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The Virtual Pub Is Open
[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]
TFIF, Shakers!
Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!
Today in Paul Ryan Stands in Front of Something
Here's some news you may or may not care about. Please enjoy it, or do not enjoy it, as you see fit. Whatever makes you happy. Have a lovely day. Or evening.
Greg Sargent: Romney Advisers Confirm It: We're Running a 'Just Trust Me' Campaign.
Harsha Nahata: Analysis: Paul Ryan Voted to Add $6.8 Trillion to the Federal Debt.
Zeke Miller: Obama Campaign Launches First Ad Attacking Romney-Ryan on Medicare.
Barack Obama, Nerd-in-Chief
Have you been wondering how President Obama would answer the perennial nerd question, "What superpower do you want?"
OF COURSE YOU HAVE!
Fortunately, this vital query has been asked and answered:
"It's kind of a weird superpower, but if I had something that I could immediately wish for, I would love to be able to speak any language," the president said.Sometimes, I do kinda love the guy.
"Now, that's a weird superpower—it might not come in handy to rescue folks from a burning building," he added. "But I've always wished that whatever country I went to, wherever I met somebody who spoke a different language, that I could right away speak their language."
"I'm a big believer in making connections with people. But if it's like an 'Avengers' superpower, then I think the whole flying thing is pretty good," he said. "You can't beat just kinda swooping around. That looks like it'd be fun."
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Movie Quotes. 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.
This is a real thing in the world.
[Content Note: Violent rhetoric; racism.]
Above, an image of a billboard in Elkhart, Indiana, paid for by a local Tea Party outfit, which features an image of Navy Seals accompanied by the text: "The Navy Seals removed one threat to America...the voters must remove the other."
We the People of Marshall and Fulton counties, the Tea Partiers responsible for the billboard, are naturally asserting, despite the fact that the billboard clearly compares President Obama to Osama bin Laden and tacitly suggests voters should "remove" President Obama the way Navy Seals "removed" bin Laden, that it's simply a Get Out the Vote initiative.
Uh-huh.
In the Elkhart Truth, local Tom Butler says if the group intends to encourage voting, then "that's what they should say. They're adding militaristic jingoism." Excellent point, Tom Butler!
I don't guess I need to point out that conflating President Obama with an Islamic terrorist and saying he's an equivalent threat to the nation is not only wildly wrong and profoundly inappropriate, but also a racist dog-whistle. Where the dog-whistle has been replaced with a megaphone.
[H/T to Digby.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda is a playful cat. She is talkative and silly and irascible and loves to play with toys. When she was younger, she would play fetch for hours with a balled up piece of tinfoil. But nothing, and I mean nothing, brings out the ferocious play-cat in Tils like a piece of ribbon. She will play with a string or a bungee or a bit of rope, but she goes absolutely wild for ribbons.
Recently, Iain bought me a little gifty which came wrapped in a yellow ribbon. I gave it to Matilda, who naturally went bananas. This video is after I'd already been playing with her for probably half an hour straight.
Video Description: Matilda sits next to me on the couch, batting and grabbing and biting at a piece of yellow ribbon I'm dangling at her. When she manages to get it away, I reach for it, and she nips at my hand in its defense, even though she wants me to grab it and keep playing. She rolls around goofily. When I let her keep the ribbon, she plays with it a little on her own, but looks at me plaintively to KEEP PLAYING! Then she turns away pitiably. The video ends.
I played with her with that thing for probably another hour. For days, she carried it around like it was a magical scepter. Eventually, it started getting manky, and Iain threw it away. She promptly tore a pink ribbon handle off a gift bag that was in my office, lol.
Friday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by jade.
Recommended Reading:
Renee: The Microaggressions We Live With [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion and description of sexual assault.]
Tom: Paul Ryan Is the Embodiment of the Machine Our Music Rages Against [Content Note: The post at this link includes disablist language and a reference to torture.]
Tracie: Mother of Transgender Toddler Gets a Lesson in Love [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of transphobia and gender essentialism; it also makes brief reference to the "trapped in another body" frame, which some find objectionable.]
Jeremy: No labels. No claims. No editorializing. Just Tony Perkins' record. [Content Note: The post at this link is a compilation of FRC's Tony Perkins gross homophobic quotes and policy endorsements.]
Steve: Just Erase the Word
Latoya: Eva Longoria Talks Social Justice in Lucky
Angela: Fat as Rebellion: My Fat Says "Fuck You" [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of fat bias, misogyny, and disordered eating.]
Andrew: Geraldo Asks Whether Homeland Security Is Controlled by 'Lesbian Cabal'
Angry Asian Man: Seoul Sausage on The Great Food Truck Race
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Quote of the Day
"We broadly asked people in the private sector to think of serving in government as a form of public service."—Bob White, a longtime friend of Mitt Romney who chaired his gubernatorial transition in Massachusetts, in an interview about Romney's presidential transition plan if he wins the election.
It's so cool that they want "people in the private sector" (i.e. corporate executives and board members) to be key parts of their administration, just like every other stinking administration including the present one. That's working out really great for America.
Yay for all of us, I'm sure.
But the best part of that quote, for my money (PUN INTENDED), is how asking corporate d-bags to write the rules for the nation is framed as an appeal to their altruistic natures. Ha ha sure. Because they never reap any personal benefits from making decisions like whether companies in which they hold significant stock shares get massive contracts from the federal government. Definitely not. They FOR SURE divest all those potential profit-making opportunities, and then absolutely don't sail out public service into seven-figure "advisory" sinecures.
Ahem.
[H/T to Shaker Brunocerous.]
Meanwhile, in Russia...
[Content Note: Misogyny; homophobia; religious supremacy.]
Pussy Riot members jailed for two years for hooliganism:
Three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been jailed for two years after staging an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in a Moscow cathedral.This story is getting lots of attention, and deservedly so. It's an absolute disgrace. The idea that a nonviolent protest at a place of worship is "dangerous" but punishing protesters with a two-year sentence at a penal colony is responsible and reasonable jurisprudence is truly chilling.
Judge Marina Syrova convicted the women of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had "crudely undermined social order".
...Judge Syrova said Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, had offended the feelings of Orthodox believers and shown a "complete lack of respect".
"Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich committed hooliganism - in other words, a grave violation of public order," she said.
...The judge then took three hours to read the verdict, before handing down "two years deprivation of liberty in a penal colony" for each defendant.
"Considering the nature and degree of the danger posed by what was done, the defendants' correction is possible only through an actual punishment," she said.
One man in the courtroom shouted "shame" at the sentencing, and there were chants and whistles from the band's supporters outside.
Tolokonnikova's husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said: "Russia's image was quite scary even before [this]. What happened now is a clear sign that Russia is moving towards becoming more like China or North Korea."
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny added: "They are in jail because it is Putin's personal revenge. This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin."
The defendants' lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, said they would not appeal to President Putin for a pardon. However, there will be a legal appeal against the verdict.
Amnesty International said the ruling was a "bitter blow" for freedom of expression in Russia.
Getting less attention today: Gay parades banned in Moscow for 100 years. "Moscow's top court has upheld a ban on gay pride marches in the Russian capital for the next 100 years. ... The Moscow city government argues that the gay parade would risk causing public disorder and that most Muscovites do not support such an event."
Prevention of "public disorder," or, as we call it in the States, "disturbing the peace," is a great euphemism for all manner of tyrannical attempts to squash progress, isn't it?
SPLC Responds to Tony Perkins
[Content Note: Guns; violence; terrorism; homophobia.]
Yesterday, in my piece about the shooting at the Family Research Council, who is blaming their being called a "hate group" for the shooting, I noted: "Attributing [the shooter's] actions to the identifying as bigoted and/or hateful groups that want to entrench second-class citizenship of people belonging to the LGBTQI community is a parody of legitimate concerns about violent and eliminationist rhetoric."
As if to prove the point, FRC President Tony Perkins amped up the rhetoric, specifically blaming the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups and has thus identified the FRC. According to Perkins, the shooter, Floyd Corkins, "was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center. I believe the Southern Poverty Law Center should be held accountable for their reckless use of terminology."
Which is pretty rich, coming from a guy who has said: "If you look at the American College of Pediatricians, they say the research is overwhelming that homosexuality poses a danger to children." (A gross lie.)
The SPLC has responded, and it is terrific:
Perkins' accusation is outrageous. The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about LGBT people — not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage. The FRC and its allies on the religious right are saying, in effect, that offering legitimate and fact-based criticism in a democratic society is tantamount to suggesting that the objects of criticism should be the targets of criminal violence.Right the fuck on.
As the SPLC made clear at the time and in hundreds of subsequent statements and press interviews, we criticize the FRC for claiming, in Perkins' words, that pedophilia is "a homosexual problem" — an utter falsehood, as every relevant scientific authority has stated. An FRC official has said he wanted to "export homosexuals from the United States." The same official advocated the criminalizing of homosexuality.
Perkins and his allies, seeing an opportunity to score points, are using the attack on their offices to pose a false equivalency between the SPLC's criticisms of the FRC and the FRC's criticisms of LGBT people. The FRC routinely pushes out demonizing claims that gay people are child molesters and worse — claims that are provably false. It should stop the demonization and affirm the dignity of all people.
Shameless Plug
This one time, I wrote an entire book chapter without including a single cuss word. The book, Transfeminist Perspectives in and beyond Transgender Studies came out this May (just a few days after Goldberg's latest).
My chapter's centered around my experiences as femme, visibly trans woman on the academic job market. (Spoiler alert: I no longer work in the academy.) Here's [another] preview:
sandalsI'm excited about getting my copy (Temple University Press still thinks I work for SUNY) mostly because of the amazing line-up of authors.
Here's what well-known websites are saying:
"Be the first to review this item." - Amazon.com
"Be the first to add a comment for a chance to win!" - Powells.com
"Kate marked it as to-read." Goodreads.com
"Elvis fanatic remembers the day he died" - CNN.com
"Elvis fanatic remembers the day he died" - CNN.com
In conclusion, this book is a thing in the real world.
13%
Yesterday in comments, Shaker Anitanola linked to this David Simon piece about Mitt Romney's 13% tax rate. I didn't have a chance to read it until this morning, but it's just great.
Can we stand back and pause a short minute to take in the spectacle of a man who wants to be President of The United States, who wants us to seriously regard him as a paragon of the American civic ideal, declaiming proudly and in public that he has paid his taxes at a third of the rate normally associated with gentlemen of his economic benefit.Romney is proud of his 13% tax rate, notes Simon. He boasts about it, like it's some kind of accomplishment.
Stunning.
I've been thinking about that.
Even granting that there are parts of the Republican base who support miniscule tax rates (while, naturally, protesting in public squares they accessed via public roads to tell President Obama to keep his hands off their Medicare), the vast majority of them don't pay anything like a 13% tax rate. I'm not sure that bragging about already paying only 13% while hardly anyone else does works as an aspirational notion the way that, say, extraordinary wealth does.
And it's not like Romney's saying, "You, too, could pay a 13% tax rate if you elect me!" He's just belligerently asserting that he pays a shit-load of taxes—over 20%, if you count the charitable contributions that aren't taxes at all!
I think Romney genuinely has no fucking idea what average people pay. He certainly has no idea what the self-employed and fledgling entrepreneurs that he loves to hold up as the bootstrappin' job-creators of tomorrow pay. He is completely out of touch.
He doesn't understand very basic things about a country he wants to lead, because he's never had to live in it like most of us do.
Question of the Day
What is your least favorite thing about where you live?
I am rather distinctly unfond of how I lose electricity every single time we get a storm.
I can't wait until rural electrification comes to Indiana!
Today in Mitt Romney Is Terrible
This has been your daily reminder that Mitt Romney is terrible. And so is his stupid Romnibus.
Important Nina Simone News
[Content Note: Racism.]
Have I mentioned I love Nina Simone? Once or twice? Three million times? Well, then you know I was VERY EXCITED to hear that the Nina Simone biopic, which at one point was going to be made with Mary J. Blige and then fell through (which crushed me), is finally going to begin production this October (yay!), with Zoe Saldana in the lead role.
Now, I love Zoe Saldana, too. Star Trek YEP. Colombiana SURE. But the thing is that Zoe Saldana doesn't look like Nina Simone. Like, at all.
And, you know, not everyone has to look exactly like the person they're playing in a biopic. Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn't look a hell of a lot like Truman Capote. But it does strike me that Zoe Saldana doesn't look like Nina Simone in a very particular not-looking-like-her way.
Like, the lighter-skinned, "fairer"-featured, more closely hewing to the racist Beauty Standard kind of way.
That's no fault of Zoe Saldana's; I'm certainly not criticizing her. I am, however, criticizing the casting, entirely typical of Hollywood casting, which endeavors to pretend as though women who look like Nina Simone don't exist in this country, and that they are not beautiful.
And, you know, the fact that Nina Simone didn't look like Zoe Saldana wasn't incidental to her life.
Quote of the Day
"I just have to say, given the challenges that America faces—23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty—the fascination with taxes I've paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues that we face. But I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So I paid taxes every single year. ... Every year I've paid at least 13 percent and if you add, in addition, the amount that goes to charity, why the number gets well above 20 percent."—Mitt Romney, taxpaying superhero, obviously.
You know, one of "broad issues" that the country faces is class warfare, a central piece of which is the very wealthy not paying their fair share of taxes. So, I'm quite sure Mitt Romney finds the "fascination" with his taxes "small-minded," but that's because he's a fuckhead, not because it's actually an inconsequential issue.
And, no, what someone pays to charity is not the same as what they pay in taxes. I can take tax deductions for charities to which I donate that spend virtually none of their donations in the US, as but one example of why those things are not equal.
So I don't really give a flying flunderton that Mitt Romney paid "above 20%" in taxes and charitable contributions combined, particularly considering that's still less than half the percentage I pay in taxes every year, despite the fact I make diddly-shit. Especially compared to Mitt Romney.
This is a real thing in the world.
After the "Olympics of the Women," in which every competing country had at least one female athlete, in which the women outnumbered the men on the US team, in which the women won 29 of the US' 46 gold medals and 58 of the US' total 104 medals, this is how Nike is honoring their victories:
An official description for the T-shirt reads, 'We aren't saying they're gold diggers - we're just saying they're out for the gold! What's wrong with that?', suggesting that even the sporting giant itself is aware of the product's potential to be deemed sexist.That's not actually irony.
The company defended the design, telling MailOnline: 'Nike has consistently supported female athletes and the position they enjoy as positive role models. The T-shirt uses a phrase in an ironic way that is relevant given it was released just as the world focused on the success of female athletes'.
[H/T to Shaker Suzanne77.]
Daily Dose of Cute
"Fangs for the memories!"
GoldFishy and I were talking about how irresistible a subject Dudley is when he's grinning with his tongue lolling out of his head. He just stands and poses, virtually begging for his picture to be taken. I told GoldFishy, "I must have one million pictures of him with his tongue hanging out: Dudley at the beach with his tongue hanging out, Dudley at the dog park with his tongue hanging out, Dudley at Christmas with his tongue hanging out..." LOL.
"A gal could do some major rolling in stinky stuff around here."
Walking the dog-friendly part of the beach with Zelda was a great socialization exercise for her, especially since the vast majority of dogs are on-leash there. At first, she was pretty anxious at the sight of all the dogs, and if we got too near a dog, she started pulling and whining, ready to launch into her fear aggression thing, but I made her sit and be calm, and she did it. After awhile, she was passing dogs and ignoring them after a "leave it." Eventually, she was even able to relax.
Good girl.
Random Nerd Nostalgia: Silly Putty
[Content note: Christian privilege.]
[Image Description: Title says "SILLY PUTTY" in green letters against a red background, followed with "the favorite stocking toy of every girl and boy!" A cartoon of a white boy with blond hair, wearing blue stripe-on white pajamas, taking silly putty out of a Christmas stocking. In the corner is the edge of a Christmas tree, or possibly a jagged, green-colored rip in time-space reality. A blissful-looking white, cartoon girl with blonde hair is using her silly putty on a newspaper and thinking," ...takes up comics in full color!" More text: "bounces! stretches! makes things! ASK FOR Silly Putty in your stocking!"]
Scanned from Lois Lane no. 65, January 1954.
FYI: Janesville is Not a Small Town
Paul Ryan is Mitt Romney's running mate. Paul Ryan is from Wisconsin. Neither of these facts are lost on the mainstream media.
However.
Despite being from Wisconsin, Ryan is not the small town boy made good, the son of a dairy farmer who fought his way into congress. The dude's from Janesville.
Charles Pierce (one of the finest foreign-born scholars of our fair state, I might add), brings this point home:
Janesville is not a small town. Luck is a small town. Unity is a small town. Independence is a small town. Janesville is a small-to-middling size city of about 65,000 people, and once was a not-inconsiderable manufacturing center. Janesville is not a small town simply because it happens to be in Wisconsin. [Emphasis mine]Seriously. This week, I've read everything I'd care to read. I've even read that Ryan is from Janesville, population sixty-three thousand. I could feel the contempt dripping off each syllable in that number. It's as if the author thought to add "and four hundred thousand cows" before considering the redundancy of hir writing. [By the way, have you checked out Flyover Feminism yet?]
Just because Janesville is home to a massive fiberglass cow, doesn't mean it's a cow town. My ancestors are from a town of less than 1,000 in Taylor County (population 20,000-- for the county). They didn't live in a cow town either-- that part of Wisconsin deals in wood. Wood and frozen pizzas, to be exact.
As Pierce says, the media is making Janesville (and Wisconsin) into something it's not, so that it can make Ryan into something he's not. That's only half the problem.
In the process of helping Team Ryamney (please let that catch on) sell a fake story, the media is missing what I consider the real story of Ryan's origins.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Books by a Non-US Author. 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.
This Seems Reasonable
[Content Note: Guns; violence.]
During a recent concert in Singapore, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine accused President Obama of "staging" the recent mass shootings around the country in order to ban guns.
Mustaine made the comments on stage at an August 7 performance in Singapore ... when he told the crowd, "Back in my country, my president ... he's trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these murders, like the 'Fast And Furious' thing down at the border ... Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there ... and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."For the record: President Barack Obama has not proposed any new federal restrictions on guns. He has not even pursued reinstatement of President Clinton's assault weapons ban, which was allowed to expire during the Bush administration. The idea that President Obama wants to ban all guns, or even some of them, is pure fantasy.
He continued, "I don't know where I'm gonna live if America keeps going the way it's going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America."
And the idea his administration is staging mass shootings of citizens to ban guns is as absurd as it is contemptible.
Mustaine is hardly the only person who subscribes to these paranoid conservative fever-dreams, though. He's just the only one famous enough to make the papers.
Shooting at Family Research Council
[Content Note: Guns, violence, terrorism.]
There was a shooting at the anti-gay Family Research Council's D.C. offices yesterday, which left a security guard wounded. He is now in stable condition.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the shooter walked into the lobby of the building at about 10:45 and was confronted by the security guard as if the guard were asking him where he was going.Tony Perkins, president of the FRC, was a prominent Chick-fil-A defender: "Chick-fil-A is a Bible-based, Christian-based business who treats their employees well. They have been attacked in the past about their stand. But they refuse to budge on this matter, and I commend them for what they are doing."
The man then took out a gun and opened fire on the guard, Lanier said. The guard and others wrestled the man to the ground, disarmed him and waited for police, she said. The guard was then taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, the chief said. FBI officials said the guard was shot in the arm.
...The shooter is in FBI custody and has not yet been charged, authorities said. A law enforcement official said at one point in the scuffle, the shooter expressed views that differed from those of the Family Research Council. The official also said the shooter was carrying a bag that had a Chick-Fil-A bag inside.
The shooter, identified as Floyd Corkins, had been volunteering at an LGBT community center for the past six months.
In response to the shooting, about 40 LGBT organizations released a joint statement:
We were saddened to hear news of the shooting this morning at the offices of the Family Research Council. Our hearts go out to the shooting victim, his family, and his co-workers.Meanwhile, anti-gay organizations are blaming LGBT activists and allies, as well as the hate group tracking SPLC, for the shooting:
The motivation and circumstances behind today’s tragedy are still unknown, but regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence. We wish for a swift and complete recovery for the victim of this terrible incident.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), one of the nation's leading opponents of same-sex marriage, told The Hill the shooting was a direct result of the Southern Poverty Law Center's decision in 2010 to place the FRC on its list of hate groups for its rhetoric on gays.The shooting was unequivocally wrong and the shooter should be held responsible; I couldn't be more disgusted with this guy, for many reasons.
..."Today's attack is the clearest sign we've seen that labeling pro-marriage groups as 'hateful' must end," [Brian Brown, the president of NOM] said in a statement issued following the shooting.
"For too long national gay rights groups have intentionally marginalized and ostracized pro-marriage groups and individuals by labeling them as 'hateful' and 'bigoted.'"
That said, I'm not going to mince words here: Attributing his actions to the identifying as bigoted and/or hateful groups that want to entrench second-class citizenship of people belonging to the LGBTQI community is a parody of legitimate concerns about violent and eliminationist rhetoric.
And, in the wake of yet another shooting, I will ask again: At what point will we take gun reform seriously in this country? How many people will have to be injured and killed before we reconsider our truly foolish gun laws? Will second-amendment fetishizing conservatives reconsider their position on guns now that the guns are being turned on them...?
This shit doesn't happen in a void. This "lone gunman," like all the others before him, was socialized in a culture steeped in the glorification of guns and gun violence. We are all accountable.
Question of the Day
When is the last time you accidentally hurt yourself in an amusing way?
Not that it was necessarily amusing at the time, mind you, but amusing upon reflection.
The other day, I smashed my pinky toe against the foot of the ottoman in the living room while I was on the phone with Spudsy. All he heard was a muffled mmmphfuck.
When he asked what happened, I told him I'd just stubbed my toe and it hurt like hell. What I did not share was that I'd stubbed my toe, immediately froze in pain, and tipped forward like a plank face-first onto the ottoman, where I lay for a moment, stunned, before I could even enunciate the grunt that welled in my gut.
Important Michael J. Fox News
So, I kind of love Michael J. Fox. And, although he's a fine actor and all—Alex P. Keaton OBVIOUSLY; Marty McFly YES PLEASE—it's really who he seems to be as a person, a person with a disability, a person with a big teaspoon, that makes me kind of love him. His memoirs are very good.
A short little prelude to sharing the news that "Michael J. Fox is readying a return to prime-time series television, and the broadcast networks are lining up to welcome him back. ... We're still trying to track down plot details, but our sources tell us the show will be inspired by Fox's own life."
Fox will reportedly star in the series to be filmed in NYC.
Neat.
Quote of the Day
"The president seems to be running to hang on to power. I think he'll do anything in his power to try and get re-elected."—Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, making tons of sense, as per usual.
Romney, who has run one of the nastiest, classist, race-baiting campaigns I've seen in my lifetime, also said the Obama campaign is "about division and attack and hatred" that is "designed to bring a sense of enmity and jealously and anger."
Okay, player.
Photo of the Day
President Barack Obama laughs as he works the crowd during a campaign stop Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Boone, Iowa. [AP Photo]The Presidential Nose-Wrinkle, which I know is very popular around here. And deservedly so!
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; body policing.]
#10: Fat people need you to intervene in their lives.
Shaker Word_Wrestler requested an entry on "Fat People Don't Know What's Good for Them, and its corollary Fat People Will Welcome My Attempts to Educate Them on Health."
Or, of course, educate us on any one of a number of other subjects, such as: Exercise, How Many Calories Are in That, What We Should Be Wearing, Why Fat People Shouldn't Have Kids, Which Hairstyles Work Best with Our Fat Faces, Why Our Knee Hurts, or How Happy Your Cousin Is Now That She's Had Bariatric Surgery.
That is not a comprehensive list. Which is to say: Oh yikes, this topic. YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKES.
This is a defining experience of many fat people's lives: Being constantly lectured like we are children about how to take care of ourselves.
There are, to be sure, fat people who emerged from extremely poor, isolated, and/or neglected families of origin (or state care) who have never had the benefit, at home or in sub-standard public education, of learning about nutrition, irrespective of their access to nutritious foods. And there are fat people who want to increase their fitness, whether that's attached to or detached from their weight, who aren't sure how to do it. And there are fat people who, by virtue of living in a culture steeped in thin privilege, aren't sure how to best dress their bodies.
That is also not a comprehensive list.
But here's the thing: This issue isn't really about fat people who genuinely could use some advice with some aspect of their lives related to fatness. Fat people, like any other person, can solicit advice as necessary.
This issue is about the fact that fat people are presumed to need help by lots of thin people, who are not responding to explicit advice-seeking, but instead constantly offer up "helpful" advice unsolicited, under the presumption we simply have no idea how to take care of ourselves ("be thin").
And it's generally doubly insulting in the sense that this unsolicited advice not only presumes we don't know how to take care of ourselves ("be thin," and could be, if only we knew), but also presumes we are unhappy with our appearance and desperately want to change it.
"You're stupid AND ugly! I am so helpful!"
And then these same generous advice-givers have the temerity to act aggrieved when we don't receive with gratitude their selfless acts of helpfulness.
Did I say yikes yet? Yikes.
This is one of those topics about which I could spend the next five thousand years detailing all the ways in which it is infuriating, infantilizing, and contemptible. But ultimately, this is all I really need to say: My fat is neither a permission slip nor an invitation for you to tell me what to do with my body.
If you understand how privilege works, and the history of how privileged populations interact with marginalized populations, including seeking to control their bodies, choices, and lives, then you should understand why offering unsolicited advice about what I should be doing with, putting in, putting on, or doing to my body is A Problem.
Generally speaking, offering unsolicited advice is ill-advised. If a fat person wants your input, they'll ask. If they're not asking, there's probably a reason for that.
Recommended Reading
[Content Note: Reproductive rights.]
Lynn Beisner: I wish my mother had aborted me. I'm not even going to excerpt it. Just go read the whole thing.
I imagine there will be a wide variety of responses to this piece, and that's okay. There's no right or wrong reaction. How we respond to it will be inextricably tied to our own personal experiences and backgrounds and respective availabilities of choice.
But I trust we can all agree it's a very important story to tell, and Beisner is brave for telling it.
#sheparty
If you're on Twitter, Jessica Luther (scatx) and I are about to be on #sheparty with @womensmediacntr re: Flyover Feminism. You can follow here & use the hashtag to be a part of the conversation.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Headline of the Day
[Content Note: Misogyny; body policing.]
So, Miley Cyrus recently got a haircut. She cut her hair into a short, spiky, platinum pixie cut (which I happen to think is adorbz, not that my opinion matters), and she tweeted pix of it, saying how happy she was with it, how great it made her feel, etc.
But the big question was, of course, HOW DOES HER FIANCEE FEEL ABOUT IT?!
People magazine: "Miley Cyrus Defends Her New Do – Liam 'Loves It'."
Phew!
First of all, I love how a woman is even expected to "defend" a haircut in the first place, as if women's bodies are public property.
Secondly, I love how a male-partnered woman is obliged to report how her male partner feels about her cutting off her hair, as if she is his personal property.
This has happened to me every single time I've chopped long hair short—and, now, every time I get the pixie trimmed down again. "How does your husband feel about this short hair?"
My stock answer has become, "Well, he likes it, which is lucky for him, because he doesn't get a vote since it's my hair."
Which I deliver with a smile and a laugh. And the inevitable response is some variation on: "Ooh, my husband would KILL ME if I said something like that!"
In the year of our lord Jesus Jones two thousand and twelve, it is still radical for a male-partnered woman to assert unilateral control over the hair growing out of her own fucking head.
And it is still acceptable that, if he doesn't approve of her hair choices, that should matter. To strangers.
Daily Dose of Cute
Yesterday afternoon, I walked out into the living room and discovered this on the sofa:
I went up and gave Dudley's grody beef tongue a little tug, then kissed him on the head. He didn't even stir. He is such a dingus.
Fifty Shades of Goldberg: 7. DIVERSITY
[Content Note: misogyny, racism, sexism]
For those of you who are new here, this is part of a series where I pretend Jonah Goldberg's The Tyranny of Cliches is a book.
OHGODOHGODOHGOD. Chapter 7 is about diversity. It reads with all the excitement of Jack Kemp's diary. (For the record, there was no mention of Nazis in this chapter. What the hell? Did we lose a war or something?)
I shit you not, Goldberg starts off this chapter by complaining about how Barbra Streisand once complained that he was a no-talent hack who only got hired at her local paper on account of how he was a pompous asshat who got off on pleasing the Tribune Company's stockholders. Also, Jonah thought Streisand's grammar was atrocious. Perhaps he's right. On the other hand, neither Streisand or I get paid to write for the LA Times.
The "meat" of this chapter is the typical privileged bullshit about bootstraps and people who aren't Goldberg sucking at things. I could dissect the writing, but you've heard all of this shit before. Besides, Goldberg has a PhD in Metaphorolojizzim from Bulwer-Lytton University. Observe:
Ever notice how in the movies the "good" street or prison gang or band of mercenaries is the one that's diverse? Those rapists and murderers can't be all bad. Look, there are two black guys and an Asian!No. Actually, I've never observed that. Ever. What I have observed is that there's no dearth of roles for black actors, provided they're willing to portray a criminal. Also, the prison industrial complex is so a thing.
There's no shortage of horror stories about diversity run amok-- from the first responders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, who were forced to undergo sensitivity training before they could fish drowning people from flooded neighborhoods, to the fire departments that seem to spend more energy fighting for quotas than fighting fires.Okay, he's got me there. If there's one complaint I have about governments' responses to Katrina, it's that they were too racially sensitive. Also, there are too many firefightwomen.
An omelet with red peppers and sausage is better than one with only red peppers. But an omelet with red peppers and kitty litter is not.To those of you who are planning to sell "Gays are the kitty litter in our national omelet" bumper stickers at next year's Value Voters Summit, permit me to say: dibs! And what's up with starting a sentence with a conjunction, Mister Grammar? And wait, you can't imagine the existence of people who don't want tubed meat in their eggs? Yours truly is a rich and colorful world.
Adding carbon to molten steel creates the stuff of samuarai swords. Adding tapioca to molten steel is less advisable.I guess, but neither is adding Slavic-Americans to steel, yet judging by various books I've read, US STEEL IS MADE OF PEEE-POLE. (Or at least it was. Back in the day. Out East.)
[T]he National Basketball Association would be made vastly more diverse if a rigid quota of midgets and one-legged point guards was imposed upon it. But the game would not be improved, and any team that voluntarily adopted such a regime would have very long odds of making the play-offs.People of color are to practicing law as
It would not strengthen the DVD sales of a porn flick if the content was sufficiently diversified that it included a long tutorial on gardening tips.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by calculators.
Recommended Reading:
NCTE: Trans Pilots Allowed to Fly: FAA Updates Medical Requirements
Cuppycake: Feminism 101: Offensive Language and Dismissal of Responsibility [Content Note: Misogyny in gaming.]
Kath: It's All About Colour…Unless You're Fat [Content Note: Fat bias while shopping.]
Pam: Pennsylvania Newspapers Refer to White Supremacist Org as 'White People's Rights Group' [Content Note: Racism.]
Michelle: Food and Exercise Are Not Matter and Anti-Matter [Content Note: Fat bias; eating talk.]
Andy: Wisconsin State Rep. Mark Pocan Poised to Become Next Out Gay Congressman Following Primary Win
Genny and Shane: The Top 10 Trans-Friendly Colleges and Universities
Arturo: Race + Comics: A Good Conversation with a Creator
Leigh: 'Yo Bitch': The Complicated Feminism of Breaking Bad [Content Note: Misogyny; violence; spoilers.]
QOT: Wellington Rape Crisis Needs Your Help
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Shaker Help Request
[Content Note: Sexual objectification.]
Shaker rvh emails, which I am sharing with her permission:
My 13 yr old son is addicted to porn. (In a nutshell). He consumes straight porn. I try to be very open about sexuality in the house with him and his brothers; he's the middle one. However, basically, my fear is that he is seeing women be degraded and presented as a product for consumption. I know there are varying schools of thought surrounding porn and whether it can be empowering for participants, but that isn't really relevant to whether it communicates to a young man that women are a product to be consumed by the heterosexual male gaze. I referred him to Scarleteen for sex questions, but that doesn't seem sufficient.My suggestion: "I cannot think of a great resource for a 13-year-old boy, besides Scarleteen. You may have already tried this approach, but I know a lot of adult straight men I know who have gotten engaged with the concept of enthusiastic and explicit consent have subsequently found straight porn deeply problematic (i.e. less enjoyable), because so much porn is contra those ideals. So maybe talking around the porn discussion altogether about notions of explicit consent and equal partnerships, even and especially in sex coupling, would dim the fire a little bit, lol."
I've almost broken my Google looking for some guidance, but I'm not finding anything great. I don't want him to get the impression that I'm telling him sex is wrong or erotic materials are wrong. My question is: Any ideas? Can you recommend any good resources?
What say you, Shakers?
His Bootstraps Match His Earbuds
Paul Ryan is the first Gen X-er to be picked for a major party ticket, which, as a Gen X-er, I find super depressing. But it's all because of his bootstraps! Also because he is SO COOL!
Republican vice-presidential hopeful and conservative star Paul Ryan kicks back with locally brewed beers while listening to '90s-era grunge music. He's the first member of Generation X to be named to a major party ticket.Ohhhhhhhh he went back to the principles of hard work to get ahead. Cool. See, here I thought it might have something to do with coming from a family of means and having all kinds of white, male, cis, straight, able-bodied, thin privilege, which virtually guaranteed that his hard work would axiomatically translate into success. SILLY ME!
Ryan's up-by-your-bootstraps personality doesn't exactly match the ennui expressed by the grunge bands of his youth -- he was voted "biggest brown-noser" in high school, after all. But his economic and political perspectives, like those of many of his generation, were formed in part by the fiscally conservative Reaganomics principles of his childhood and the stark realities of entering a post-college job market during the 1990s recession and dot-com boom and bust.
"Gen Xers were supposed to be the lost generation. (That label) shaped him because he went back to the principles of hard work to get ahead," said Dylan Glenn, a former Bush administration economic policy analyst who has been friends with Ryan for nearly 20 years.
Then there's the visual appeal of Ryan, who is the same age as one of Romney's sons. When Ryan stands on stage, flanked by his young children and wife, next to the Romneys, the older man looks warmer and more paternal, [Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta] said.Just LOL. I'm pretty sure that no one has said, "Zie listens to grunge? HOW COOL!" since Singles came out on laserdisc.
"Mitt Romney is extremely stiff ... because he still has this persona where it hard for him to feel relatable. To have someone who is young and dynamic helps soften Romney up and attracts that 'it' factor and 'wow' factor," Gillespie said.
"Paul Ryan would seem to be cooler. Even talking about the fact that he listens to Led Zeppelin and grunge. ... The fact that he says he likes hard rock makes him seem cooler. ... That charisma is born in youth."
How Nice for Him
[Content Note: Rape culture.]
Julian Assange will be granted asylum by Ecuador:
Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has agreed to give Julian Assange asylum, officials within Ecuador's government have said.No comment.
The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 19 June, when he officially requested political asylum.
"Ecuador will grant asylum to Julian Assange," said an official in the Ecuadorean capital Quito, who is familiar with the government discussions.
...The official added: "We see Assange's request as a humanitarian issue."
...Assange took refuge in Ecuador's embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual misconduct.
[I]t remains unclear if giving Assange asylum will allow him to leave Britain and fly to Ecuador, or amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture. At the moment he faces the prospect of arrest as soon as he leaves the embassy for breaching his bail conditions.Fingers crossed!
"For Mr Assange to leave England, he should have a safe pass from the British [government]. Will that be possible? That's an issue we have to take into account," [Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patiño] told Reuters on Tuesday.
Do I think Assange should potentially face the death penalty in the US for leaking classified information? Absolutely not. Do I think Assange should be unilaterally supported and the allegations of sexual assault ignored because he might get extradited to the US and might stand trial? No.
This One's for Bo
President Obama, at a podium speaking during a campaign event: We're at a moment right now where home-grown energy, like wind energy, is creating new jobs all across Iowa, and all across the country. And guess what? Governor Romney said: Let's end the tax credits for wind energy production. Let's get rid of 'em. He said that new sources of energy, like wind, are "imaginary." His running mate calls them "a fad."Like his dog. Is what the President is saying.
During a speech a few months ago, Governor Romney even explained his energy policy this way—I'm quoting here—"You can't drive a car with a windmill on it." [audience laughter] That's what he said about wind power—"You can't drive a car with a windmill on it." Now, I—[laughs]—I don't know if he's actually tried that. I know he's had other things on his car. [laughter and applause]
[Via CNN. Related: President Obama and Bo.]
RIP Ron Palillo
Actor Ron Palillo, best known for playing Arnold Horshack on the '70s US sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, died this morning at age 63.
Long-time friend Stacy Stacco said he apparently suffered a heart attack. He was reportedly found at 4 a.m. by his long-time partner, Joseph Gramm, and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.I watched the fuck out of Welcome Back Kotter when I was a kid, and Horshack was always my favorite. RIP Ron.
"He just couldn't have been more fun and intelligent or talented," Stacy Sacco, a close friend, told the Palm Beach Post. "He was an amazing human being."
[Note: If there are less flattering things to be said about Palillo, they have been excluded because I am unaware of them, not as the result of any deliberate intent to whitewash his life. Please feel welcome to comment on the entirety of his work and life in this thread.]
Generally Awful
There is so much GREAT NEWS today, y'all! The thing I'm definitely excited about after reading all this super-duper news is what a great candidate Paul Ryan is! Everyone loves him! By which I mean everyone hates him SO MUCH!
Especially Republican operatives. Who, naturally, don't want to be named because AWKWARD! Especially if the Dystopian Duo accidentally win, and these naysaying ne'er-do-wells want lucrative jobs in their garbage administration.
Anyway! Ed Kilgore and Steve Benen both have great write-ups on that excellent story about how even Paul Ryan's own party think he's a disaster pick.
Meanwhile, P-Krugz makes the excellent observation that picking Ryan was really a ploy to the media, more than any particular conservative constituency.
And Charlie Pierce notes the strategy is looking pretty successful so far.
In other news...
Tara Culp-Ressler at Think Progress: Reagan Budget Adviser Blasts Paul Ryan's Budget as an 'Empty Fairy Tale'. HA HA! Reagan's budget adviser! Seriously, when David Stockman thinks you've gone too far, you have seriously derailed.
Also a fairy tale? Paul Ryan's bootstraps version of his family history. Shocking.
Surprise! He's also a total hypocrite.
Also in the news today...
Lee Brodie at CNBC: Ryan Will Cost Romney Florida. "In a live interview on CNBC's Fast Money Halftime Report, John Taylor, the chairman of FX Concepts tells us Ryan will cost Romney Florida—and likely the election. 'Paul Ryan makes the vote entirely about his tax and spending package and that's very difficult because you're going to lose all the old guys,' says Taylor." ALL the old guys?! Holy shit, that's like the whole Republican base! I kid. The Republican base is only white old guys. I kid. The Republican base is only straight white old guys. I kid. Barely.
Garrett Haake at NBC: Romney Struggles to Get Square with Ryan's Medicare Plan. Here's a great quote from professional genius Mitt Romney: "We haven't gone through piece by piece and said, 'Oh, here's a place where there's a difference,' but my plan for Medicare is very similar to his plan, which is 'Do not change the program for current retirees or near-retirees but do not do what the president has done and that is to cut $700 billion out of the current program'." Perfect. That is just a perfect quote that makes total sense from a sensible and smart gentleman.
Speaking of what a great candidate Mitt Romney is: Host for Romney Event Is a Convicted Drug Dealer. Yep.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
Why Hillary Clinton Is Awesome
Hillary Clinton on Being Asked about Her Clothes:
Interviewer: Okay. Which designers do you prefer?She then made *that face*, put on her shades, and departed on her pink pegasus.
Hillary Clinton: What designers of clothes?
Interviewer: Yes.
Hillary Clinton: Would you ever ask a man that question?
Interviewer: Probably not. Probably not.
[H/T to @shelbyknox.]
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Guns; eliminationism; racism; violent nationalism.]
"Put troops on the border and start shooting, I bet that solves our immigration problem real quick."—Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzlbacher, at a campaign event for Republican Arizona State Senator candidate Lori Klein.
At Think Progress, Adam Peck notes that Wurzlbacher made the same comment twice within two days, "lest anyone think that Wurzelbacher somehow misspoke."
Cool party you've got there, Republicans.
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda, Queen of the Household, 10 years old.
Olivia, Muscle of the Household, 8 years old.
Sophie, Baby of the Household (though not the youngest), 4 years old.
Photo of the Day
President Obama Is a Wizard: "This photo was not Photoshopped. It was snapped by the AP's Carolyn Kaster while Obama was speaking in Iowa's Bayliss Park yesterday. Probably the part in the speech where Obama told the crowd, '"Can Paul Ryan do this? Didn't think so.' He then detached the microphone from the podium, dropped it on the ground, and walked away."
Or maybe the part where he was all, "FOOL OF A RANDIAN! Next time throw yourself in the reflecting pool and spare us your stupidity!"
[H/T to @scatx.]
Top Five
Here is your topic, suggested by Shaker GoldFishy: Top Five Favorite Movies That Feature an Animal in a Prominent Role. 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.
Paul Ryan is the Worst
Here is video of new Republican veep nominee Paul Ryan getting heckled in Iowa yesterday during his very first solo campaign appearance:
Video Description: Paul Ryan tries to give his shitty stump speech, but two women in the audience start chanting "Stop the war on the middle class!" The rest of the crowd starts chanting "USA! USA!" to try to drown them out. As security comes to drag the women away, Ryan says, "It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites like to be respectful. These ladies must not be from Iowa and Wisconsin." As one woman shouts, he repeats, "Like I said, she might not be from Iowa." They are taken away, and, as he tries to continue, shouts of "Stop the war on the middle class!" resume. He ignores them and keeps talking, then says, "We're used to this in Wisconsin."
Leaving aside discussion of whether such demonstrations are appropriate and/or effective, because there are legit arguments on both sides of that debate and I don't think there's an objective right answer, I just want to point out how gross Paul Ryan's response to the interruption was.
He could have just stood silently by and waited for them to be carted away.
He could have borrowed a page from the Obama playbook, and said something about how it's all part of the democratic process and it's good to see people passionate about politics.
He could have engaged their request with the seriousness it deserves, by addressing the charge that he's waging war on the middle class with the response that his policies will strengthen the middle class (which is bullshit, but at least it would have been respectful of the demonstrators' position).
Instead, he defined people from Iowa in opposition to the demonstrators, and then declared that the demonstrators must not be from Iowa. I have no idea whether they were, but it's a safe bet that at least some, if not all, of the demonstrators were Iowans. And they don't deserve to be called out as not real Iowans by a potential vice-president of their nation because they disagree with him.
But that's the Republicans' go-to Othering tactic. And, right on cue, the conservatives in the crowd starting chanting "USA! USA!" to drown out protestors, asserting their status as the Real AmericansTM, the arbiters of what is and is not "American."
Is American: Fake free speech like using your corporate profits to fund anti-gay hate groups.
Is Not American: Real free speech like demonstrating at a political event.
Is American: Actual encroachments on free speech like government employees dragging protestors out of a public political event.
Is Not American: Making a choice to not frequent a business that hates you and/or people you love.
It would be bad enough if that sort of Othering rhetoric were just cavernously marginalizing, but it's much worse than that. It's that sort of Othering rhetoric, of nationalism and traitors, that gets people killed.
And Paul Ryan smiles away while he engages in it, without a hint of remorse.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Alex Williams for the New York Times: "Just Wait Until Your Mother Gets Home." Ha ha get it? Because it's about stay-at-home dads.
I'm not sure what my favorite part of this article is, since there's sooooooo much to love about it.
I definitely love the URL/page title: "Dads Are Taking Over as Full-Time Parents," because if a bunch of mostly white dudes in Brooklyn are doing it, then for sure that means it's happening everywhere. (Please see: Why Flyover Feminism was born.)
I also definitely love the guy who appreciates having "learned all sorts of manly skills" by being a stay-at-home dad. THANK MAUDE! And the guy who assures us there "isn't any shame" in being a stay-at-home dad. COOL! All of that sounds way better than being a stay-at-home mom where you only learn stupid lady skills and should probably be embarrassed about your "'50s sitcom vision of the American family."
But I think my favorite part is probably all the cookies. So many cookies. Delicious, delicious cookies. It's nice to see guys getting credit for deigning to do what women have been doing, as if work done by women isn't intrinsic garbage! MORE COOKIES.
[H/T to @IrinCarmon.]
Question of the Day
Since reality shows about vocations are so popular now, with shows following police, fishers, loggers, exterminators, truckers, vets, dog trainers, doctors, choreographers, chefs, bakers, athletes, models, etc.: What vocation would you like to see featured on a reality show?
You Can Relax, Everyone
Jennifer Aniston is engaged. So our long national nightmare of her not belonging to a man is almost over.
Yeesh.
Breaking Bad Open Thread
Yikes, That Guy. Yikes.
Last night's episode will be discussed in spoileriffic detail, so if you don't want any spoilers, please collect all your tarantulas in jars and move along.
Weekend Pix
As I mentioned on Friday, Shaker GoldFishy, who is one of the longest-term Shakers (arriving here sometime during 2005), and his partner The Captain came to visit Friday and Saturday, and I thought I'd share some of the pix from our visit for those of you who'd like to see them. Pictures of GoldFishy shared with his permission.
GoldFishy and me. More pix below the fold.
Photos of the Day
There have been a whole bunch of wire photos of the President that I've really loved over the past couple of days, and I couldn't choose only one, so here are a few of my favorites:
I like to think he's laughing at Mitt Romney's terrible flag awareness.
Mr. Cool President.
It never fails to strike me how much he seems to genuinely enjoy campaigning.
OM NOM NOM!
This is probably a good time to remind you that President Obama and Kids exists in the world.
Quote of the Day
"I don’t think you hate me. I certainly don’t think you’re afraid of me. Neither is Bristol Palin. She probably even has LGBT people she calls friends. She just disagrees with them about whether they should be invited to the party (the party, in this case, being marriage).
But here’s the problem: the basis of that disagreement is her belief that her relationships are intrinsically better than ours."
-From Wayne Self's Aesop to the Right: Why I Believe Bristol Palin. It's well worth a read, and explains privilege/supremacy through story in a very brilliant way. [CN: Homophobia and Christian Supremacy discussed in the post.]
Shooting at Texas A&M
[Content Note: Terrorism; guns.]
There has been another shooting, this time on the Texas A&M campus. According to KBTX, the suspect is in custody. At least one police officer has been shot, and there is one confirmed victim at St. Joseph Hospital, who may or may not be the injured officer. There is no word on her condition.
The total number of injured is unknown, and there are no confirmed fatalities. Which doesn't mean, unfortunately, that there are no fatalities. [ETA. Unfortunately, there are fatalities. See update(s) below.]
My thoughts are with those on the campus and in the surrounding area. I'm so sorry.
I'll update if/when additional information becomes available.
UPDATE 1: Fuck.
Police have confirmed that a law enforcement officer has died after injuries sustained during a shooting in an incident near Fidelity St. in College Station near the Texas A&M Campus.UPDATE 2: CNN is reporting that three people were killed in the shooting: One police constable and two civilians. Three others were injured, including "two law enforcement officers, including one who was shot in the leg, and a female civilian who was undergoing surgery at a hospital."
CSPD says that more than one law enforcement officer had been shot in the incident, and that there were multiple citizens injured in the shooting.
Representatives for the College Station Medical Center say five patients have been admitted to the emergency room. Three had sustained gunshot wounds, with two complaining of dizziness and chest pain.
There are reports that say the shooting starting during an eviction.
Number of the Day
39%: The percentage of respondents in a new USA/Gallup poll who think Paul Ryan is an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice.
Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, is seen as only a "fair" or "poor" choice by 42% of Americans vs. 39% who think he is an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice.Neil Newhouse, a pollster for the Romney campaign, "said in a statement that the findings reflect the fact that Ryan, a House member since 1999, isn't widely known." Ha ha I'm sure voters will definitely love him MORE once they know him better!
...Only Dan Quayle in a 1988 Harris Poll of likely voters was viewed less positively than Ryan, with 52% rating Quayle as a "fair" or "poor" vice presidential choice. The Ryan poll includes all adults, not just registered voters.
...The USA TODAY/Gallup survey also finds 48% of Americans view Ryan as qualified to be president if something should happen to Romney, while 29% do not and 23% were undecided. Only Palin, then the governor of Alaska, and Quayle, a two-term senator from Indiana, were rated lower than Ryan.
Top Five
Here is your topic: Top Five Favorite Electronic Devices That You Own. 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.
Daily Dose of Cute
This was the view to my left last night, while Iain and I were watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Just a heap of legs, from the direction of which occasionally emanated a heaving sigh of sleepy contentment.
Headline of the Day
Romney's Logo Looks Like Toothpaste. And so it does.
Whitening toothpaste, no doubt. Ahem.
[H/T to Shaker Brunocerous.]
Monday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by paper airplanes.
Recommended reading:
Jos: Candy Crowley Will Be the First Woman to Moderate a Presidential Debate in 20 Years
Imara: It's Hard to Imagine a Worse Choice for People of Color Than Paul Ryan
Arturo: Race + Politics: Mitt Romney's VP Pick Doesn't Like 'Anchor Babies'
Brandon: Paul Ryan on Marriage Equality [Content Note: Homophobia.]
FMF News: Texas Medical Groups Oppose New Abortion Restrictions
Fannie: Okay Then [Content Note: Misogyny.]
Jeremy: 'A Throw-Away Line': How Nothing Is Ever Good Enough for the Anti-LGBT Movement
Melissa: Thank You Women Athletes for a Great Olympics
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
Introducing: Flyover Feminism
So, for quite some time now, Jessica Luther (scATX), Garland Grey (Tiger Beatdown), and I have been working on a TOP SECRET project which we are unveiling today! WOOT!
Introducing: Flyover Feminism.
Flyover Feminism is a project we've created with the objective of amplifying the voices typically left out of mainstream feminist/womanist discourse, by virtue of being outside of major media centers and/or by not fitting the mold of what a feminist is supposed to look like. This is our Mission Statement:
Flyover Feminism is a space for feminists/womanists/activists outside major media centers whose issues are given insufficient coverage and attention by the mainstream media outlets, and whose voices are frequently left out of the national dialogue. We believe that a space elevating the visibility of online and offline feminism across the country is important because such activism has traditionally been viewed skeptically by coastal and metropolitan activists.And we want you to participate.
Flyover Feminists often find themselves trapped in a cycle of limited support from big players, who express reluctance to dedicate resources to places where it appears that "nothing ever changes." But change is hard when there is little investment, and investment is hard to secure without evidence of change.
We are seeking to change the dynamic between feminist/womanist activists in the flyover states and feminist/womanist activists in major media centers. We want to facilitate understanding of the historical roots of the conflicts at hand, and we want to encourage more effective activism than the shallow, short-term bursts of effort centered around large-scale "moments of decision" that constitute big individual victories with no long-term follow-through or big individual failures that are used to justify institutional abandonment. Too often, when limited bursts of external attention centered around a single piece of legislation prove to be insufficient to turn the tide of entrenched political inequality, the local activists are asked: "Well, why don't you just move?"
We don't want to move. We want to facilitate progress in the places that most need it.
Although Flyover Feminism is a US concept, this space is for people around the world who are practicing activism outside of large-scale progressive networks of support, in places where their neighbors and communities are often hostile to their efforts, where activists are forced to beat back the wilderness and cut their own path. It is about people around the world who, by virtue of their identities, are practicing feminism or womanism outside mainstream ideas of What a Feminist Looks Like. Flyover Feminism is not about jetting down to your local progressive organization to brainstorm about ways to preach more fervently to the choir; it is about blazing new trails. It is about creating a space for activists to share their stories of how they made it and are making it in places where their rights are routinely stripped from them for political sport. It is about arming activists with the tools and arguments needed to win these fights and about shrinking the world to explore the ways geographically-marginalized activisms and intersectional feminisms/womanisms are similar and/or complementary to one another.
Flyover Feminism is about supporting local politicians who are getting it right and shaming the good goddamn out of the ones that are putting in overtime getting it wrong. It is about how, exactly, activists without media clout or attention bring immediacy and passion to a fight that will largely be ignored no matter the outcome. We want to teach the next generation of geographically-marginalized activists how to organize, learn new ideas from new activists, and document the stories of people who have been doing activism for decades in obscurity. We want to want to record the past, and nurture the future.
We don't want to simply start conversations; we want to proactively connect activists from all over the globe and unite them in their struggle to affect a better future.
This is not about Jessica, Garland, and me. This is about you, and the work you're doing in the world, and recognizing its value. This is about connecting people and sharing resources and nurturing big ideas from nontraditional places.
You don't have to be a published writer, or even a blogger. You just have to be someone who's passionate about how you practice feminism in your life, or the struggles you face practicing feminism in your life, whether it's about working with the local Democratic Party or negotiating diaper-changing duty with your partner.
Although the "flyover" concept is US-born, we invite people from all over the world to contribute.
The face of feminism can be yours.
Follow us on Twitter.
Generally Horrendo
GOOD MORNING! Has your enthusiasm returned to MAXIMUM LEVELS now that Mitt Romney has made the EXCITING announcement that his running mate is horrible bootstrap monster Paul Ryan?! I HOPE SO! If you are running on MAX ENTHUSIASM, please check this box: □
"Obama isn't working"—but these two gold-plated dipshits
lounging on the jewel-encrusted Romnibus definitely are.
Y'all, I have already started the most amazing Ro-Ry slashfic. It's called 50 Shades of Whooooooooops for America. It's so hot.
In the news today...
Paul Ryan's wife,
Mitt Romney says he loves Paul Ryan's nightmare budget and definitely would have signed it and sealed it with the sweetest kisses. So don't worry, America—Mitt Romney is only getting MORE terrible!
Ro-Ry will totally destroy the shit outta Medicare. Obviously.
President Obama says Paul Ryan "is a decent man, he is a family man, he is an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney's vision, but it is a vision that I fundamentally disagree with." Because it's garbage.
And other stuff. But, basically, what you need to know is: Mitt Romney is terrible and he picked a terrible running mate, and, in the year of our lord Jesus Jones two-thousand and twelve, the "Big Tent" of the Republican Party is running a ticket with two straight, white, cis, thin, tall, traditionally handsome, dark-haired men who have straight, white, cis, thin, traditionally pretty, blonde wives.
"Kyriarchetypes," by Rorman Nockwell.
The Republican Party has nothing—nothing—to offer working USians except an aspirational image of what they could be if only they work those bootstraps, an image that references a "Golden Era" that recasts bigotry as tradition, an image that is an oppressive lie.
The Romney-Ryan ticket is an illusion, a promise that will never be fulfilled. They are the carrot at the end of a stick being dangled by the plutocrats who run the Republican Party, to keep the plebs chasing the bullshit promise of the American Dream forever and ever and ever, while it is moved ever further out of their reach.
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
