[Content Note: Rape culture; clergy sex abuse.]
"I'm not the slightest bit surprised that of course the scandal was going to be fun in the news—not fun, but the easiest thing to write about. If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I'd be happy to know who he is. … Well, the media everywhere made that the whole thing. I never had a case. And I believe that the cases I had were each handled just exactly as they should have been. … [The media] can talk about sex abuse or talk about their concern about finance—that's all right. I believe the sex abuse thing was incredibly good."—Former Bridgeport, Connecticut bishop and New York City cardinal Edward Egan, who, during his tenure at Bridgeport, "let accused priests continue to work in local parishes, authorized payments to victims in exchange for silence agreements, and lied about those payments during a deposition," but continues to maintain that the institutional sex abuse problem in the Catholic Church is a non-story inflamed by sensationalist media, and that the Church's—and especially his—handling of predator priests has been exemplary.
If the interview whence these excerpts came is indicative of the attitude among Church leadership—and one must reasonably believe that it is, given Egan's promotions and plaudits—it's no fucking wonder that there are legions of survivors of clergy abuse who have never seen anything resembling meaningful accountability.
[Via @delong.]
Quote of the Day
Primarily Disastrous
WTF?! for America.
OMG, y'all! Rick Santorum won ALL THREE primaries last night. Or, to be precise: The two official caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota after winning their unofficial straw polls and the unofficial primary in Missouri ahead of its official caucus next month. (Whatever.) RICK. FUCKING. SANTORUM. Rick Santorum! Rick Santorum! Rick Santorum! Whuuuuuuut. Even for you, Republicans, this is incredible! RICK SANTORUM!!! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
Listen, y'all: I know I'm a total garbage monster for saying this, but I kind of hope he's the nominee. (He won't be.) I hope he's the nominee, and the entire country finally gets a good goddamn look at how utterly intellectually bankrupt the GOP really is, and we all vote in a national referendum to criminalize the Republican Party on principle.
"Sorry, conservatives: You're going to have to do better than this. We're not outlawing your vomitous ideology, but you need to build a new party from scratch with serious candidates, and you've got the next four years of President Obama's second term to do it. GOOD LUCK!"—America.
Santorum/Bachmann 2012!
Failing that, Rick Santorum (RICK FUCKING SANTORUM ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!) could just be elected our next president, and we can go ahead and declare the Great American Experiment a dismal failure. ("Whooooooooops!"—The Founders.) Then we can start two new countries called Progressistan and Aynrandia. Good luck, Aynrandia! I hope you succeed in building bridges with NO TAXES!
In news other than RICK SANTORUM BEING CONSIDERED A SERIOUS NATIONAL CANDIDATE WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, Mitt Romney—who didn't lose by just a little bit, either—is still being plagued by money issues. That is to say, the millions upon millions of US voters who are struggling to get by each month are not impressed with shit like Romney's offshore tax shelters and his kids' $100 million trust fund. Conservatives like Mitt Romney love to say things like, "I'm not going to apologize for being successful!" even though no one is asking them to. The thing is, it's just a little unseemly to be flippant about having sooooooo much money when so many people are hurting.
It's not like elected Democrats aren't filthy stinking rich, too (although very few are as rich as Romney); it's just that they have the decency to acknowledge it's a massive privilege and the honesty to admit it's not because they're so much more talented and hardworking and smart than everyone who doesn't share that privilege.
Barack Obama has never denigrated his own effort and capacity by recognizing he also had a fair amount of luck in life, which provided him opportunities he maximized. But listen to Mitt Romney, and you'd think he was the firstborn of a grindstone and a bootstrap, not the incredibly privileged son of a wealthy corporate executive who became a state governor.
In summation: Mitt Romney is gross.
Moving on!
Something something Ron Paul. Liberty. Freedom. Forcible childbirth.
Newt Gingrich is still truckin' along, hoping that he's the last one standing in this endless game of Musical Candidates. There is, in the world, news about Newt Gingrich, and his career of corruption, and his candidacy of codswallop, but I bet you have even less interest in reading about it than I have in writing about it. So let's not and say we didn't! HIGH FIVES!
Next Stop: Maine.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Question of the Day
What is your favorite mythological creature?
In addition to literal answers like "unicorn," cheeky retorts like "a genuinely progressive US president" are also welcome.
Dr. Seuss + Ron Swanson = WIN
Quote of the Day
The lonely emo prince played Rock Paper Scissors with his shadow to determine the next step in the course of his fate—but, alas, it was always a tie.
For awhile, I was posting pictures and silly things about Robert Pattinson, and how he delighted me, but people thought I was making fun of him, so I stopped. But he really does delight me! I like lots and lots of things about him, including and especially that he is a hair wizard, but most of all I love his sort of sanguine diffidence about his extraordinary level of fame by virtue of a cheesy franchise for which he cannot mask his amused contempt.
To wit, the Quote of the Day:
"Doing something like Twilight opens doors and it closes others. You can say, 'Oh if I was still unknown, then no-one would judge me,' but at the same time, nobody would give a shit, either."
This is followed in the article whence it came by "He laughs."
I like him.
Eureka!
Well, this happened in the world: Ten-year-old fifth-grader Clara Lazen discovered a new molecule.
[Lazen's] class assignment was to build a molecule using one of those modeling kits with the colorful balls and plastic connectors. Many kids would probably throw together a little H2O and call it a day — but not Clara. She randomly pieced together a combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms to create a molecule her chemistry teacher, Kenneth Boehr, had never seen before.Neat!
"I just saw that these go together more," Clara told the Fox News local affiliate in Kansas City. "Like they fit more together. And they look better. And all the holes have to be filled in for it to be stable."
Astonished, Boehr emailed his friend Robert Zoellner, a computational chemist at Humbolt State, to confirm whether it was legit. "Ken sent me a picture of the molecule on my cell phone and usually I can tell right away if it's real," Zoellner says.
This time, he couldn't.
To check whether Lazen had just discovered a new molecule, he ran the molecule's formula through an Chemical Abstracts, an online database of chemistry research dating back to 1904. He found one match: nitrogylcerin
But (and it's a big "but"), Lazen's molecule, dubbed tetranitratoxycarbon, had a different structural arrangement, which meant they could now tell the world they had just discovered a new molecule. Similar in composition to nitroglycerin, an explosive, Zoellner says tetranitratoxycarbon may have the potential to store energy, combust or do a little of both. At the very least, it's a molecule chemists can attempt to synthesize and toy with to see if there are any possible technological applications.
[H/T to @pourmecoffee.]
Alcatraz Open Thread
Did you watch Alcatraz last night? What did you think of it? Did you love it? I did! I LOVED IT.
Here are the Top 5 things I loved about it (some minor spoilers):
1. I love Jorge Garcia! I love his character, Dr. Diego Soto, soooooooooo much! I really love how he is shown to be sensitive and empathetic during his every interaction with any other character. And it is not pandering or paternal, but simply considerate, which is, frankly, pretty revolutionary for a male hero on a network show. Jorge Garcia plays him so well; he can break my heart just with a look. Jorge Garcia, you are awesome.
2. I love Sarah Jones! I love her character, Det. Rebecca Madsen, soooooooooo much! I love that there has never been any question about her competency in her professional role because of her womanhood, because the show's writers aren't so goddamn lazy that they think throwing out casual misogyny only so it can be refuted is radical and feminist. Instead, they're doing something genuinely radical and feminist, which is to write a character that sounds and feels and behaves like a real-life woman might, instead of a writing a dude character with a female name. Thank you, writers! Thank you, Elizabeth Sarnoff! Thank you, Jack Bender! Thank you, Sarah Jones!
3. I love Robert Forster! I once read that he doesn't really like playing bad guys, and I don't really know if that's true, but it kind of gave ma a soft spot for him.
4. I love the mystery that's building. I loved the scene in the car with Sam Neill and Guy Hastings, the guard, and Guy's heartbreak when he says, as a statement, with grim resignation, "I'm never going to see her again, am I." I love that this show won't let you enjoy the mystery, won't let you see the violence, won't let you in on the family secrets, without reminding you squarely of the consequences of this THING that happened. I love that the show loves its characters enough to exhort us to care about each of them.
5. Everything else!
Daily Dose of Cute
True Fact: The static electricity in Matilda's fur after a vigorous winter petting session could, if properly harnessed, solve the energy crisis. [cc. Al Gore]
True Fact: Sometimes you can only get peace from a rampaging rambunctious greyhound on top of the water heater in the laundry room.
"That dog's 7 minutes of activity a day is really aggravating."—Olivia.
True Fact: This is a picture of Sophie, thinking about Europe. Where the history comes from!
Photos of the Day
President Barack Obama pumps the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon invented by Joey Hudy, 14, from Phoenix, Arizona, while touring student science fair projects on exhibit in the State Dining Room at the White House February 7, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama hosted the second White House Science Fair celebrating the student winners of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. [Getty Images]
President Barack Obama reacts after watching a marshmallow launched from the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon. [AP Photo]
President Barack Obama reacts after watching a marshmallow launched from the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon. [Reuters Pictures]Love.
Reproductive Rights Updates: KS, TX, PA, VA, NB, MS, TN, FL, National
Are you ready for, well, a lot of depressing and infuriating news? Because I have it. A lot of it.
Always leading the pack in taking away autonomy from people, the state of Kansas is up first:
Kansas lawmakers have been given six days to consider one of the most sweeping state anti-abortion bills to be introduced.Oh well gee. Small favors and all that. Even for Kansas this is a hideously appalling, outright hateful piece of legislation. Not being able to sue for malpractice when a doctor refused to disclose that a pregnancy could cause damage--and did? WHAT. Just WHAT.
A Kansas House committee is scheduled to take up a bill Wednesday that would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withheld medical information to prevent an abortion. The measure would also take away tax credits for abortion providers, remove tax deductions for the purchase of abortion-related insurance coverage and require women to hear the fetal heartbeat. The bill includes several provisions, which passed in other states and now face federal lawsuits. The bill would also require women be told about potential breast cancer risks from abortions, even though medical experts discount such a connection.
[...]
Among the most contested provisions of the bill is the section that would exempt a doctor from a medical malpractice suit if a woman claims the physician withheld information about potential birth defects to prevent her from having an abortion. In addition, a woman would not be able to sue if she suffers health damage from a pregnancy as a result of information withheld from her to prevent an abortion. A wrongful death suit could still be filed, however, if the mother died.
****
In Texas, Judge Sam Sparks says he "had no choice" but to dismiss a suit against the ultrasound law:
Sparks said his hands were tied by last month's federal appeals court ruling that found the sonogram law to be an appropriate exercise of the state's power to regulate the practice of medicine.Right the fuck on!
But in his order dismissing the lawsuit by abortion providers, Sparks took issue with the appeals court ruling, saying it "eviscerated" the free speech rights of doctors to support a law that improperly limits a physician's ability to exercise medical judgment.
"The act requires doctors to attempt to discourage their patients from obtaining abortions ... even in cases where the doctors have determined that an abortion is, for any number of reasons, the best medical option," he said in his order.
"This court believes Texas overstepped its legitimate authority when it substituted its medical judgment for that of doctors, and imposed a uniform method of treatment for all patients, rather than allowing physicians to make medically appropriate, case-by-case determinations."
[...]
In Monday's order, Sparks said the law seemed designed to make abortions more difficult to provide and receive, not to inform women about the procedure.
"Informed consent requirements exist to protect the rights of patients and to honor their autonomy, not to provide states with an excuse to impose heavy-handed, paternalistic and impractical restrictions on the practice of medicine," Sparks wrote.
The state reportedly informed clinics that the ultrasound law would start being enforced immediately.
***
California's Prop 8 Ruled Unconstitutional
A three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution by stripping gay Californians of the right to marry.
Yay!
U.S. district judge Vaughn Walker struck down the measure in 2010. That decision was appealed by a bunch of bigoted douchebags claiming Walker's sexual orientation constituted bias.
Boo!
Today's verdict will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by those same bigoted douchebags.
Discuss.
Note from Liss: The Ninth Circuit Court's Prop 8 site is totally slammed right now, but if and when you can get it to load, you'll be able to read about the decision here.
Something Something Ron Paul
[Content Note: Rape culture; encroachments on reproductive rights; violence.]
Yesterday, I wrote about Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's recent interview with CNN host Piers Morgan in which Paul said he would give a family member who had survived a rape "a shot of estrogen," but only "if it's an honest rape."
scatx has been following up on reactions to this story and its coverage at the tumblr she created expressly for that purpose, Honest Rape. If you'd like to submit your translations of what Ron Paul meant by "honest rape," you can do so here.
My contribution.
Also, as per usual, the violent trolls are coming out in droves in response to scatx's feminist anti-rape activism, threatening and harassing her, thus proving the goddamn point again, and in the interest of balancing that scale a bit, I just want to take a moment to note that scatx is brave and strong and clever and awesome, a total fucking champion, and I am glad to have her on my side.
Karen Handel Resigns from Komen
The AP is reporting that Karen Handel has resigned as vice president for public policy for Susan G. Komen for the Cure after the massive public relations disaster caused by withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood.
Whooooooooooooooops!
Buh-bye.
Update 1: Care of Deeks, here's her resignation letter.
Update 2: And here is a piece, via @Clinic Escort, by Clara Jeffery "on why nothing short of a board shakeup at Komen will do."
Choice Is Scary!
So, the Catholic Church leadership (and one-man outrage machine Bill Donohue, who continues to be treated as if he represents people other than himself; I am thisclose to starting a "Feminist League" to see if I can get as much attention with obnoxious press releases as he can) are all still angrily pooping their pants over the new requirement to cover birth control in health insurance policies for their employees, even though a majority of the church's parishioners (especially the women) reject their position.
I have a few observations about this:
1. I cannot stress enough how strongly I believe religious institutions do not warrant tax exempt status in this nation, and the fact that this explicitly political position is not even a breach of the exemption underlines how absurd the policy really is. They are political entities every bit as much as this community is, granted special rights only because their political activities are justified by god-belief.
2. This entire debacle exposes what complete balderdash the Church's concept of "faith" really is, because its leaders clearly have no faith in their own adherents to make choices consistent with the Church's anti-contraception doctrine. They'd rather restrict any and all reproductive choice altogether, including access to contraceptives, denying the free will with which their god supposedly imbued his human creations. They don't give a fuck about faith; they're interested in control.
3. Catholic women make the best choices for themselves irrespective of Church doctrine because that's what women do. Further evidence, not that any was needed, that women and other people with uteri will take whatever measures they need to take to not be pregnant when they don't want to be pregnant.
4. This requirement is categorically not a violation of the Catholic Church's right to practice its religion. Catholic organizations in the US (which are not Catholic churches) do not hire only Catholic employees. Catholic hospitals, for example, have in their employ doctors, nurses, techs, orderlies, admin staff, etc. from all different religious and atheistic traditions, most of which do not share the Catholic Church's prohibition on birth control. That's the cost of doing business in a multicultural nation. If the Catholic Church doesn't like the idea of having to provide required services to non-Catholic people, then they can pack up and take their money-making enterprises to Vatican City.
5. Which, of course, still wouldn't make them happy, because individual Catholic people still have free will and should have the right to express that free will, even when it contradicts Church doctrine. If allowing free will is good enough for god, it oughta be good enough for the Catholic Church. Yeesh.
Primarily Terrible
Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, walks away from the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues during a campaign stop at in Bemidji, Minn., Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. [AP Photo]Y'all, I'm worried about Rick Santorum. I remember a time when he never would have gotten that close to man-on-bull action. He's really lost his way during this national election, having to spend time in red-light districts like Iowa and centers of moral corruption like New Hampshire. If he makes it to Indiana, who knows what could happen? I live here, and look what it's done to me! We should send him back to the safety of Pennsylvania right away, before he ends up living in a gay brothel giving abortions to undocumented immigrants like I do.
Ha ha just kidding! Don't worry—Rick Santorum is still the heinous specimen of compassionless wreckage he's always been!
See Exhibit A: Santorum Longs for Good Old Days of 'Shadow Abortions' When Women Obtained Back-Alley Procedures.
In good news (for no one but Rick Santorum), he might win Missouri's non-binding primary! And he's doing well in Minnesota and Colorado, too! GOOD FOR YOU, RICK SANTORUM! You really picked a perfect year to run for president, when even a nightmare candidate like yourself would be given consideration by reasonable people desperate to find an alternative to the detestable frontrunner!
Speaking of Mitt Romney, he proudly announced the endorsement he got from former California Governor Pete Wilson, supporter of the state's infamous Proposition 187, which targeted undocumented workers. So, take note: Mitt Romney doesn't care about poor people, he definitely doesn't care about women and the queer community, and he also doesn't care about Latin@ voters. True Facts!
Do you think that Mitt Romney realizes that "the 1%" isn't just a turn of phrase? Does he know it literally means 1% of the population? And that he needs more than 1% of the population to win a general election? Math is hard.
Something something Ron Paul. Still yammering about "freedom" while arguing that bodies with uteri should be government property. You are so terrible, Ron Paul! Gross!
Newt Gingrich, who is still in the campaign and is seriously boring me, was on the news this morning babbling some nonsense about how important he is blah blah and the proof is in the Saturday Night Live pudding or whatever. Who cares. Also: Wikipedia scrubbing! That is so boring! Even Newt Gingrich's campaign scandals are making me yawn!
Don't worry, Newt Gingrich. You are still more exciting than Jon Huntsman!
Hey! Speaking of candidates who have totes jumped outta the clown car, Michele Bachmann says she was the perfect candidate. Ha ha whooooooooooooops! She is even worse at math than Mitt Romney! Even mediocre candidates need more than 0% of the vote, Representative Bachmann!
Rick Perry is still definitely out of the race. He has not un-suspended his campaign yet.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Question of the Day
We've done this one before, but not for ages... What's your favorite silly question game to play with friends?
Iain and I, and many of our friends, are big fans of "How Much Would Someone Have to Pay You To...?" (which I'm guessing is self-explanatory), "Would You Rather...?" (in which two hilariously heinous options are posed for selection and explanation of one's choice, the latter being the fun part), and the always-popular "Who Would Win in a Fight?"
Last time we played, Kenny Blogginz asked me, "Who would win in a fight: Gandalf or Robocop?"
I replied, "Obviously, Gandalf. Insects can wreak havoc with machinery, and he would recruit kamikaze moths to fuck Robocop's shit up. He could win via mothstrike from the other side of the world."
KBlogz told me that he has asked many, many people that question, and many have chosen Gandalf, ultimately indefensibly, but that mine was the most creative strategy and defense of my choice that he'd heard. I naturally beamed with the pride of the impossibly nerdy.
Quote of the Day
"This is just a quick note to my Missouri friends to let you know that I'm planning to vote for Rick Santorum in the non-binding presidential preference primary on Tuesday, February 7."—Phyllis Schlafly.
Now all of you who have been eagerly waiting to find out who Phyllis Schlafly is supporting so you know who to support can go cast your vote for Rick Santorum.
You're welcome.
