[Content Note: Homophobia.]
As all the land's political junkies await ABC releasing snippets of its interview with President Obama so it can be scoured for evidence of his support, or lack thereof, for marriage equality, my Twitter feed is lighting up with soooooo many gay Obama jokes in my feed c/o straight progressives. Real gems like "Obama announces move to Pink House" and "Obama to sing 'It's Raining Men' during ABC interview" and "Obama could just wear a sleeveless shirt to the interview; 'nuff said."
I'm not surprised, but I am certainly disgusted.
Truly, if you think "Pink House" and "It's Raining Men" jokes are funny, and definitely the best response when one of the nation's most pressing civil rights issues is on the line, you are part of the problem.
Yes, I am still the Most Humorless Feminist in all of Nofunnington. Better that than an "ironic" homophobe. Christ.
The Problem, You Are Part of It
Operation Menace
[Content Note: Reproductive rights; anti-choice terrorism; sexual violence.]
A few days ago, domestic terror organization Operation Rescue (OR) announced that they had "obtained" medical records from a local clinic, Central Family Medicine, in Kansas. The clinic offers family planning services, including first-trimester abortions. OR "obtained" these records from a locked trash bin from "an informant". The break-in of the bin had been reported by the clinic to the FBI.
Anyway, yes, that's right: they have stolen medical records.
Then they worked to piece this information together and posted it online:
Operation Rescue posted what it claims were images of the redacted records on its website and YouTube. They claim the records include patient ages, gestation ages and photocopies of driver’s licenses as well as dates and costs for abortions performed at the clinics.So, OR took stolen medical records and posted the information online. They claim to have redacted identifying information that was posted but, of course, they have all that information in their hands still.
The Kansas Board of Healing Arts said they were "looking into" the issue of the fact that OR obtained stolen medical records and posted them online.
The Board has also announced:
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by grousing.
Recommended Reading:
Jorge: Zimmerman Pleads Not Guilty, Waives Right to Speedy Trial
Rolling Stone: Laura Jane Grace, nee Tom Gabel, of Against Me! Shares She Is Transgender
Jessica: MCA's Feminist Legacy
Sady: Blogging Sisterhood: How Feminist Blogs Saved My Life
Deb: The HAES files: Stereotype Management Skills for HBO Viewers [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of fat hatred, anti-fat narratives, and dieting.]
Renee: For Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Women are Dirty Sluts Who Shouldn't be Allowed to Vote
Brian: Results Still Aren't Typical [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussions of fat hatred and dieting.]
Melissa: Hollywood Feminist Couple of the Day: Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs
Andy: World's Rarest Gorilla Captured on Film
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Obama and Marriage Equality
The President is reportedly going to address his marriage equality "evolution" today during an interview with ABC (1:30pm). Will he come out in favor of marriage equality at long last...? WHO KNOWS! What a fun game this is. Grumble.
Pam, whose state dishearteningly voted against marriage equality last night, sums it up:
Honestly, at this moment, I don't give a crap. Being jerked around, constantly seen as an ATM, and the man can't even state the obvious, and his surrogates continue this tap dance of stupidity over what is or isn't an affirmation that the President believes in full equality for gay and lesbian couples. His own campaign couldn't even lift a digital finger to tell people to vote against discrimination here in NC. The President can't even sign an executive order barring employment discrimination against LGBTs in federal contracts.That, right there, is the real cost of this "game." The personal is political, and politics is personal. People who admonish us silly idealists who "don't understand how politics works" to stop complaining about the President's 12-dimensional chess need to take a goddamn breath and remember this is about people's lives and communicating to US citizens their value to their government.
If this is some sort of debutante debut on the marriage equality scene for dramatic effect, it's kind of pathetic. If it's another Lucy and the football moment, it's time to stop the too-cute-by-half routine. Our lives have been treated like a political football by purported allies as well as professional anti-gays.
It's sickening to see our humanity diminished over and over for shiz and political giggles by people untouched by the discrimination.
It's really easy for privileged people to forget that there is a psychological and emotional toll to being told, again and again and again, that you are less than by the nation that is your home.
And knowing that it's just political gamespersonship—ha ha nothing personal!—does not meaningfully alleviate that burden.
The President either supports people marginalized by marriage inequality or he doesn't. It's way past time that he does.
It's time to put on the Fierce Advocate pants!
Quote of the Day
"I certainly think that bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view."—Indiana's new Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock.
This is what we're dealing with.
MSNBC Host Chuck Todd: All right, well, as you know, Senator Lugar put out a very lengthy statement—a manifesto of sorts—and he endorses you, uh, but he does so it seems like reluctantly, when he says, "I want him to be a good senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington." Let me just stop there: You have said that there needs to be more partisanship in Washington. How do you square that with legislating?Well, that sounds totally reasonable. Which is why the Republicans are totally "going the Democrats' way" while they've got the majority—their firm principle of deferring to the winners and not being obstructionist wankers. Ahem.
GOP Candidate Richard Mourdock: Well, what I've said is I certainly think that bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view. We entered this campaign wanting to be a voice, and hoping to give more of a national voice, to the idea that Republicans, and more specifically conservatives, would be in the majority of the United States Senate, and the House, and hopefully that we have a Republican in the White House. If we do that, bipartisanship means they have to come our way. If we're successful in getting the numbers, then we will work toward that. You know, I want to confront not so much people as the issues that are really out there, that are causing us to be in the economic crisis we're in.
[Via BuzzFeed.]
Generally Awful
Congratulations to Mitt Romney, who was voted least barfiest in three more states last night: Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Yay for Mitt Romney, who managed to trounce his only remaining competitor, Ron Paul, whose failure to have dropped out of the race is strong evidence for the case that he may be dead.
I mean, I don't want Ron Paul to be dead—I hope he's happily counting all his gold pieces in a beautiful mansion made out of discarded Ayn Rand paperbacks—but has anyone seen him lately? Anyone? Bueller? I'm beginning to suspect that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were Weekend-at-Bernieing Ron Paul through the last two debates, y'all.
Anyway! There's not a whole lot of news to share today. Ron "Bernie" Paul hopes to influence the Republican convention with his cool collection of delegates (good luck with that). Mitt Romney is still terrible and also suuuuuuuuper bored. President Barack Obama is still not progressive and also overconfident. And a GOP newsletter has called for armed revolution if Obama is reelected, because that party definitely becomes more reasonable by the day.
In good news, or news that will be repeatedly and depressingly denied throughout the day, President Obama is reportedly "disappointed" by the antigay vote in North Carolina, and his North Carolina spokesperson Cameron French said: "President Obama has long believed that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples and is disappointed in the passage of this amendment." Which of course is some bullshit parsing that pretends marriage and civil unions are equal, but that still whiffs of evolution, ahem.
At Think Progress, Igor notes that a "senior adviser to the president said in an interview last month that Obama 'may get around' to supporting the freedom to marry before November."
Basically, the President is waiting to see if he can win without endorsing marriage equality. And if it looks like he's going to lose without endorsing it, he'll pull out the "fierce advocate" card, endorse federal marriage equality, and see if that rallies the progressive troops to put him over the top. Not a bad political play, except for the fact it's so goddamn obvious he looks less savvy and strategic than craven and unprincipled.
But naturally anyone who expects the President to prioritize decency over winning is just a stupid rube who doesn't understand how politics works.
One of these days, I hope to be able to cast a vote for a politician who understands there are lots of people in this country desperate for a president who runs to lead, instead of one who runs to win.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
North Carolina: Bigotry In. Indiana: Lugar Out.
Two big pieces of primary news this morning after voting yesterday: In North Carolina, voters overwhelmingly supported adding an amendment to the state constitution that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and bans same-sex marriage and civil unions; and in Indiana, Republican primary voters overwhelmingly ousted six-term Republican Senator Dick Lugar in favor of Tea Party favorite Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
On the former: I cannot believe this bullshit is going on in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and twelve. Seriously, anyone who honestly believes their marriage will be undermined by making the institution inclusive of same-sex couples should maybe consider building their marriage on a foundation more solid than rank, rickety bigotry. My marriage is built on a foundation of love, and love isn't threatened by more love.
(For the record, it ain't threatened by marriages of convenience, either.)
But of course virtually no one actually believes marriage equality will undermine different-sex marriages. That's just a thin rhetorical veneer used to mask the vile bigotry of privileged assholes who are ashamed of, but not decent enough to acknowledge, the desperate insecurity about their super-special relationships losing the shimmering, golden glow that only denying equality to same-sex couples conveys upon their gloriously gilded unions.
Marriage is ours, dammit! That's what this garbage is really about. Greed. Prejudice is stingy, because privilege is a zero-sum game.
* * *
On the latter: Well, as a born and raised and resident Hoosier, who regards "Senator Lugar" with approximately the same inured indifference as a state monument, it's strange to see him booted in a primary for reasons of habit, but not so strange given the current political culture. He's old guard GOP—which basically means he's terrible, but not terrible enough.
That Republican voters have sent Dick Lugar packing for insufficient conservatism eradicates all pretense that there's a shred of tolerance for moderation left in the party. Whoooooops.
Question of the Day
What's the last piece of good advice you gave? What's the last piece of good advice you were given?
Photo of the Day
This photo provided by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles, shows Debbie Zeisler with her 100-pound Shiloh German shepherd named Bear, on Monday, May 7, 2012, in Los Angeles. Three years ago, Bear, was a dog nobody wanted at a Texas shelter until Zeisler came to his rescue. On Monday, Bear was honored with the 30th National Hero Dog award by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles.[H/T to the Shelter Pet Project.]
Last May, Zeisler had a seizure, fell down some steps, hit her head and lost consciousness in her front yard. Bear scratched on every front door in their Millsap neighborhood but nobody answered. A Parker County animal control officer saw the frantic dog and went to help. Bear led the officer to Zeisler. As a by-then conscious Zeisler was being loaded into an ambulance, Bear did not hesitate to jump in with her and accompany her to the hospital.
The dog recognizes the signs of imminent seizures and will lean on Zeisler's legs so she can sit down before they happen, explained the society's Ana Bustilloz. Bear never had any training, but three days after Zeisler took him home he started alerting her to possible problems. "He figured it out on his own," Bustilloz said.
Zeisler said she initially went to the Weatherford Animal Shelter to get a German shepherd for her mother. When she asked about shepherds, she was told they only had one, but he was in the back because nobody wanted him. They brought out the dog and it was love at first sight, she said. [AP, with more here.]
The Voice of Misogyny
by Shaker BrianWS, who may or may not become a full-time contributor someday based on a series of cosmological calculations being made by an intergalactic alien priestess named Zah, who resides in a looking glass on an asteroid called Figg at the far curve of the multiverse.
During its first season, I was a huge fan of The Voice, a singing competition on NBC currently in season two. The talent level on the show last year was just ridiculous and introduced me to one of my favorite artists, Dia Frampton. This year, the competition has been a bit on the underwhelming side, but I continued to watch in hopes that someone would begin to stand out, and thankfully that happened—Juliet Simms, the only woman among the four finalists, is a true star. She's an electric performer with a voice that can tell a story all by itself.
The fact that she's the only woman in the finals on a show where Christina Aguilera is the only woman on the judges' panel is particularly worth noting after a disgusting exchange on Monday night's episode when the finalists performed one more time in an attempt to win the competition.
(For those who don't watch the show, each of the four celebrity judges picks a team of singers which is slowly whittled down to one. The four finalists then compete in a grand finale to see which of the contestants—and judges—wins.)
Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine's finalist, Tony Lucca, who has to date made his way through the competition by way of a shortcut through Gimmick Avenue (and an assist from his coach, who gave him a higher rating than his semi-final female opponent Katrina Parker, because he enjoyed the "bromance" they had, allowing Tony to advance despite the fact that America voted 52-48 for Katrina), performed his last song, and the choice was a country-tinged cover of Jay-Z's "99 Problems," a song in which the hook is the line "If you're havin' girl problems, I feel bad for you son / I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one."
After Tony performed "99 Problems" on last night's episode, the judges were asked for their responses. Christina, who has in the past criticized Tony for being one-dimensional (and also knows him personally, as they were on The Mickey Mouse Club together), told him he had a great voice and then added, "Your beautiful wife and your daughter, and family are here tonight, and I just thought, you know, the lyrical connotation was a little derogatory towards women...but all in all it was good fun."
Let's pause here: Note how restrained that statement is. The song relies heavily on misogynist language, but Christina didn't even spend her entire critique talking about that—she complimented Tony on the performance and gave a barely passing mention of the fact that the lyrics are problematic, yet it still earned her the misogynist wrath of Tony's coach, Adam.
When it came time for his critique, Adam responded with, "First of all, just to clarify so you all know, the intent behind this song, we talked about this for hours, Tony and I, and you know, the ___ ain't one is life getting' at you, things bringing you down, you know, we're not referring to women, we're referring to everything."
Christina said, "It says 'if you're having girl problems,' so it IS a girl."
Adam responded by talking over her and saying in an extremely condescending tone, "It's called a metaphor," a line that was met with nauseating, wild applause from the studio audience, at which point Adam took off his flannel shirt to reveal a "Team Xtina" t-shirt underneath—thus obliging Christina to applaud after he'd insulted her, or risk losing as though she doesn't support her remaining team member, who, of course, is Tony's competitor and had yet to perform his solo number.
There is so much vile shit to unpack in this that it's tough to even know where to start.
First, Christina is the only woman on this four-judge panel, and she was the only one to even make the most passing mention of the problematic and misogynist lyrics—and when she did so, it was in the least aggressive way she possibly could have, yet her comments were still met with MORE misogyny. She was shouted down, talked to like she was clueless and hysterically overreacting, and met with derisive and dismissive words simply for pointing out the misogynist lyrics. Basically, she got treated like shit for ruining the fun misogyny party for all the men! It's so much more fun when there aren't women around to complain, amirite?! (Or men, but men who complain about that kind of shit are either totally gay or basically women anyway, for sure).
Adam, meanwhile, came prepared. Several websites have reported that an even more severe argument broke out between Adam and Christina during rehearsals for Monday night's show, with multiple but unconfirmed reports that Adam called her a "cunt," in the process. I'm somehow inclined to think there's probably quite a bit of truth to that after seeing last night's show—especially since he had that "Team Xtina" tee at the ready, if she challenged him on-air.
Adam's claim that the line "99 problems but a bitch ain't one" is about "life getting at you," is a total non-starter, metaphor or not (spoiler alert: not!). Let's say it really is just a metaphor—which is an awfully generous interpretation—it is still a problem. If you're applauding a song that uses misogynist language to talk about life being tough, using the word "bitch" as a placeholder for various woes is STILL misogynist! "Life's a bitch" still relies on anti-woman sentiment.
(See also: Using the feminine as a symbol for "mayhem.")
And rather than perhaps admit that Christina might have had a point worth hearing, Adam responded aggressively with more misogyny toward her, as misogynists are apt to do when challenged—so challenged by even the slightest, most non-aggressive hint that they might be contributing to a serious problem.
He was ready for this exact confrontation (again: "Team Xtina" shirt at the ready), and was prepared to ensure that, in a space where defending a misogynist song would receive huge applause, he would also be able to deflect any meaningful criticism. Christina found herself in that spot that has been oft discussed here—she could continue to defend acknowledging the problematic aspects of the song and reject Adam's dismissive response to her and get accused of being a "bitch" and ruining the show (and even without continuing on, she was still accused of those things in recaps this morning), or she could let it go, stay silent on it for the remainder of the night, and allow the show to continue as if nothing had happened. That's the untenable position she found herself in—the terrible bargain.
This exchange on the show last night is a perfect example of the problems with a culture so steeped in misogyny—the purveyors of it are the ones who receive applause. Those who challenge it are shouted down with more misogyny as though their concerns are the result of hypersensitivity, as though there can be no meaningful discussion to be seriously had about how misogynist language is harmful to both women AND men, because they can't even be bothered to recognize that there is any kind of problem inherent in that language to begin with.
I appreciate what Christina Aguilera does on this show every night, because this is really just the obvious, out-in-the-open breaking point of a season full of more underhanded, insidious misogyny that has been directed at her. It was especially nice to see her with her finalist, opera singer Chris Mann, onstage after his "thank you" performance to her. She got up out of her chair, embraced him, joined him on stage and told the audience, "This is a real man. A real man respects women."
While noting the problem with "real" language, it was a nice, and honestly touching, moment, to see her there after having been the target of such an ugly display so soon before, standing alongside a man whom she truly seems to like, respect, and care for, and to see him return that tenfold as he stood alongside a woman he genuinely respects, and likes, and cares for.
The whole thing—the audience's reaction not only to the performance itself, but to Adam's attacks on Christina afterward, reminded me so hard that if there is one thing America seems to love so dearly, it's men who openly hate women.
I'll say this—I've got plenty of problems in my life. Maybe 99. Maybe more. Maybe fewer. But I do know that if Tony Lucca and Adam Levine win tonight—finding time to watch The Voice next season sure as fuck isn't going to be one of them anymore.
[Notes: If there is any further incident on tonight's finale, I will post a follow-up tomorrow. Also, my thanks to Liss for helping me tease out some of the ideas in this post.]
Quote of the Day
"I just—he cannot be serious."—Senator John Kerry, responding to Mitt Romney's claim to "a lot of credit" for the auto bailout.
Reportedly, the Senator also laughed.
Google's Self-Driving Car Hits the Road in Nevada
The state of Nevada has issued a license plate giving Google's self-driving car the green light to travel along public roads.The good news about self-driving cars is that rich people's chauffeurs will finally be free to become billionaire pizza magnates.
The modified Toyota Prius was issued a license bearing an infinity sign next to the left of number "001" after demonstrating its auto-pilot capabilities on highways, neighborhood streets and even the hectic "strip" in Las Vegas.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles proclaimed the license the first for an autonomous vehicle in the United States.
"I felt using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the car of the future," motor vehicle department director Bruce Breslow said in a statement posted at the state agency's website.
The car was given a unique red license plate to make it recognizable by police and the public as a self-driving test vehicle.
"When there comes a time that vehicle manufactures market autonomous vehicles to the public, that infinity symbol will appear on a green license plate," Breslow said.
Nevada hopes the creation of the test plates will drive companies to develop, test and build autonomous vehicles in the state.
BushQuotes!
Chapter 3, page 29: "Months earlier, Karl had started forming issue groups, bringing together a cross section of people with different expertise on various subjects. I met with them, in small groups or sometimes one-on-one, discussing ideas, asking questions, picking their brains."
...And, of course, I spent lots of time at a big desk made of wood devising for those geniuses clever nicknames, like "Turd Blossom," "Altoid Boy," "Horny," and "Ol' Garbage Head."
(True Fact: I only made one of those up.)
Now please enjoy this image of Hillary Clinton laughing in George W. Bush's face!
[From George Bush's A Charge to Keep, gifted to me by Deeky, because he hates me. In the US, all people who plan to run for president write a shitty book. (Some are less shitty than others, by which I mean the Democrats' books.) A Charge to Keep was George W. Bush's shitty I-wanna-be-president book, published in 1999. I am blogging one random quote per page every day until I have either made my way through the book or lost it behind a couch.]
This Is Your Regular Reminder That Hillary Clinton Is a Woman. And Also That Conservatives Hate Her. Oh, and Additionally That She Is Super Awesome.
So, yesterday, the AP included in their wire photos this image of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking at a press conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Saturday. And ZOMG she is wearing glasses and not wearing make-up!
Oh the humanity, etc.
Naturally, this SCANDAL was prominently featured on the Drudge Report, and thus got picked up by the conservative blogosphere and the mainstream media, because no doi they are so totally liberal.
So obviously it was only a matter of time before CNN would ask Secretary Clinton to address whether she is SO UPSET BOO-HOO about this latest circle-jerk by the usual collection of dipshits whose rhetorical attacks have all the sophistication of a million sentinels attacking Zion.
It's the biggest softball ever for a woman who has weathered every conceivable manifestation of misogynist bullying over her career, but her response is nonetheless fantastic.
Reporter Jill Dougherty: Now in the blogosphere, there is a big thing about "Hillary Au Naturale"—in other words, you without makeup; you wearing glasses— [Clinton bursts out laughing] —and, you know, what can I say? But this is exactly what you were saying, that it's either the hair, or something like that—Hillary Clinton don't give a shit.
Clinton: You know, I feel so relieved to be at the stage I'm at in my life right now, Jill, you know, because if I wanna wear my glasses, I'm wearin' my glasses. If I, you know, wanna pull my hair back, I'm pullin' my hair back. And, uh, you know, at some point, it's just not, ahh, it's just not something that deserves a whole lot of time and attention—and if others want to, you know, worry about it, I'll let them do the worrying for a change.
Dougherty: So it doesn't drive you crazy?
Clinton: It doesn't drive me crazy at all. [shakes head] It's just not something that, ahh, that I think is that important any more. [leans forward and bursts out laughing]
Random Nerd Nostalgia
It's 1981. You're reading your favorite comic book. (Let's say it's Wonder Woman No. 282, series 1, purely for the sake of argument, of course.)
Then you turn the page, glance at an advertisement, and.... without warning you become aware your life is not complete because OMG what is THIS awesome thing? SOMETHING YOU MUST PLAY. A strange force compels you! YOU MUST PLAY THIS GAME, which is clearly constructed of 100% awesome:
[Image description: a cartoon advertising a "Dungeons & Dragons (R)" Adventure! Narrative: "VALERIUS the fighter, GRIMSLADE the magic user and INDEL the elf find a secret door in the ruins of ZENOPUS castle...INDEL uses Infravision to peek down the secret passageway." Valerius: See anything? Grimslade: THE PASSAGE IS EMPTY Indel: I'll go on ahead. It may be boobytrapped. Narr: "The adventurers proceed cautiously through narrow, twisting corridors. They come to a corner and..." Indel:: Look! A Shadow! (Image of a garbage mound looking thing with the noises SQUISH! SLOSH!) Grimslade: What do you see, Indel? Valerius: Quick! A Torch! Narr:" They hear sloshing noises, smell rotting vegetation; they see a shambling mound." Grimslade: Maybe a hold monster charm will save us! Valerius: WE NEED A CHARM, QUICKLY! (Image of shadow on wall) Grimslade: (speaks in squiggly lines). The monsters is ZAPped via a tiny lightning bolt. Indel (hiding behind Grimslade): WHEW! Narr: "The light cast by the wizard's charm reveals a shiny green-colored substance on the castle walls." Valerius: GREEN SLIME! Grimslade: Don't touch it! It is certain death! Indel: LOOK OUT! IT'S DRIPPING!" Information follows for writing to TSR Hobbies and getting a catalog.]
Congratulations. You have found your quest. Gain 50 XP.
