20, 2010, in which people wear the color purple to show support for LGBT young people who are victims of bullying."
As last year, we will "wear" purple for the rest of the day. We will remain committed to championing LGBTQI equality, and challenging straight and cis privilege, always.
What types of women's stories do you wish were told more often in literature, film, and other media?
This could mean either something like "WOC's stories" or "fat women's stories" or similar observations about intersectional identity and privilege, or something like "stories about women succeeding in Corporate America via nontraditional ways" or similar observations about rarely told experiences, or any other way in which you would like to interpret it.
I wish I were kidding, or being hyperbolic, or straight-up getting my shit wrong, but nope! (Emphasis original.)
Stop me if you've heard this one: an anti-choice politician, instead of focusing on creating jobs, sticks an attack on women's freedom and privacy onto an unrelated piece of legislation.The Senate was going to take action on this legislation sometime this week, possibly as early as yesterday, but I've not yet been able to find out any updates on the fate of DeMint's amendment. Given the current tenor of the Senate, I'm reasonably confident it won't go anywhere.
Seems to be a theme, huh?
Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman's health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care.
Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors.
[Trigger warning for disablism.]
Ricky Gervais, who has basically shrugged off all pretense of being anything but a self-important garbage nightmare at this point, continues to fantasize that he is a courageous free-speech champion because he refuses to concede that using the word "mong" is contemptible.
Ricky Gervais has been criticised by disability groups for repeated use of the word "mong" on his Twitter feed.It's so bingotastic I would swear he was doing performance art as a defensive dipfuck steeped in impenetrable privilege if I didn't know that he's actually a defensive dipfuck steeped in impenetrable privilege.
The comedian's recent tweets have included phrases like "Good monging everyone", "Night night monglets" and "Two mongs don't make a right".
The word is sometimes used offensively about people with Down's Syndrome.
Mencap said using it could reinforce prejudice but Gervais insists the word has changed meaning and that he never meant to refer to people with Down's.
The Office star criticised "the humourless PC brigade" on his Twitter feed and said the term is now commonly used to refer to someone who is very stupid or idiotic.
...On Sunday, he tweeted: "Well done everyone who pointed out that Mong USED to be a derogatory term for DS [Down's Syndrome], Gay USED to mean happy. Words change. Get over it."
This blogaround brought to you by figs.
Recommended Reading:
Samhita: It's Love Your Body Day! (The LYBD Carnival is here, and may be triggering especially re: diet talk and disordered eating, even though the carnival is supportive of body acceptance.)
Yashar: [TW for discussion of weight loss, disordered eating, and body image] Think Twice Before You Praise Someone for Losing Weight
Megan: [TW for sexual violence] In Women, War & Peace's 'I Came to Testify' Brave Bosnian Women Speak Out About Surviving Rape as a Weapon of War
Resistance: [TW for racism and appropriation] I have come to hate the phrase "honoring her culture."
Zaid: Corporate Front Group ALEC Pushing for Repeal of Paid Sick Day Laws Nationwide
Minh-ha: On the Black Panther Party's Free Clothing Program: Q&A with Alondra Nelson
Andy: Autumn Photo of the Day
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
At last night's Republican debate, Anderson Cooper asked the candidates whether voters should "pay attention to a candidate's religion." A few of the candidates—Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney—were asked to respond to the question, and generally gave milquetoast answers about judging candidates on character and freedom of religion, but implicit in all of their responses was the notion that a candidate should have God-belief of some sort. Gingrich made the assertion most explicitly (emphasis is mine):
I think if the question is does faith matter, absolutely. How can you have a country which is founded on truth, which begins, "We are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights"—how can you have the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which says religion, morality, and knowledge being important, education matters? That's the order: religion, morality and knowledge.Faith of a religious sort is the only kind that matters, naturally. Those of us with a faith decidedly more grotty and earthbound are axiomatically filed as untrustworthy, because we don't recognize and worship a god whom we identify as the singular genesis of morality; because our moral compass doesn't lead us through the pages of a holy text; because we find the capacity to lead in ways other than the practice of prayer.
Now, I happen to think that none of us should rush in judgment of others in the way in which they approach God. And I think that all of us up here, I believe, would agree. But I think all of us would also agree that there's a very central part of your faith in how you approach public life. And I, frankly, would be really worried if somebody assured me that nothing in their faith would affect their judgments because then I'd wonder, where's your judgment—how can you have judgment if you have no faith? And how can I trust you with power if you don't pray? (Applause.)
Who you pray to, how you pray, how you come close to God is between you and God. But the notion that you're endowed by your creator sets a certain boundary on what we mean by America. (Applause.)
$1 trillion: The approximate amount of outstanding student loans in the US this year.
The amount of student loans taken out last year crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time and total loans outstanding will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year. Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, reports the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.It falls primarily on young people, but not exclusively: The long-term unemployed have been encouraged for years to return to school, often taking on debt to do so. There are a lot of people who have invested borrowed money into education that is supposed to help them get a job, only to find themselves still jobless but deeper in debt.
Students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago after adjusting for inflation, the College Board reports. Total outstanding debt has doubled in the past five years — a sharp contrast to consumers reducing what's owed on home loans and credit cards.
Taxpayers and other lenders have little risk of losing money on the loans, unlike mortgages made during the real estate bubble. Congress has given the lenders, the government included, broad collection powers, far greater than those of mortgage or credit card lenders. The debt can't be shed in bankruptcy.
The credit risk falls on young people who will start adult life deeper in debt, a burden that could place a drag on the economy in the future.
After the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent a recent email urging supporters to sign a petition backing the wave of Occupy Wall Street protests, phones at the party committee started ringing.And, hey, guess what? Neither are the protesting 99 percenters. The fact is that the Democrats can't straddle the fence forever: They're either corporate shills, or they're representatives of the people. For a long time, they continued the charade of populist rhetoric while selling out the soul of FDR's party to corporations, and they tried to maintain that they could somehow do both and everything would be okay. But things aren't okay. And it's time to pick a side.
Banking executives personally called the offices of DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and DCCC Finance Chairman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) last week demanding answers, three financial services lobbyists told POLITICO.
"They were livid," said one Democratic lobbyist with banking clients. ... Democrats' friends on Wall Street have a message for them: you can't have it both ways.
President Barack Obama and other top Democrats are parroting the anti-corporate rhetoric running through the Occupy Wall Street protests, trying to tap into the movement's energy but keep the protesters at arms' length.
But many bankers aren't buying the distinction.
And it was garbage no doy. It was also in Vegas, and what happens in Vegas should stay in Vegas, amirite? What I'm saying is YOU SHOULD ALL STAY IN VEGAS, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES! You should stay there, and you should gamble on slot machines, instead of gambling with our nation's future. Stay in Vegas! FOREVER.
In fact, you should all become a showgirl dance ensemble called the Whoopsycat Fails. All you need is some choreographed leg-kicks, because you already know how to stand in a line in matching outfits SO WELL.
What is your favorite novel with a female protagonist?
(As always, graphic novels etc. totes count. Define as expansively as you wish.)
