Boehner whines about the terrible plight of rich people. Republicans poop their pants out of spite. Obama will make his case to the greed monsters. And so on.
You know, we could bypass all of this nonsense (and alarmism about running deficits is indeed nonsense) if we maybe took a serious look at cutting the bloated defense budget by about, oh, say, 50% or so.
No? More bombs, less feeding people, more absurd political gridlock?
Sounds great. Carry on.
Fiscal Cliffery: A Suggestion
Today in Being a Woman
ABC News: Hillary Clinton Wins High Popularity, Majority Support for a 2016 Bid.
Setting aside the comprehensive absurdity that we have not even reached Inauguration Day 2013 yet but are already talking about Election Day 2016, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said she has no plans to run for president again. So I find it sort of irritating that there is (already!) mounting pressure for her to run in 2016.
(As to the argument such polling is useful in giving her an "out" by justifying changing her mind if she decides to run after all, I find that a pretty objectionable argument on the basis that fuck off she doesn't need to justify changing her mind. It is a woman's human's prerogative.)
Not only is the public fascination with her running happening in direct contravention of her stated desires, it's also happening in the very particular context of her having been resoundingly excoriated for what was deemed a presumptuous run in 2008. What did she do to deserve the presidency? and Who does she think she is? and all that.
Never mind that what she had done as "merely" a First Lady was stuff like stand in front of the world and deliver resonating lines like: "If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights once and for all."
You know. The sort of thing she's been doing as Secretary of State for which she has garnered lavish (and well-deserved) praise.
Yes, she has served as a Secretary of State in the intervening four years, but it wasn't like she hadn't been an effective advocate and diplomat as First Lady and Senator.
It seems like the most important thing she's done in the intervening four years is serve under the man to whom she lost, which I daresay a lot of her former critics regard as a necessary bit of humility becoming an uppity woman, even though they dress it up in pretty words like "she has proven her willingness to be a team player" or some such reprehensible dreck.
Now that she's been sufficiently chastened, they want her to run for president, even though she doesn't want to.
No—because she doesn't want to. A lack of presidential ambition has made her more attractive, too, it seems.
These, then, appear to be the qualifications to be a woman deserving of the presidency in the US: A willingness to swallow shit, and no desire to lead the nation.
Perfect.
If Hillary Clinton doesn't want to be the president of a nation who has done this to her, I can't say I fucking blame her.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Things About Being an Adult. (And, if you're not quite grown-up yet, please feel welcome to interpret this one as your top five favorite things about not being a little kid anymore.) Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by wood pencil cases.
Recommended Reading:
Elise: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Coverage Continues to Decline in a New Decade
FMF News: Statistic Shows (Still Not Reauthorized) VAWA Effective at Reducing Intimate Partner Violence
Chauncey: What Did Discussing The Walking Dead TV Series at the Daily Kos Teach Me About White Privilege?
Fannie: On Owning One's Religious Beliefs
Adrienne: Ignorant and Malignant: The Hate Mail Cometh [Content Note: The post at this link includes misogynist slurs and racist emails and imagery.]
Julianne: Next Dream for Immigrant Youth: Legalization for All 11 Million Undocumented Migrants
Jeremy: AFA's Bryan Fischer Doesn't Understand the Concept of Consent [Content Note: The post at this link contains Fischer's transphobic tweet.]
William: The [Drug] War on African Americans and Latin@s in San Francisco
Angus: Fred Hampton
Susana: The Tower of Barad-Dur Made with Boxed Sets of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (and Other Neat Stuff)
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
In Other Chicago Shooting News...
[Content Note: Gun violence.]
Eleven people were shot in Chicago Monday night. Eleven. In one night.
All of them happened on the city's south and west sides. Which, if you're not familiar with the city, are disproportionately not-white and not-affluent.
Our President's Chicago home is on the South Side. One would think the increasingly out of control gun violence in neighborhoods not far from his home would make him more disposed to supporting gun control, but one would be wrong.
Shoot First; Write a Ticket Later
[Content Note: Police brutality; guns; animal cruelty.]
The Chicago Police Department is investigating after an officer shot a dog (he survived!) in a north side neighborhood, without provocation. The officer says the dog was "unleashed and running toward him," while family and neighbors report say the miniature bull terrier (not a pit bull—a bull terrier, like beloved '80s beer spokesdog Spuds MacKenzie) was just walking around wagging its tail.
It's funny (not remotely funny) how often CPD's versions of events leading to shootings seem to be at total odds with witness accounts. Just a coincidence, I guess!
Anyway.
The officer shot the dog, named Colonel, around 3 p.m. Saturday while writing a ticket for the owner's van that was blocking the sidewalk in the 800 block of West Buena Avenue, according to police.On the news this morning, Phillips' daughter noted that Phillips, who is in his 70s and hearing impaired, did not hear the officer. She also noted that it all happened so quickly, there wouldn't have been time for him to grab the dog before shots were fired, anyway.
A neighbor hanging Christmas lights alerted the dog's owner, Al Phillips, that he was getting a ticket, police said. Phillips and Colonel came out of the house and the dog ran down toward the officer, police said.
"He shot the dog, and then he just quite calmly returned to writing the ticket, like nothing had happened," Phillips told WGN-Channel 9. "One slug hit him in the leg, and the other splintered and went into his abdomen."
The neighbor later told police that the officer yelled something like, "Grab your dog" twice, then fired at the dog.
The family took the dog to a veterinarian and he is expected to survive.And that's the real rub. Even if the officer felt he had an absolute obligation to stop that dog from getting any closer to him because his own safety was at risk, he has non-lethal options at his disposal. Which surely should be the preferable option in a crowded residential neighborhood. Totally apart from the cruelty of shooting any dog that gets near him, that's a major public safety concern.
Phillips' daughter Morgan said the dog was just wagging his tail.
"I could see if the dog was big and ferocious and ran up to him and was growly and barking and biting," she said. "But when a dog walks out, it's wagging its tail — you pull out a gun and start shooting, in a North Side, quiet neighborhood, we have a bigger problem than a puppy getting shot."
After shooting the dog, the officer finished writing the parking ticket. The next day, "two officers went to the house and issued a citation for the dog being unleashed." Yeah.
Meanwhile, Colonel is lucky to be alive. His career as a show dog is, however, over. The family is suing the city and the Chicago Police Department.
Miniature bull terrier Colonel after being treated for gunshot wounds over the weekend. [WGN-TV]
Headline of the Day
Republicans Not Handling Election Results Well.
PPP's first post election national poll finds that Republicans are taking the results pretty hard...and also declining in numbers.Whooooooops!
49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found [pdf] that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.
Question of the Day
What song or songs motivate you and/or pick you up? They don't necessarily have to be your own personal theme songs but that's ok, too. My go-to song--and, incidentally, the song I named my Theme Song of My 30s--is:
I've also become rather fond of Youngblood Hawke's We Come Running recently:
In an interview the band said about that the song that: "The song served as a reminder to always follow your passion. Do what makes you happy and keeps you fulfilled, no matter what."
Capybara Sits in the Old Hot Spring
Would you like to see 17 photos of capybaras relaxing in Japanese hot springs? Why not, right? Here is one of those photos!
Does it make you want to see the rest? Well, here you go!
[H/T to Jordan.]
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Content Note for linked piece: Lots of disablism, where variations on "crazy" are treated as synonymous with "extremist."]
You know your party is in a total shambles when the former research director of your National Committee is wondering in the New York Times where the hell a Bill Buckleyesque figure is to move your party forward.
There's so much to love there — I mean, come on, this is a gift: "Dare I say it, or should I just whisper the word? We need 'the Establishment.' We need officials like former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, operatives like Karl Rove (lulz-ed.) and Republican Party institutions." — but perhaps my favorite part is this:
Mr. Bush, who once bravely stated that Ronald Reagan would have a hard time fitting in with today's Republican Party, likewise has the position and gravitas to weigh in and weed out the Todd Akins and Sharron Angles of the world.I guess it is brave to be a Republican who observes that their Saint Ronnie would never stop throwing up at the state of the modern GOP. Over here on the other side of the aisle, that's just called observant.
Fatsronauts 101
Fatsronauts 101 is a series in which I address assumptions and stereotypes about fat people that treat us as a monolith and are used to dehumanize and marginalize us. If there is a stereotype you'd like me to address, email me.
[Content Note: Fat bias; consent issues.]
#15: Fat people hate having their pictures taken.
This is an interesting topic, requested by Shaker katekari.
As fat people are not a monolith, the reality is, of course, that some fat people enjoy having their pictures taken, some fat people love having their pictures taken ALL THE TIME and some only like their pictures taken in certain circumstances, and some fat people don't like having their pictures taken at all, which may or may not be related to their appearance.
Fat people! Just like everyone else!
Because of the cultural bias against fat that translates into narratives like fat is axiomatically ugly, and because of the common desire to "look good" for photographs, fat people as a group might be more disposed toward sensitivity around picture taking. Especially because "looking fat" is about the worst thing any non-fat person can observe about themselves (or have observed about them) in photos.
(Protip to not-fat people: If you want to be a good ally, never, ever, say with disgust, "God, I look SO FAT there!" in the presence of a fat person you don't want to offend.)
Anyway. Fat people often have the same sorts of concerns that not-fat people do about how their bodies best photograph. If you're a fat lady with big boobs like me, for instance, you might want to have the opportunity to sit up straighter before a photograph is taken. You might just also want to be able to tilt your head to the right a bit, because it's your better side, exactly like lots of non-fat people.
Fat people! Just like everyone else!
Except that the de facto assumption about most people is not that they don't want to be photographed, whereas many fat people are reflexively presumed to be photograph-averse. Which is a pretty terrible calculation, given that it's underwritten by the belief someone who looks like you obviously considers themselves too hideous to be committed to film, and I agree! Yikes.
Really, although there are additional considerations for fatsronauts, this is an Everyday Consent issue: No one's photograph should ever be taken without hir permission, and it should certainly never be published or posted in a public forum without hir explicit consent—especially in an age where [CN: racism; fat hatred] this stuff can happen to anyone whose picture is posted online.
I don't love having my picture taken, but it has nothing to do with my fat and everything to do with having grown up in a family where I was incessantly cajoled into posing for pictures and/or having my picture taken without my consent. I don't hate having my picture taken, either. I just need to feel safe, i.e. allowed to say yes/no, to the photograph and its subsequent distribution.
That's just my experience. Other fat people will naturally have their own individual experiences with photography.
The way to find out those experiences—and related preferences—is to ask. "Do you like having your picture taken? Do you mind if I take your picture?"
It's a good policy, irrespective of your subject or hir size.
-------------------------
Previously:
#14: All fat people are unhealthy.
#13: Fat people looooooooooove Twinkies!
#12: Fat people don't like/want to see media representations of themselves.
#11: No one wants to be fat.
#10: Fat people need you to intervene in their lives.
#9: Fat people don't know how they look.
#8: Fat people don't deserve anything nice.
#7: Fat people are permission slips for thin people to eat what they want.
#6: Any fat person eating a salad or exercising is trying to lose weight.
#5: Fat is axiomatically ugly.
#4: Fat people eat enormous amounts of food.
#3: Fat people are jolly/mean, and fat people are shy/loud.
#2: I can tell how someone eats all the time, because of how they eat around me.
#1: Everyone who is fat is fat for the same reason.
Quote of the Day
"[Speaker Boehner] put a couple of sentences on the table—that's not a plan, to say that we're going to magically increase revenues through loophole closures and deduction caps, with not a single element of specificity. So we don't know who pays; we don't know what we're talking about in terms of actual legislation to increase revenues. It's magic beans and fairy dust."—White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, during a presser on the "Fiscal Cliff" today.
Heh heh heh.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Song Lyrics. By which I don't mean an entire song, but a single line or stanza within a song. Go!
Please feel welcome to share stories about why your Top Five picks are what they are, though a straight-up list is fine, too. Please refrain from negatively auditing other people's lists, because judgment discourages participation.
HAES Resources for Kids/Teens & Men
[Content Note: Fat bias; diet talk.]
I've gotten a few emails recently requesting Health at Every Size and fat-positive resources that are specifically geared toward kids/teens, and that are specifically geared toward men.
I would recommend the HAES Community Resource List generally, and the Adipositivity Project (may be NSFW), which includes pix of dudes. But neither of those are kid/teen or male specific.
What's out there that you'd recommend? Got any suggestions?
Daily Dose of Cute
Today in Trans*
[Content Note: Pathologizing transgenderism.]
Liss: O HAI. U R NOT DISORDERED ANYMORE!
[Link goes to story about "gender identity disorder" being dropped from the DSM and replaced by "gender dysphoria."]
Eastsidekate: Huzzah! I knew something felt different when I woke up this morning.
Liss: Are you euphoric to be dysphoric?
Eastsidekate: I have been nonstop partying with all the money I didn't give to Mitt Romney's victory wallet!
Liss: I love how being trans* is still considered a psychiatric disorder, though. And I know there's a bunch of Stuff surrounding whether it's kept in or not—like as long as it's a diagnosable disorder, people with insurance can get access to healthcare with it—but it's still garbage that requirement exists at all, so.
Eastsidekate: People privileged enough to have insurance.
Liss: Right.
Eastsidekate: And prove they are sufficiently disordered to use it for Teh Trans.
Liss: Naturally.
Eastsidekate: What Julia said.
Liss: Totes.
