Who are your favorite actor and actress over 60?
And, just to keep things interesting, no one is allowed to answer Meryl Streep or Abe Vigoda.
Question of the Day
Bonus Cute
Video Description: The wind blows, and the sound of a lawnmower can be heard in the distance. Zelly is in the foreground, looking around at stuff in her typically alert manner. She walks away, revealing Dudley lying on the grass like the laziest dog who ever lived.
[Part One.]
Photo of the Day
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) greets Chen Zhili, Vice Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, during an U.S.-China women's forum at the State Department in Washington March 28, 2012. [Reuters Pictures]I know, I know—another Hillary picture. Whatever. She's got a few months left as Secretary of State, since she's already said she's leaving at the end of this term, even if Obama is reelected, so I'm making the most of it while she's still there.
Consider yourselves lucky I don't post a picture of her EVERY DAY!
Noblesse Oblige
Romney anecdotes are the best anecdotes:
While he is yet to campaign in Wisconsin, Mitt Romney worked the state's Republican voters from Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, holding a "telephone town hall" in which he embraced Gov. Scott Walker's labor policies, endorsed US Rep. Paul Ryan's House budget, and joked about the time his father was head of American Motors and moved car production from Michigan to Wisconsin.Ha ha great story.
...At the outset of the call, Romney said he has some connections to Wisconsin.
"One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors … They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin," said Romney. "And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign."
Romney said he recalled a parade in which the school band marching with his father's campaign only knew the Wisconsin fight song, not the Michigan song.
"So every time they would start playing 'On Wisconsin, On Wisconsin,' my dad's political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop, because they didn't want people in Michigan to be reminded that my dad had moved production to Wisconsin," said Romney, laughing.
That reminds me of another story...
Once upon a time, Iain and I were talking about the British Royal Family, of whom, being a Scotsman, he's no great fan. But he has a deep respect for the modern Windsors, who carry on the admirable aristocratic tradition of serving their country—in the military and in charity—in exchange for the privilege the country affords them.
Princes William and Harry had the same chance of serving in Iraq as do any other officers; their uncle, Prince Andrew, served in the Falklands War. When the British government wanted to relocate him to a desk job from the HMS Invincible, one of only two operational aircraft carriers available to the Royal Navy, it was the Queen herself who insisted that Prince Andrew be allowed to remain with his ship. After the war, the Queen and Prince Philip joined other families of the other crew to welcome the vessel home, just a mother and father like any other, glad their son was safe. During WWII, that same mother, then a young woman, relentlessly pestered her father the king to allow her to serve in some capacity, and, eventually, he relented. And she did. We don't have an aristocracy in America in the same sense as does Britain, but that isn't to say we don't have one at all. Mitt Romney is nothing if not an aristocrat—born to wealth and power, schooled in the best private institutions, rising to prominence less on his merit than his name. And like many American aristocrats, Romney used his privilege, while denying its existence at every turn, to avoid serving his country.
Mitt Romney spent part of his generation's war, Vietnam, in a French palace, exempt from service by virtue of his Mormon missionary work, and, when he came home, he demonstrated in favor of the draft, despite having used his religion to avoid it himself. He also used the privilege of attending university to secure nearly three years of academic deferments.
Mitt Romney diligently avoiding serving his country, until he could do so as a politician, a leader, at which time he shed any pretense of serving the country, instead serving the agenda of other aristocrats.
He is of the New American Aristocracy.
There are still aristocrats in the US who follow the Windsor tradition, men born to privilege, wealth, private schools, and limitless opportunity who repay this debt of inherited fortune by serving their country. Men who graduate from an Ivy League School and enlist in the military. Men who go to war and come home to serve again, as prosecutors and Congressmen and Senators. (Women born to this privilege are expected to perform in different ways.) The last two Democratic presidential candidates before our current president, Al Gore and John Kerry—the men who ran against another great New American Aristocrat, George W. Bush—were men like this.
Men like this don't mask their privilege, nor do they flaunt it. It simply is. But in our typical American way, pretending as we love to do that there is no aristocracy in America and hating the merest whiff of blue blood, we reject patricians and disdain their privilege, particularly when they have never sought to use it to their own advantage.
It's a peculiar tendency, this, to hold in contempt a person who has no personal need to care about the trials and troubles of others and yet does so nonetheless, who recognizes his or her fortune as a fate as random as that of someone who struggles. It's an odd inclination to prefer the charade of Romney's self-made man to the nobility (in both its senses) of a Gore or a Kerry, considering it is the former who would most eagerly see the perpetuation of the divide we revile in the moments we are honest enough to admit it exists in the first place.
Someday, barring a tragedy, Prince William will become a king, and the people of Britain will remember that he served his country, militarily and charitably, and even many of those who would see the monarchy wholly dismantled, and their fortunes turned over to the people of Britain, will respect him for his service. They don't have the option of pretending that their aristocracy is anything but what it is. Some would say that's a burden; I think it's a gift. Our insistence on make-believe has imagined us right into a new Gilded Age.
And so here we are, with a New American Aristocrat likely to be the Republican nominee, who has not served his country in a uniform nor in a role of unconditional altruism, and he resembles nothing so more as the English kings from whose haughty tyranny the Founders were seeking escape.
He tells stories in which the misfortunes of people who do not share his privilege are the punchline, and he doesn't understand why the commoners do not laugh, because he has never lived among them or served beside them.
[Related Reading: Fortunate Sons Don't Like Grieving Mothers.]
Random Izzard Blogging
It has been TOO LONG since the last Random Izzard Blogging! Please enjoy this clip from Eddie Izzard's Glorious.
[Transcript here.]
Alcatraz Open Thread
[Spoilers are looking for keys herein.]
So Monday night was the two-hour (or, more accurately, two-episode) finale of Season One of Alcatraz, and OMG IT WAS A DOOZY, as they say. (They definitely still say doozy. I checked with them.) Mysteries were solved! And people were killed! OR WERE THEY?! And in typical J.J. Abadrobot fashion, the answers to those questions over there raised more questions over here!
SOMEONE GIVE ME ALL THE KEYS SO I CAN SOLVE THIS THING!
Just kidding! I don't want to solve it! I want at least two more seasons of mystery!
Speaking of mysteries, it is now clear why Dr. Sangupta is also known as Dr. Banerjee. Because she is a 63, and thus she needed a new identity to exist in 2012. This is something I probably should have figured out ages ago, but only did when one of Sam Neill's nerdz called her Dr. Banerjee. Whoops!
As per usual, I loved everything. But I ESPECIALLY loved Dr. Soto standing outside Det. Madsen's hospital room. "That seems less important than...being here." Oh, Jorge Garcia. You are THE BEST. You really are.
Which, by the way, reminds me of something else I've been meaning to mention about this show and keep forgetting: I would like to compliment the wardrobe department on styling Jorge Garcia so well. Dude's a straight-up fox, and it's awesome to see a fat man allowed to be foxy in fashionable and tailored clothes on a network television show. Rarely are men of his size even cast in roles where they can be well-dressed, and, given that he's the owner of a comic store, there's no reason he really has to be in great shirts and sweaters and trench coats, so that makes it even more awesome that he is given natty costuming. Thanks, Alcatraz.
Well, this seems sufficiently rambling and disjointed enough to hit publish.
BushQuotes!
Chapter 1, page 11: "We're now putting too much hope in economics, just as we one put too much hope in government. Reducing problems to economics is simply materialism."
Spoken like someone who's never gone hungry a day in his life.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by cats!
Recommended Reading:
Alex: Congressman Bobby Rush Kicked Off House Floor for Wearing Hoodie
Renee: Melissa Harris-Perry's Rules for Black Male Safety
Edurne: Argentina Issues Landmark Ruling on Abortion Rights
Zack: Inside NOM's Strategy: Find 'Non-Cognitive' Celebrities to Amplify the Anti-Equality Message
Pam: Mitt's Plan for People with Pre-Existing Conditions and No Health Insurance: Just Die
Jamelle: No One Likes Mitt Romney
Michelle: Lesson Six: Checking In [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of food and eating.]
Adrienne: A Tribe Called Red: Powwow Step and Social Commentary for the Masses
Andy: A Spectacular Song and Dance Gay Marriage Proposal
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Quote of the Day
"This morning in America's highest court, freedom seems to be less about the absence of constraint than about the absence of shared responsibility, community, or real concern for those who don't want anything so much as healthy children, or to be cared for when they are old. Until today, I couldn't really understand why this case was framed as a discussion of 'liberty.' This case isn't so much about freedom from government-mandated broccoli or gyms. It's about freedom from our obligations to one another, freedom from the modern world in which we live. It's about the freedom to ignore the injured, walk away from those in peril, to never pick up the phone or eat food that's been inspected. It's about the freedom to be left alone. And now we know the court is worried about freedom: the freedom to live like it's 1804."—Dahlia Lithwick, regarding certain SCOTUS justices and the ACA. Also, in regard to sentiments such as those made by Senator Ron "last shred of freedom" Johnson.
Number of the Day
19%: The percentage of 17-year-olds in an undercover study who were told by pharmacists that they were too young to purchase emergency contraception. That is not accurate. Strangely, many of the same pharmacies were able to provide accurate information to physicians. Huh!
For the new study, researchers posing as either a 17-year-old girl or a doctor seeking help for a 17-year-old girl called every pharmacy in each of five U.S. cities asking about the availability and accessibility of emergency contraception.Dr. Tracey Wilkinson, the study's lead author and a general pediatrics fellow at Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine says she was shocked and disappointed by the results.
All callers asked questions from a script. The first question was whether the pharmacy had the medication in stock -- 80 percent of the 943 pharmacies said they did. Next, the researcher posing as a teen asked if she could get the drug, while the researcher posing as the doctor of a 17-year-old patient asked if the patient could get the medication.
There was a huge disparity between the answers given to the teens and those offered to the physicians, with 19 percent of the 17-year-olds being told that they couldn't get it under any circumstances, compared with only 3 percent of the physicians.
The next question was asked only by teen callers who had been told a 17-year-old could get the morning-after pill: "My friends said there is an age rule [regarding access without a prescription] -- do you know what it is?"
Pharmacy employees answered that incorrectly 43 percent of the time.
Well. That's polite.
[H/Ts to Shakers Brunocerous and The Great Indoors.]
SCOTUS on the Affordable Healthcare Act
Today, the Supreme Court heard closing arguments on the constitutionality of President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act, regarding its coverage mandate. [Note: The ruling will come later. Thanks to Jeff Lakin for the clarification.]
Yesterday, the defense of the mandate did not go especially well. The expectation is that it will be another 5-4 ruling. In whose favor is not certain, although I'm going to put my wager on the ruling going in Obama's favor.
What will Kennedy do? Once again, I am thrilled that one person has such a ridiculous amount of power in an ostensible democracy.
The Court has three possible options, detailed in arguments this morning: "Strike down all of the Affordable Care Act along with the mandate (the challengers’ position), strike down only two core changes in the way the health insurance system works (the government position), and strike down nothing but the mandate (the position of a Court-appointed lawyer). Not one seemed to be especially appealing to members of the Court."
Watch this space.
Please feel welcome and encouraged to leave additional links and recommendations in comments.
Trayvon Martin Updates
In case you missed it, yesterday afternoon I noted that ABC reported the lead investigator on the Trayvon Martin shooting recommended a manslaughter charge filed against George Zimmerman, but the state attorney overruled the recommendation. While we are all meant to be scrutinizing Trayvon Martin's background and personal details in another national round of victim-blaming, this little piece of biographical info about George Zimmerman, buried 30 paragraphs into this CNN article, might shed some light on why the decision to let Zimmerman away without charges was made: Zimmerman is the son of a magistrate judge.
That seems pertinent. Or, at least, more notable than Zimmerman supposedly being a registered Democrat.
I first saw that piece of "news" on Twitter yesterday, care of a conservative tweeter who said, "Sorry to burst your bubble, liberals, but Zimmerman is Hispanic and a registered Democrat."
Sorry to burst your bubble. That's literally what many conservatives think those of us objecting to this profound injustice feel about it—a bubble of excited joy that there's a dead black child who's been killed by a "white conservative," so we can make a political point.
I honestly cannot begin to comprehend the seething antipathy filling the space where a soul should be that allows one to imagine the people speaking passionately against this latest violent injustice are motivated by political gamespersonship.
And, unlike those revolting myteamers, I do not believe that identifying as a Democrat, or a liberal, or a progressive, or any other lefty affiliation, axiomatically renders one magically incapable of doing something awful. It makes no difference to me what George Zimmerman put or didn't put on his voter registration card.
Primarily Garbage
GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE! If you are still maintaining maximum enthusiasm for the TOTALLY EXCITING and VERY AWESOME and HOLY SHIT ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME NEVER-ENDING Republican Primary, please check this box: □
If you failed to check that box, maybe this will get your primary juices flowing:
That is just a terrific picture of Mitt Romney with Jay Leno, who is one of the few people I can imagine being a worse president than Mitt Romney. I wonder what they're talking about! I bet it's something GREAT!
Romney: Ha ha I have so many cars.
Leno: Ha ha I have like ten million times the number of cars that you have.
Romney: Ha ha you do! I need more cars!
Leno: Ha ha you DO need more cars!
Romney: Ha ha I'm getting a car elevator in my mansion!
Leno: Ha ha that's awesome. I want a car elevator in the AIRPLANE HANGER where I store all my cars!
Romney: Ha ha I want an airplane elevator in the airplane hanger where I store all my private jets!
Leno: Ha ha I want a private jet made out of denim!
Romney: Ha ha I want to build a denim mansion on the moon! And fill it with cars and jets and elevators! ELECT ME AS YOUR PRESIDENT, AMERICA!
*Ford Commercial*
Leno: And we're back here with THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF AMERICA AND THE MOON Mitt Romney. Hey, Mitt Romney, is it true that you're getting a car elevator installed in your mansion?
Romney: Ha ha yes, Jay, that is true.
[audience laughter and applause]
Leno: And is it ALSO true that you once vetoed a bill allocating money to improve elevators to comply with the American Disabilities Act while you were governor of Massachusetts?
Romney: Ha ha yes that is also true! I am definitely in favor of car elevators for private mansions owned by me and not in favor of human elevators for public access.
[audience cheers]
Leno: Ha ha that's awesome. We should go celebrate by driving some cars!
Romney: Ha ha great idea, Jay! Vroom vroom! I like cars!
In other news, Rick Santorum is flailing in his own state: "Rick Santorum appeared to be the Republican presidential candidate to beat in Pennsylvania a month ago. With the state primary four weeks away, Santorum now finds himself nearly tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among the state's Republicans, and support is eroding rapidly, according to a Franklin & Marshall College poll out today."
Whoooooooops! Looks like even your hometown voters can't help but pay attention to the things coming out of your face, Rick Santorum! Sorry you're so terrible! You should make better choices with your life! They are out there to be made, despite your endeavors to crush them!
Newt Gingrich is reducing his staff and cutting back his schedule because that's what viable contenders do, no doy.
Something something Ron Paul.
Speaking of Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, a new CNN poll has found that a majority of Republican respondents "would like to see Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul drop their bids for the nomination." The rest of the respondents said: "Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are still in the race? The fuck?"
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Question of the Day
Many months ago, I received an email from Shaker Steffa B. telling me she had seen a small item at an art fair and wanted to send it to me. She had remembered that I love the movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and sent me this nifty little framed picture of two Klowns. I hung it on the wall of my office, and asked if I could write a post about it. I then promptly forgot to do so, because I'm an asshole.
Last week, Steffa wrote to tell me she had been crafting little clowns, and had made a Killer Klown for me. He arrived yesterday.
I was completely blown away by this. He's crafted entirely out of little wound-up pieces of paper. I'm unable to do very small detailed work like this because I have shaking hands, so I'm always impressed by very intricate crafting. Look at his klown collar! He's even got little ruffles around his wrists and ankles!
He's even holding a little paper balloon dog! How awesome is that! Coincidentally, the spiky-haired Klown is my favorite one in the movie. A thousand thanks, Steffa! I truly appreciate you thinking of me.
So, what is the last gift you received, large or small, that completely delighted you?
Photo of the Day
Each spring nearly a million puffins arrive at the cliffs of Scotland's west coast to lay their eggs. These birds, with their colorful beaks and doleful expressions, can be seen darting to and from the ocean, gathering mouthfuls of fish for their hatchlings. [Photo by Zhouyang Sun / National Geographic (link)]
Rescued
Text Onscreen: [over video through a windshield on a rainy day] We got a call from our friend Mary Chatman about a dog in South L.A. From far away, she was able to tell that the dog was in pretty bad shape. [The vehicle stops; the camera shows the first-person view, walking around a commercial area.] We didn't see the dog in the area. Audrey prepared to block the open area of the fence in case the dog showed up and tried to escape. The first search of the property showed no sign of a dog. [over video of a dumpster area] But then, I quickly motioned for Audrey to come closer… [The camera zooms in, and a little white dog lifts its head from a pile of rubbish; a white woman and the white man holding the camera slowly approach the dog, which is filthy and matted] We realized right away that she was blind in both eyes, so we allowed her to smell us. [Slowly, the woman reaches out her hand, for the dog to sniff. The man does the same. The dog leans forward tentatively, eventually allowing the man to stroke her head and chin. They finally reach in to pick her up.] She urinated out of fear and just sat in in, frozen. [They lift her out and leash her, then swaddle her in a towel to carry her to the vehicle.] On the way home we decided to call her Fiona.Note: I am not affiliated with nor am I specifically endorsing Hope for Paws, but as I'm sure everyone knows, I encourage supporting animal rescue in any way that one is able!
[The little dog lies on a towel on the bathroom floor while the man strokes her head. He then shaves off her horribly dirty fur.] She had the worst flea infestation we had ever seen. [They bathe her gently, then towel her off. She looks grateful and happy.] A few days later, we took her to visit Dr. Michael Chang. [Dr. Chang examines the little dog, while she wears a collar.] Dr. Chang confirmed that she was 100% blind, but he said he could restore her vision in one eye. [Fiona lies on the operating table for surgery.] The next day we picked her up. [Fiona in her cone gets cuddles and wags her tail. On the way home, she looks out the car window.] For the first time in a long time, she could see again. [Fiona at home gets a treat and jumps around playfully and gets loads of cuddles.] A few weeks later, she was adopted by Michele & Chris Gentry. [Picture of a white couple with a little grey dog and three little white dogs, one of whom is Fiona.] Please make a small donation to Hope for Paws and help us save more dogs like Fiona. www.hopeforpaws.org Thanks!
[Via TDW.]
