Shakesville

Question of the Day

2012-02-13T18:00:00.016-06:00

What is your favorite fictional holiday?

(And, yes, Valentine's Day counts, lol. Because barf.)

I'm sure it goes without saying that mine is Galentine's Day, followed closely by Festivus (which is only sorta fake). In case you need it, here's a list of fictional holidays to get you started.

Happy Galentine's Day, to all my ladies.

On Whitney Houston

2012-02-13T17:30:00.001-06:00

I am seeing a colossal amount of reprehensible garbage being written about Whitney Houston—and, although I am too jaded to be surprised, I am nonetheless discouraged, again, by the lack of empathy and the evidently irresistible urge to judge.

What bothers me most are the vicious, snarling, sanctimonious proclamations about her being "a crackhead," or various other sneering epithets used in the service of casting her drug use as moral failing, a weakness of character.

We don't even know why Whitney Houston died yet, but that's of no consequence to the victim-blaming vultures who pick over the (literal) carcasses of fallen celebrities on rancorous fault-finding missions designed with the uncomplicated objective of self-elevation via smug superiority.

So it is assumed to be drugs, and we are exhorted to ignore that addiction is a disease, not a personal flaw.

Whitney Houston's ability to manage her disease may have been a flaw, but that is a judgment I would never make on someone who experiences a level of fame, a lack of privacy, an amount of pressure, and an assumption that one's life is public property that most of us will never experience and cannot really imagine in any accurate detail. It's easy to say what we'd do differently in the same position, but I don't really think any of us can know that.

I don't really think any of us can know how the circumstances of international fame would affect us, or change us.

There is no substance to arguments about how she shouldn't have been famous, if she couldn't handle it; or she should have left the limelight altogether, if she couldn't survive in its glare. One can't know, not really, what it means to become famous, what it will demand. One can't reseal that genie.

And what does one do when one has a voice like Whitney's, a talent of that magnitude, and fame is an unavoidable effect of the career that maximizes one's personal potential? What does one do when one's gift is incompatible with obscurity, even if one's constitution is incompatible with renown?

It is not as simple as do it or don't do it. Few things are.

The public discourse doesn't favor nuance, and it encourages judgment. I can't abide either. Even with the comparatively miniscule bit of notoriety I have from my work, I am frankly amazed there are famous people who DON'T flame out. The amount of pressure, the entitled demands, the ad hominem attacks, the utter disrespect for boundaries, and the sheer grotesque creepiness one suffers in exchange for a public life is extraordinary, and all the good will in the world can't undo the simultaneous damage. I can't begin to imagine what Whitney went through in her life, the shit she had to process to which vanishingly few people can relate. There's no way I will judge her.

And at last there is just this: If one's mourning is contingent on how someone died, that says something about the mourner, not the deceased.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAbarrrrrf

2012-02-13T16:46:00.000-06:00

Gallup—Santorum Surges to Tie Romney: "Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now statistically tied for the lead in Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination—32% to 30%, respectively. Newt Gingrich, who led the field as recently as late January, is now third, favored by 16%, while Ron Paul's support has dwindled to 8%, the lowest level yet seen for him in 2012."

OMG, Republicans. This is ludicrous, even for you.

RICK SANTORUM?! Come on.

Photo of the Day

2012-02-13T16:27:00.000-06:00

After losing the CPAC straw poll, the Maine Caucus, AND Angry Pointer of the Month to Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum has embraced a new, and controversial, strategy of ten-finger pointing while looking angry and saying stupid shit.

[Photo via.]

A Song For You, By Which I Mean Me

2012-02-13T15:30:00.002-06:00

Flula, with a little help from his friends Flula and Flula, wrote a song specifically for me and now I feel so special! The words go a little something like this:

Hey you, you are so nice and great and cute and handsome and pretty
Yeah!
So I did write this love song for you and only you
Specifically for you
Specifically!
Here we go

Oh, you!
I love to kiss you because you are the perfect height for kissing which is
(garbled)'s interest
Oh, you!
I love it when you do thing to me you know what I'm talking about
Oh yeah!
So I won't say it
Shhh!
And you!
I love that your name rhymes with my favorite word which is
(Garbled)
Oh you!
I know your favorite book
(Garbled)
your favorite food
(Garbled)
And your favorite day of the week which is
(Garbled)-day!

Oh yes, you, I know everything about you
Everything
I can be so specific
Yeah!
I just want to scream your name
Because I know your name, you know
But I want to hear you scream your name and I will listen
So when I say Oh, you say your name
Ready? Okay
Oh!
Say your name
Oh!
Say your name I can't hear you
Oh!
Say your name out loud
Oh!
Yeah
Oh, that was nice
Now it is my turn to say your name
Let's do it

(Cut to black)

Oh no! We just did lose our power! I cannot say your name now
This is so sad and a big surprise

Next time I'm gonna scream your name out loud!
Yeah!
Dance!

Now I don't feel so bad about not having a boyfriend. Thanks, Flula!

Same-Sex Marriage State of the Union

2012-02-13T15:02:00.000-06:00

Reuters: "Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation on Monday to legalize gay marriage, putting the state on track to become the seventh in the nation to recognize same-sex matrimony."

Gregoire, a Democrat and a Catholic, signed the measure to raucous applause at a statehouse ceremony in Olympia, declaring, "This is a very proud moment. ... I'm proud of who and what we are as a state."

But the measure, which won final approval from state lawmakers last Wednesday, cannot take effect before early June, following a standard enactment period that runs until 90 days after the end of Washington's legislative session.

Opponents of the Washington measure have vowed to seek its repeal at the polls in November.

Blah blah snore.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the state Senate has "passed a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, in the face of Republican Governor Chris Christie's promise to veto it."

The Senate voted 24-16 in favor of the measure, sending it to the Assembly, which plans to consider it Feb. 16. Democrats, who control both houses of the Legislature, have made gay marriage a priority for 2012, two years after they failed to pass a similar bill supported by then-Governor Jon Corzine.

Christie, 49, opposes same-sex marriage and wants voters to decide the issue in a referendum.

Sure, because there's nothing totally reprehensible about giving a privileged majority the opportunity to vote on the rights of a marginalized minority. Ahem.

In any case, even if it does come up for a vote, a new Rutgers poll has found 54% of New Jersey voters in support of same-sex marriage, so phhbbbbt.

And in Illinois, where civil unions were smoothly passed into law by the legislature last year, "three legislators [have] filed what they call the 'Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act' [which] would eliminate the part of state law that now explicitly prohibits gay marriages and would offer same-sex couples the marriage rights now exclusively available to heterosexual couples. The measure also says religious groups will be free to decide which marriages they will perform."

Because of the way the population is distributed in the US, over 40% of USians now live in a state in which some form of legal partnership is recognized by the state. Feel the homomentum!

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-13T14:17:00.000-06:00

Weekend Doggehs!

Zelly Belly!

Mr. Doodletoots!

"What?"

Number of the Day

2012-02-13T12:55:00.001-06:00

[Content Note: Violence; rape culture; misogyny.]

Zero: The number of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, "the 1994 law at the center of the nation's efforts to combat domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking."

Republicans failed to support the renewal even though:

1. "The law's renewal has strong backing from law enforcement and groups that work with victims, and earlier reauthorizations of the law, in 2000 and 2005, passed Congress with strong support from both sides of the aisle."

2. "The bill includes smart improvements aimed, for example, at encouraging effective enforcement of protective orders and reducing the national backlog of untested rape kits."

Why?

The main sticking points seemed to be language in the bill to ensure that victims are not denied services because they are gay or transgender and a provision that would modestly expand the availability of special visas for undocumented immigrants who are victims of domestic violence—a necessary step to encourage those victims to come forward.

So take note: Republicans prioritize homophobia, transphobia, and hatred of undocumented workers over protecting people from stalking, sexual violence, and/or domestic violence.

Luckily, the Democratically-controlled Senate has a majority in the Senate Judiciary Committee and thus was the bill passed out of committee for a vote, but, for the first time in almost 20 years, VAWA may struggle to get 60 votes of support.

Welcome to the Feminist Backlash.

Monday Blogaround

2012-02-13T11:38:00.000-06:00

This blogaround brought to you by blue corn tortilla chips.

Recommended Reading:

andreana: 'It's Not Right'...On Whitney Houston, Black Women, and Loss

Pam: North Carolina: Race to the Ballot Comes to Durham—the Bull Fight Against Amendment One [Content Note: Homophobia.]

Andy: Washington Governor Chris Gregoire to Sign Marriage Equality into Law Today

Alvin: NOM's Maggie Gallagher caught lying on MSNBC [Content Note: Homophobia.]

Atrios: What's, Uh, The Point? [Content Note: Reproductive Rights.]

Amber: 2012 NAACP Image Awards Nominations

Jshoep: The Forty-Fifth Down Under Feminists Carnival

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-13T11:00:00.038-06:00

Whitney Houston: "I Will Always Love You"

"I Will Always Love You" spent 14 weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time. The single became Houston's longest run at number one. It debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Houston's tenth number one hit a mere two weeks later.

Houston's single sold approximately 400,000 copies in its second week on the summit, making it the best-selling song in a single week. It broke its own record in the following three weeks, peaking at 632,000 copies the week of December 27, 1992. "I Will Always Love You" was certified 4× Platinum in the U.S. for shipments of over 4 million copies by the RIAA on January 12, 1993, making Houston the first female artist with a single to reach that level in the RIAA history. According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of 2009, the single sold 4,591,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

The song was international success, peaking at number one of the singles charts in almost every country. In the United Kingdom, the single sold over 1,450,000 copies. It was certified Platinum for shipments of over 500,000 copies by the BVMI in Germany. In Japan, "I Will Always Love You" sold over 810,000 copies, staying for 27 weeks on the charts, and became the best-selling single by a foreign female artist.

"I Will Always Love You" won the Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994. During the Grammy Award telecast, the Record of the Year award was presented to Houston by composer Dolly Parton, along with David Foster. The single topped the 1993 Billboard Hot 100 Single and Hot R&B Single year-end chart simultaneously, becoming the first single by a female artist and the second overall to achieve that feat. In addition, it received Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single awards at the 21st American Music Awards, which was the first record by a solo female artist to win both categories, and the third overall in AMA history.

How awesome is that?

Give Them an Inch...

2012-02-13T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well, it's a good thing President Obama made that concession on birth control in order to mollify conservatives, because they're definitely satisfied now and will not try to exploit the president's willingness to treat women's healthcare as a negotiable item.

Whooooooooooooooooops just kidding!

The Republican battle against the President Obama's new birth-control mandate will continue until the policy is reversed, the top GOP senator warned Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama's rule requiring employer-based healthcare plans – even those sponsored by faith-based groups – to cover contraception infringes on the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The Kentucky Republican vowed to fight the policy until the White House "backs down."

"In this country the government doesn't get to tell you or your organization what your religious views are – and they could well be minority views – but the Bill of Rights is designed to protect the minority from the will of the majority," McConnell said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"So this issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down. They don't have the authority … to tell someone in this country, or some organization in this country, what their religious beliefs are. Therein lies the problem."

The argument is this: If an explicitly religious employer gets an exemption, why shouldn't an employer who isn't explicitly religious but personally holds the same religious beliefs?

That question is fundamentally dishonest, because not all religious employers are exempt. (A Catholic church is, but a Catholic hospital isn't.) That distinction is, however, easy to elide in a soundbite. And the president's concession probably made it easier for the mendacious fucks trying to turn this into an issue of religious freedom.

I know there are people of good will who disagree with me, who believe that Obama effectively took religion off the table. I understand and respect that position, though I do disagree with it. It is my estimation that the concession only would have taken religion off the table in a nation with an opposition party who plays fair and a responsible media. We have neither.

To my enduring despair.

I feel like the president is still governing the country he wishes we had, instead of the one we actually have. He keeps counting on appeals to conservatives' better nature, despite the cavernous void of evidence that they have one.

ADELE!!! Or: The Grammys Thread

2012-02-13T09:03:00.000-06:00

Singer Adele holds her six Grammy Awards at the 54th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 12, 2012. Soul singer Adele triumphed in her return to music's stage on Sunday, scooping up six Grammys and winning every category in which she was nominated including album of the year for "21" and best record with "Rolling In the Deep." [Reuters Pictures]

I may have mentioned once or twice or three thousand times that I love Adele. Also: Iain loves Adele. We are an Adele-loving household! So we watched the Grammys last night, because ADELE.

Not only did she clean up, winning six Grammys, but her live performance of "Rolling in the Deep" was amazing. AMAZING. I could watch that all day, I really could.

I will NEVER not want to hear "Rolling in the Deep." Or any other song from 21. It's inconceivable how many times I can hear those tracks and never tire of them. Adele is magic!

Anyway! There were lots of great performances by great ladies last night. Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston was incredibly moving and beautiful. Her strength in getting through that song was tremendous.

Loved Rihanna's performances, solo and with Coldplay. Her voice is just incredible. Even Katy Perry's "Take THAT, Russell Brand!" performance was unusually enjoyable! "I married a boy, and I hated it!" Nicki Minaj went full-out Madonna with a Catholic exorcism bit about which I'm sure Bill Donohue is furiously typing up a press release right now. I had no idea what the hell was going on (#old), but I would listen to Nicki Minaj desecrate the phone book. Do not believe what the newspapers tell you: The most offensive performance of the night was Taylor Swift's banjo number for which she and her band were dressed up in Depression-era garb. Ha ha NOPE.

True Fact: "Rhinestone Cowboy" is one of Iain's favorite songs, and we sing various things to each other to the tune of "Rhinestone Cowboy" all the time. Usually dirty things, when we're not even doing dirty stuff. Riding you like a horse with a star-spangled dil-l-do! Whoa-oh-oh! While we're cleaning the house on a Saturday morning. I'm sorry, Glen Campbell! It's actually because we like you!

So, anyway, we loved the Glen Campbell tribute, and getting to see Glen Campbell perform "Rhinestone Cowboy" live, for maybe the last time (on television, anyway). And I loved how Glen threw in "and cowgirls!" at the end. Very sweet.

Not sweet [content note: violence]: Chris Brown. Gross, Chris Brown. Gross, The Grammys. Gross, everyone. I really did almost barf when Chris Brown and R. Kelly were both up for a Grammy in the same category. I said to Iain, "Will it be the guy who beat up a woman, or the guy who peed on a woman?" It was the guy who beat up a woman.

Other than that: LL Cool J was a good host. I continue to be perplexed that very few people find "Lady Antebellum" an inappropriate band name. Bruce Springsteen has still got it. Paul McCartney was also there!

But mostly: ADELE!

Primarily Terrible

2012-02-13T08:07:00.001-06:00

Angry Pointer of the Month, February 2012
Mitt Romney is BACK ON TOP, y'all! After a brief detour down Santorum Avenue on his journey to a big-time national concession speech, Romney won BOTH the Maine Caucus AND the all-important CPAC Straw Poll. Congratulations, Mitt Romney! You have been found to be the least barfiest by the most numbers of people in two more contests! GOOD FOR YOU!

Because there is no one who's better at stomping on sour grapes to make whine, Rick Santorum accused Romney of rigging the straw poll by paying the conference entry fee for supporters who attended just to vote for Romney. Romney's camp sorta-denied the allegation by calling Santorum a liar (whoooooooooops that is not really a denial!), but I say they should be demanding to know why Rick Santorum has a problem with FREE SPEECH! Is Rick Santorum suggesting that Mitt Romney should not be allowed to exercise his FREE SPEECH by giving FREE SPEECH to people so that they will come vote for him?! THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY! Except for elections! Which must be bought by the richest FREE SPEECHIFIERS! So shut up, Rick Santorum! You free speech hater!

~~Rick Perry~~ Newt Gingrich is definitely still in the race! He has not dropped out yet!

Not to be outdone by Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, who was putting all his eggs in Maine's basket, did a little whining of his own about the Maine Caucus results: "Rep. Ron Paul is not conceding the GOP's Maine caucuses, which state party officials and major networks called Saturday for rival Mitt Romney. With 84% of precincts reporting, Romney has 39% to Paul's 36%, and Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster declared Romney the winner Saturday night, following a week-long series of caucuses. But in Washington County, where Paul had expected to perform well, the caucus was postponed until Feb. 18 due to an unexpected snowstorm."

"Yeah, well, it shouldn't have been TOO unexpected."—Mother Nature. Who is pro-choice, FYI.

Ron Paul was so enraged, he reportedly destroyed at least two hundred balloons in a Hulkian rampage.

Just kidding! Of course Ron Paul didn't really destroy 200 balloons. It was more like a million.

Next Stops: Arizona and Michigan!

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Thread

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by cinnamon.

Sunday Shuffle

2012-02-12T09:00:00.004-06:00

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow,
If I fail, if I succeed,
At least I live as I believe!
No matter what they take from me,
They can't take away my dignity.

The Greatest Love of All

I hope life treats you kind,
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of...
And I wish to you joy,
And happiness...
But above all this,
I wish you love...

I Will Always Love You

Whitney: (to announcer) I love you darling, thank you.

(to audience) My, my, my. Well, well. You all look like you're having a ball. Because this evening is about kids--and music--I just have to do this next song. It's just a requirement. You know, it's all about love. And, to me, music and love are the same things really. So if our kids grow up with music in their lives then there is no question that they will always, always be loved.

All right! (cues song start)

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

I'm Every Woman (a capella)

How Will I Know?

The Star Spangled Banner, 1991 Super Bowl

Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

(This is just some of her fabulous work, apologies if I left out one you like the best)

Open Thread

2012-02-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by a praying mantis.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by awesome ice sculptures.

RIP Whitney Houston

2012-02-11T19:38:00.000-06:00

Singer and actress Whitney Houston died today, from as yet unknown, or at least unreported, causes. She was 48.

I am so desperately sad about this news. Her eponymously titled 1985 breakout album was one of the first cassettes I ever owned, and I used to listen to it over and over and over on my purple boombox in my bedroom, dancing and singing along into my hairbrush.

When I was in the middle school choir, my best friend and I performed Whitney Houston songs at every annual Solo & Ensemble competition. We didn't even remotely do them justice, but we just loved her so much. Blub.

My sincerest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. My thanks to Whitney Houston for all the amazing music.

Open Thread

2012-02-11T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by a phone booth.

The Virtual Pub Is Open

2012-02-10T17:00:00.002-06:00

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

TFIF, Shakers!

Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!

Photos of the Day

2012-02-10T16:42:00.001-06:00

Hey, remember when I said how there were SO MANY great wire photos from CPAC of angry white conservatives and Herman Cain screaming from patriotic podiums and furiously pointing while definitely saying things like "Obamacare" and "handouts"...? Of course you remember! It was only yesterday! Well just LOOK at these crumblebuns!

That is Rick Perry! He is definitely angry and pointing!

That is Mitt Romney! He is sooooooooooo angry and pointing!

That is Mike Huckabee! He is totes angry and pointing!

That is Newt Gingrich! He is super angry and pointing!

That is Herman Cain! He is very angry and pointing!

That is Ann Coulter! She is for sure angry and pointing!

That is Marco Rubio! He is pretty miffed and pointing!

That is Mitch McConell, and that is definitely his angry face. He is pointing!

That is Michele Bachmann, whose angry pointing is, frankly, kind of weak sauce.

That is John Boehner! He is sooooo over it and pointing!

That is Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who ain't angry at all
the hot conservative tail he thinks he's gonna get at CPAC!

That is Rick Santorum showing why he is the new frontrunner.
Rick Santorum don't point. Rick Santorum is a fister!
And thus ends another moving episode of "Looking at Angry Conservatives Pointing at Things," with Melissa McEwan. Fin.

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-10T15:52:00.001-06:00

Happy (3rd) Birthday Rosie!

And, really, what is the fun in sitting still long enough to get a non-blurry picture when there are Things To Be Watched From My Perch and brand new birthday toys to chew on?

Quote of the Day

2012-02-10T14:27:00.001-06:00

[Content Note: Reproductive rights.]

"This is the kind of coercion we can expect. It's not about contraception. It's about government control of our lives and it's got to stop."—Republican presidential candidate and EXTREME ANTI-CHOICER Rick Santorum, on the Obama administration's contraceptive policy, at CPAC today.

Said, presumably, without a trace of fucking irony.

lulz

An Observation

2012-02-10T14:00:00.000-06:00

I've had at least five people defriend me on Facebook since I started using my new avatar:

The Parks and Rec Open Thread

2012-02-10T12:56:00.001-06:00

There was no new Parks and Rec episode last night (BOO!), but we didn't have an Open Thread for last week's Galentine's Day episode, so let's talk it about now, okay?! OKAY!

My absolute favorite part of this episode was Chris' DJing while he was super depressed. That was LITERALLY the worst Valentine's Day music I have ever heard.

Also, scatx and I were both rewatching the ice rink grand entrance scene ("Get on your feet!") from the previous episode like 9,000 times this week, because nerdz, and, while I was watching it on the 8,573rd time and laughing until I cried, I was also thinking about how genuinely radical the Leslie Knope character really is, and how radical a plotline it is that she's got a male partner who is profoundly supportive of her career.

That there wasn't an arc about his "coming to terms" with her career, that it was just taken as read that he was going to be her ally because her ambition was part of what he loves about her, is a really revolutionary departure from the familiar rom-com construction of a dude who "learns" how to love am ambitious woman only after he sees that trying to crush her dreams makes her unhappy. (Quelle surprise!) Ben is already a fully-realized equal partner, who wasn't written to "grow" for the benefit of men in the audience who are assumed to be unable to relate to a man like that.

I feel like P&R is saying to those men: We won't indulge your tiresome discomfort with ambitious women. We expect more.

And, in doing so, it's also acknowledging that there are men in the world who are and have been unconditionally supportive of their female partners' ambition, who navigate without some boner-killing identity crisis the negotiations and compromises innate to any two-career partnership. Ben, I thought, is kind of a gift to them. Here YOU are. We see you.

Tangentially: One of the things that I always think makes P&R the most feminist show on television is that there's no regular foil for Leslie's feminism, even outwith her romantic relationship. Ron is the obvious candidate for that role, but he doesn't actually fill it. He continually recognizes Leslie's competency and general awesomeness. But I digress.

I also had this sort of related thought about how radical it is that all of this is taking place in small-town red(dish) state America. I live in a small town in Indiana, and I'm involved enough in local politics I've got the mayor's cell phone number, you know? This show is about women like me. And it speaks to me, reflects some of the realities of being a feminist outside a media/creative career in a major urban center, in ways that shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Murphy Brown never did, even though I love those shows.

(It's also one of several fundamental differences between P&R and 30 Rock, which is a show I don't like.)

Being a feminist here, and being a feminist when I lived in Chicago for a decade, can in some ways be two very different things. I like seeing that acknowledged by P&R.

So, anyway. Those are my thoughts! What are yours?

Friday Blogaround

2012-02-10T12:18:00.000-06:00

This blogaround brought to you by limes.

Recommended Reading:

M: Whitman in Louisville: Samantha's "I Sing the Body Electric"

Tami: Black Woman, Know Your Place: Cornel West Clings to His Privilege

Peter: Civil Liberties Hypocrites

Kathleen: Jaroslav Flegr and the Cat Parasites Messing with Our Brains

Josh: Pinterest Is Quietly Generating Revenue by Modifying User Submitted Pins

Jessie: On the Un-Fair Campaign [Content Note: The post at this link discusses racism and white privilege.]

Andy: Gay North Dakota Couple of More Than 20 Years Denied Marriage License

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

Primarily Horrendo

2012-02-10T11:44:00.000-06:00

People walk past a cardboard cutout of Republican US presidential candidate Rick Santorum at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, February 9, 2012. [REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst]

In my mind, the soundtrack to that image is this song.

Anyway! I sort of lost the plot with the primary news this morning, after the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT that President Obama was kinda sorta caving but not really (?!) to conservative religious bullies. The one GOOD THING about this election is that, no matter which of the two major parties you support, you can feel safe in the guarantee that the healthcare of women and other people with uteri will always be regarded as a TOTALLY NEGOTIABLE ITEM.

"My uterus is a bargaining chip!"—Me, every election in my lifetime.

Speaking of misogyny, Rick Santorum, Good Christian, says he has concerns about women in combat roles because "that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved. It already happens, of course, with the camaraderie of men in combat, but I think it would be even more unique if women were in combat."

Sure. Like, what if I were on the frontlines in Afghanistan, and I saw an enemy combatant who I thought was super dreamy? I would probably abandon my post to go make out with him, and then tell him to shoot the dudes in my unit. So Rick Santorum, as usual, definitely has a point.

In other news, the surging Santorum is cleaning up the grody Newt Gingrich leftovers. Sloppy Seconds Santorum! That's what we used to call him at the roller rink back in the '80s.

What does that even mean? I don't know. Here's a picture.

In Mitt Romney news, Mitt Romney is meeting privately with conservative leaders at CPAC, "in an effort to reassure Republicans who remain skeptical about his candidacy." Ha ha GOOD LUCK, Mitt Romney! I hope your party is fun and that its attendees enjoy the party favors! By which I mean THE BRIBES!

Something something Ron Paul. Liberty. Freedom. Gold standard. Honest rape.

Rick Santorum reading this post: "That roller skater isn't even me!"
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-10T11:00:00.001-06:00

PJ Harvey: "Down By The Water"

Obama Blinks on Birth Control

2012-02-10T09:16:00.001-06:00

Swell: White House to Announce Contraception Rule 'Accommodation' for Religious Organizations.

With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control coverage, ABC News has learned that later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups.

Adding cowardice upon cowardice—caving, and announcing it in the Friday News Hole.

One source familiar with the decision described the accommodation as "Hawaii-plus," insisting that it's better than the Hawaii plan — for both sides.

In Hawaii the employer is responsible for referring employees to places where they can obtain the contraception; Catholic leaders call that material cooperation with evil. But what the White House will likely announce later today is that the relationship between the religious employer and the insurance company will not need to have any component involving contraception. The insurance company will reach out on its own to the women employees. This is better for both sides, the source says, since the religious organizations do not have to deal with medical care to which they object, and women employees will not have to be dependent upon an organization strongly opposed to that care in order to obtain it.

Let's be clear about what this means: An additional burden is being placed on women to accommodate the bullshit objections of a vocal minority who are playing politics with religion to complain about a policy the central mandate of which has been law for over a decade.

All of this "religious freedom" malarkey is the invocation of false ethics by some of the most unethical, cynical, opportunistic jerks in the country. This isn't an issue of "religious freedom." They're forcing Obama's hand, seeing if they can get him to throw women's healthcare and equality under the bus again.

And he just blinked.

UPDATE: The administration's position is that it's really no big deal because women will still get free contraception coverage—women who are employed by religious institutions will just get it directly from their insurers rather than through their employers. I still have some grave concerns.

Religious Freedom

2012-02-10T08:52:00.002-06:00

The hue and cry being raised by some members of the Catholic church hierarchy and some opportunistic members of Congress over the Obama administration's requirement that employers provide contraception to their employees reminds me that their argument of religious freedom and how the evil federal government is stomping all over it applies to more than just pills and condoms.

I belong to a religious denomination that is adamantly opposed to war in any form and to the manufacture and sale of it. The Quakers were founded on this tenet, they have suffered for it, including torture, exile, and even death, yet they haven't changed their position in five hundred years. As a Quaker, I too am opposed to war and its trappings to the point that I registered as a conscientious objector in 1970. And yet my taxes go to the Treasury every year; taxes I am sure go to support the Department of Defense and our war machine. I'm pretty sure that with my income, my contribution to their budget over the last forty years wouldn't buy a Snickers bar at the Pentagon canteen, but my money somehow, some way still ends up in their coffers. But I dutifully file my income taxes, collect my refund, and attend meeting nearly every Sunday. So why am I not out in the street waving a sign about it (as some Friends do) or calling up my congress-critters to get them to pass a bill that would allow me or my fellow Friends to opt out of paying a portion of our taxes to kill people?

It's because I realize that this is a world where there are people out there who want to kill us no matter how peaceful my intentions are, and in a real world, we need to have a Department of Defense. I would like it if we didn't have to have it, but I know reality when I see it. (I would also like to be a well-built billionaire who could fly.) Second, even if I was bound and determined to put an end to war and war taxes, I don't have the political clout, the money, or the fancy clothes to convince my member of Congress to put forth a bill that would provide me or the other members of peace churches with the privilege to opt out of paying war taxes on religious grounds. Nor do I have the clout to get the state legislature to pass a bill that allows my church to recognize and perform same-sex weddings, which is in keeping with our meeting's dedication to equality for all, or the right of women to have autonomy over their own bodies.

For every church out there that is opposed to all of the culture war issues, there is at least one or more that supports the other side. And yet they're drowned out in the noise by the well-funded and the well-connected. The evangelical bullies have tried to claim ownership of the Christian brand and claim that no true Christian would support forcing employers to pay for something they oppose. And yet there are a lot of other Christians -- and non-Christians who are affiliated with them (you don't have to believe in God or Jesus to be a Quaker, you know) -- that want those employers to provide for the health and well-being of their employees, including whatever it takes to keep them that way.

There are probably more Catholics in Miami-Dade County than there are Quakers in the whole world. The annual lobbying budget for the Catholic Church could fund the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) for life. There isn't one Quaker on the Supreme Court, and there are probably more Muslims in Congress than Friends. So maybe that's why my religious freedom is being denied as a matter of course and nobody's getting on MSNBC like Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (who seems to have his own dressing room there) to advocate for my absolutist religious view that war is murder and same-sex couples have a right to get married.

Or maybe it's because I and people like me realize that in this world, some things are more important for the greater good of the people than my own particular point of view. That has been a part of what I learned both as a Quaker and as an adult: my religious freedoms end when they harm the rights of others. That doesn't mean I'll surrender them, but being an absolutist doesn't win an argument; it ends it.

Here endeth the lesson. Peace.

Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.

Blog Note

2012-02-10T08:50:00.001-06:00

Yes, comments are fubared again, for reasons out of our control, as we have not changed any settings or messed with the formatting in any way.

I have notified Disqus, who will hopefully resolve the problem soon.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: All right, I figured it out. Something in our back-end settings keeps getting reset to a selection we don't make. I don't know why this happens over and over, but I've asked Disqus to look into it, so hopefully it can be prevented. I know it's a huge pain when the text goes tiny, but at least now I know what to do when it happens.

Please forgive me for addressing this on the blog and not responding to every email individually.

Open Thread

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by a tiki.

Question of the Day

2012-02-09T18:00:00.010-06:00

Following up on yesterday's QotD: What is your favorite movie (comedy or otherwise) that is just virtually devoid of women for no good reason?

(As opposed to, say, a film like The Shawshank Redemption, which takes place almost entirely in a men's prison, so the dearth of prominent female roles makes sense. That there are so many films made in male-centric environments is a whole other issue entirely.)

I don't know if this is precisely my favorite of the many possible answers to this question, but the first one that came to mind is The Usual Suspects. There's no good reason that one of the crooks couldn't have been female.

Imagine if Verbal Kint had been a lady. (!)

Photos of the Day

2012-02-09T17:40:00.000-06:00

OMG, y'all! There are SO MANY great wire photos from CPAC today! WOWEE WOW does that look like a fun place to be! I have literally just looked at HUNDREDS of photos of angry white conservatives and Herman Cain screaming from patriotic podiums! I can't even begin to imagine HOW SUPER DUPER FUN it is to be there!

Here are some of my FAVORITE PHOTOS that are NOT of angry people with veins popping out of their foreheads who are furiously pointing while definitely saying things like "Obamacare" and "handouts":

PERFECT. I mean, those buttons are almost TOO perfect, aren't they? If I ever see anything more perfecter than Reagan 2012 campaign pins, I will begin to fear for the dimensional stability of the multiverse.

This is from the last CPAC because Ron Paul isn't attending this one, so Reuters is sending it out again: We miss you, Ron Paul! LYLAS! Stay sweet!

Big seller, I'll bet. HUGE.

That likeness is UNCANNY! (No, it isn't.) If there's one thing you can say about conservatives, it's that their totally racist and otherwise very inappropriate caricatures of President Obama are VERY GOOD. (Nope, they're not.)

Hey, look who it is! Looking good, ~~Darth Creepious~~ Mr. Vice President!

*wink!*

Pack It Up. We're Done Here.

2012-02-09T16:51:00.001-06:00

The Great American Experiment has officially failed:

Mississippi State Rep. Steve Holland, a Democrat, introduced a bill in the state's lower chamber calling for the part of the Gulf of Mexico that borders his state to be renamed the "Gulf of America."

A local Latino GOP organization called on Holland to withdraw the measure. "If this bill passes the legislature and is signed into law, perhaps it is time to rename the Mississippi River," wrote Bob Quasius, Café Con Leche's president, in the letter. "After all, sharing a name with a state that wants to rewrite maps out of disdain for Mexicans would be a disgrace to the rest of the nation."

All right, well, Bob Quasius might have bought us another year. Good one, Bob.

Someone please send Rep. Holland a memo informing him that Mexico is part of the Americas.

UPDATE: In comments, Shaker Anitanola links to a piece in which Holland asserts it's all a big joke to highlight that the GOP is failing to "feed, clothe and educate children, take care of older adults, provide economic development and high systems in this state." Um, okay. Suffice it to say I am unconvinced that pretend (?) racism that is indistinguishable from authentic racism is not a very effective strategy to expose the GOP's fuckery.

"Someday, by god, I wanna throw a wedding for that kid."

2012-02-09T16:26:00.000-06:00

As Deeky mentioned yesterday, the Washington House passed a bill which will allow same-sex couples to wed in the state, once Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire signs it into law. Two Republicans voted for the measure, one of whom was Representative Maureen Walsh, who gave this moving statement during the debate before the vote yesterday:

I don't wax as eloquently as most of the people on the floor here, but I have allowed my heart and mind to guide me on a lot of different decisions I've made in the legislature. I think sometimes that's what we have to do.

I too don't want to wag my finger at anybody about which way to vote on this. It's certainly an issue of conscience for me that I've been weighing very heavily for the past few weeks.

You know, I was married for 23 years to the love of my life and he died 6 years ago. I think of all the wonderful years we had and the wonderful fringe benefits of having 3 beautiful children. I don't miss the sex, and to me that's kind of what this boils down to. I don't miss that… I mean I certainly miss it, but it's certainly not the aspect of that relationship, that incredible bond I had with that human being, that I really really genuinely wish I still had. And so I just think to myself: how could I deny anyone the right to have that incredible bond with another individual in life. To me it seems almost cruel.

Years ago my daughter went to elementary school. Many of you have met my daughter she's a fabulous girl, she's wonderful, my boys are great too, but she's really something special. She was the light of her father's eye.

So she went to school and there were a whole group of kids picking on another kid, and you know, my daughter stuck up for that kid. Even though it wasn't the popular thing to do it was the right thing to do. I was never more proud of my kid than knowing she was speaking against the vocal majority on behalf of the rights of the minority. And to me, it is incumbent upon us as legislators in this state to do that. That is why we are here.

And I shudder to think that if folks who had preceded us in history did not do that, frankly I'm not sure I would be here as a woman. I'm not sure other people would be here due to their race or creed. And to me that is what's disconcerting.

And someone made the comment that this is not about equality. Well yes it is about equality. And why in the world would be not allow those equal rights for individuals who are truly committed to one another in life to be able to show that in the way of a marriage.

My daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago and you know what I thought I was going to agonize about that. Nothing's different. She's still a fabulous human being and she met someone she loves very much. And some day, by God, I want to throw a wedding for that kid. And someday I hope that's what I can do. I hope she will not feel like a second-class citizen involved in something called a “domestic partnership” which frankly sounds like a Mary Maids franchise to me.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. That's all I want to say.

Video and transcript via BuzzFeed.

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-09T15:30:00.000-06:00

Zelda has an unparalleled capacity to make herself look very big and very small.

P.S. Doritooooooooooooooooo earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs!!!!!!!

Number of the Day

2012-02-09T14:44:00.000-06:00

72: The number of hours in a mandated "waiting period" for abortion-seekers being proposed in Utah by state representative Steve Eliason, who is a Republican, of course.

Utah Rep. Steve Eliason (R) has proposed a bill (HB 461 [pdf]) that would require women to wait 72 hours before receiving abortion care, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Under current law, women must wait 24 hours before receiving abortion services. If approved, Utah would have the same waiting period as South Dakota, which currently has the longest waiting period in the U.S.

Planned Parenthood Association of Utah has filed a lawsuit to overturn the law, arguing that it violates Roe v. Wade. The group said South Dakota's 72-hour waiting period puts an undue burden on women, who often have to travel long distances to reach the two abortion clinics in the state.

Eliason said the extension would give women the same amount of time "to make a major life decision" as "any consumer has to consider cancelling a mortgage."

I am really running out of ways to make the point that women and other people with uteri are not infants who are ignorant of their options (even though Republican-favored abstinence-only sex ed programs endeavor to turn them into exactly that). We don't need time to "really think it through" or "consider alternatives" or whatevthefuck Rep. Dipshit and the rest of the nation's Mendacious Band of Anti-Choice Fuckheads are alleging will happen in the three days they delay us from terminating a pregnancy.

Forcing a person to wait three days will not change the fact that zie does not want to have a child. Even if it changes hir mind about terminating the pregnancy, it doesn't change whatever circumstances brought hir to an abortion clinic in the first place.

Zie'll still walk out just as devoid of choices, just as un- or underemployed, just as broke, just as in debt, just as uninsured, just as lacking daycare, just as unable to care for hirself and/or hir existing children, just as in need of medication that zie can't take while pregnant, just as enmeshed in an unhealthy or abusive relationship, just the same as zie was when zie walked in.

Zie'll just have been guilted into making sacrifices zie doesn't want to make, to honor someone else's mistaken perceptions about hir morality.

All of these absurd barriers to termination are utter hogwash, rooted in the damnable fairy tale that women and other people with uteri are incapable of making the best decisions for themselves and their own bodies (and, frequently, for the children they already have).

The reality is this: There is an inextricable link between the economy, the funding of social services, and abortion. If "pro-lifers" really wanted women to want to have babies, they would start arguing for universal healthcare, just for a fucking start, considering about one-fourth of women seeking abortions cite their own health or possible health problems with the fetus as reasons for the termination, owing to concerns including "a lack of prenatal care."

But they're not pro-life. They're just anti-women.

And they can caterwaul about how that's not true all they fucking want, but, the truth is, they refuse to listen to women, and other people with uteri, to the millions of women who are telling them they don't need waiting periods or ultrasounds or parental/spousal consent or anti-abortion counselors or any of the other disincentives being proposed to deter them from terminating unwanted pregnancy, but do need jobs and healthcare and childcare and parental leave laws and associated institutional framework that supports successful parenthood.

And when you refuse to listen to women, your argument that you're not explicitly anti-women holds precious little water.

Particularly when your state has failed utterly to fund a robust social safety net, but has been trying, with various degrees of success, to chip away at Roe virtually since the decision granted people with uteri the right to terminate pregnancies.

[Via Steph Herold.]

Teaspoon Time

2012-02-09T13:50:00.000-06:00

Shaker Ashley in N.C. emails (which I am quoting with her permission): "I just wanted you to know that I called the White House today regarding tho odious Catholic Bishops (after getting busy signals all morning, I finally made it through this afternoon), and the woman who answered the phone was so happy to hear from me. She said I was one of the only people calling in support of reproductive freedom."

To the phones, Shakers!

White House comment line: (202) 456-1111

Related: Steered Wrong By Googling "Abortion Services"? It's No Accident. The civil war over reproductive rights is getting uglier by the day, and it was hideous already. We need to make sure we don't lose this one with the White House. Let's make sure President Obama hears from the USian majority who support reproductive freedom.

Greyt Expectations

2012-02-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

[Content Note: This post contains discussion of animal cruelty.]

This is Dudley.
Dudley didn't have the greatest start in life. He was bred to be a racer, which meant that from his earliest days, he lived a kind of life no dog should ever live. He resided at a track in Sarasota, Florida, where, like all racing greyhounds, he was virtually starved, left unvaccinated and unprotected against parasites, denied toys and affection, and confined for more than 20 hours a day to one-half of a double-decker cage in an unheated and uncooled kennel that looked like a warehouse. He barely had room to stand, and he ran on a track that didn't make enough money to be properly maintained. His last race ended in a collision that terminated his career before he was two years old.

And he was one of the lucky ones.

Most greyhound pups are bred at breeding farms, where "only a select few actually become racing dogs. This massive over-breeding is done in order to produce winning dogs. The unwanted pups, those who don't measure up to racing standards, are simply destroyed. The racing industry also sells some of the dogs considered unfit for racing to laboratories, which use them in experiments."

Of the dogs who become racers, most aren't champions—and many would-be champions are injured before they ever reach their potential. Most of the dogs who fail to make money are destroyed in the cheapest way possible, frequently by gunshot or having their throats cut. Some are simply left to starve. Even the most successful racers are usually retired by age 4, at which point they, too, are killed unless they are fortunate enough to be rescued.

Even with rescues doing as much as they can, as many as 20,000 dogs are still killed (and nearly half that number of rabbits illegally used to train the dogs) each year in the US alone.

The dogs are not beloved pets; they are property. And they are treated thus. In one infamous case, an owner told a trainer not to bother trying to rescue dogs from a kennel which had gone up in flames, because "they're insured." Greyhounds' lives have no innate value at the track.

I will spare you descriptions of the abuses I have seen in pictures taken at greyhound tracks. I will spare you photos of the dogs the local rescue with which I volunteer has rescued from tracks in Florida and elsewhere, so thin it's inconceivable that they are still alive.

I will tell you that most of this is totally legal, because greyhound racing was made an exception to the US Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Act.

Greyhound racing is a goddamn ugly sport. Even the lucky ones who survive it, like Dudley, are traumatized.

They come off the track into a world they've never experienced. They don't know how to walk up or down stairs, or how to fetch a ball. They have no idea what it means to be loved.

But they want to know. Even after all they've been through, they trust. They want to be with people. They are the sweetest, gentlest dogs, who, given half a chance, will lean against your legs and gaze up at you along their long snouts with a plaintive look. I'm ready to be loved now.

When Dudley came to us, he was ready to be loved. He was also so timid that he would urinate on himself in a submissive gesture every time I got near him. I spent long hours lying on the floor, next to his crate where he felt safe, synchronizing my breathing to his, quiet and still, to reassure him I would never hurt him. One day, he came out, and laid down beside me on the floor. I put my hand on his side, across a long scar the origins of which we do not know, and matched him breath for breath. There we laid, until he let me know he needed to go out, and I put on his leash without making him fearful for the first time.

That was the first step in what has been, and continues to be, a remarkable journey away from the track. When I think about the possibility that Dudley's fate, once he had proven useless as a racer, could have been a callous bit of violence to bring a swift end to his life, or a cruel bit of neglect to yield the same result over agonizing days, my heart aches. It aches because I cannot imagine my life without him, and it aches for all the greys who never had the same opportunity he's had to be loved.

It occurred to me the other day that sometime next week, give or take, Dudley will have officially lived more of his life with us than he lived before he got here.

It was a sort of relief, that thought. A relief on his behalf. As I thought about the literally scarring experiences he had at the track fading into the distance of time, diminishing into a terrible anomaly in a life of boundless affection, I asked Dudley if he knew that he is home. He flopped against me with all his weight, craned around his impossibly, comically long neck to give me a goofy grin, then licked my chin.

I will take that as a yes.

Iowa is one of the few remaining states in which greyhound racing is legal. This week, a House panel in the Iowa state legislature approved a measure that would effectively end greyhound racing in the state. That would be excellent news in the long term, but would immediately leave thousands of dogs at risk of death unless area rescues can come to their aid. Please consider taking action or donating on behalf of greyhounds today. There are even more ways to help here. If you are considering adoption or would like to donate to a local rescue, a resource to find US greyhound rescues is here.

Please, if you can, help give other greys the same chance to be loved that Dudley's had.

Us & Dudz, last summer.

Reproductive Rights Updates: AK, WI, IL, GA, MI, AZ, & Fed

2012-02-09T12:07:00.002-06:00

Here's some more of All The News You Can Use...to bang your head against your desk.

In Alaska, the state's Senate Minority Leader, John Coghill (R-North Pole) has intro'd mandatory ultrasound legislation. Wait. North Pole? That's cool, in a "don't write that every day" sort of way. But I digress! Sen. Coghill thinks this is a matter of "informed consent". He so graciously explains:

"I think if people understood a little bit more about what's going on in the womb, they might reconsider (an abortion)," he said.

"The choice is the female's, and I respect that as much as I can respect it," he said, "but I'm also trying to bring as much respect for what a pregnancy really is."

Because "a female" just doesn't know anything about "what a pregnancy really is", amirite?

***

In Wisconsin, there was, apparently, a "contentious" debate in the state senate yesterday when a public hearing was held regarding legislation that is supposed to ensure that a woman is definitely not being forced to have an abortion and also addresses women being able to obtain mifepristone via web.

Under current Wisconsin law, abortion providers must inform women seeking them of the risks, and then the woman must give voluntary written consent. Republican Rep. Michelle Litjens wants to add provisions. She told the Assembly Health committee of her alarm when she heard a Milwaukee radio station air a 911 call.

“There was a young girl about 13 or 14 who was being escorted into an abortion clinic a few months ago. She didn’t want to go inside and there were some people outside the clinic who were trying to help her so they called 911 and the police said there was nothing they could do. She was going inside with a guardian, and they could not help the girl and it’s frightening to hear. This bill requires the physician to inform the woman that she has the right to refuse an abortion, that her consent is not voluntary if someone is coercing her and that it’s unlawful for the physician to perform the procedure if it’s not voluntary,” Litjens says.

Litjens says her bill would require the physician to question the patient in private and have her sign a voluntary consent form without anyone else present.

Ok there are two issues with this. First one is brought up--and smacked down--by Rep Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay). Rep Pasch is also a nurse, btw:

"Let me tell you what the components of informed consent are, that there’s a voluntariness, that’s essential as part of it, that’s already in the informed consent process, that information is provided to the patient and the information needs to be the risks and benefits of the procedure that they’re requesting, the risks and benefits of alternative procedures and the risks and benefits of doing nothing which in this case would be allowing a pregnancy, so which part of that do you think needs to be strengthened?” Pasch asks.

Litjens: “I would like to strengthen it so that that woman is asked those questions or told that information in a room where she doesn’t feel pressured at all. I would like that young girl who was forced to enter an abortion clinic in Milwaukee to have the opportunity to say no."

Pasch: “If the physician doesn’t do it, there could be a felony charge. Who’s going to monitor that physician if they’re all alone in the room?”

Litjens: “ I would assume that the woman’s going to monitor the physician to make sure it’s done because that would give her the opportunity if she’s being coerced by a boyfriend, by a parent, by an abusive stepfather or something of that nature."

Which brings us to the next issue. I see Rep Litjens is all about calling a minor a woman in this aspect. She is all about the rights of a minor to not have to have an abortion if she does not want one. The right to choose "no, it's not what I want". However, in Wisconsin, minors cannot obtain an abortion without the consent of a parent.

So. Wisconsin: no abortion if you're under 18 without parental consent; no parental "interference" if a minor does not want an abortion. Not that I'm saying anyone should have to have an abortion if they do not want one. The point is no one should be forced into a choice they do not want to make by another person--including a parent stopping an abortion.

The other aspect is regarding the ability of a woman to be prescribed mifepristone (RU-486) via web by a doctor when one is not present in office to otherwise do so (a woman still has to come to clinic to access the consult). This is not currently available in Wisconsin but the WI "right to life" groups want to try and head it off before it can be available.

Nothing was decided on the legislation yesterday, except that more discussion is needed.

***

In Illinois, the state is jumping on the mandatory ultrasound bandwagon:

According to Illinois House bill 786, the Ultrasound Opportunity Act, women electing to have abortions will be subject to undergo an invasive sonogram, listen while a technician or the doctor verbally describes in detail what is shown in the sonogram and wait a 24-hour period before receiving the procedure.

The "Ultrasound Opportunity Act"? Really? I bet one of these days some state is going to call it the "Pre-Born Citizen Photo Op Act".

***
We have a theme for the next three states. SPOILER: It's not a fun theme.

In Georgia, Rep. Doug McKillip (R-Eprehensible) has intro'd legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks gestation. Abortion after then would only be allowed if the person would die otherwise. The bill has not yet gone anywhere.

In Michigan, Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-Idiculous) has intro'd legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks gestation. Abortion would only be allowed if the person would die otherwise. This bill has a name: "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act". It also says that any doctor who does an abortion after the 20th week would face felony charges and up to 15 years in prison.

In Arizona, Rep. Kimberly Yee (R-Epugnant) has intro'd legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks gestation. Abortion would only be allowed if the person would die otherwise. This bill also includes mandatory ultrasound 24 hours beforehand, posting signs in clinics saying that no one can force anyone else to have an abortion, and:

[It] would require the health department to provide a web site that provides a range of information, including alternatives to abortion, medical risks and descriptions of fetuses.

The descriptions would include "pictures or drawings representing the development of unborn children at two-week gestational increments and any relevant information on the possibility of the unborn child's survival."

Because none of that information is available anywhere else!

Anyway, every one of these 20-week gestation bans is based on the idea of "fetal pain", which has been debunked. But who cares about science, amirite?!

***

Just a quick note about federal legislation news with regards to the manufactured controversy over the Affordable Care Act covering birth control. MoJo helpfully points out (emphasis mine):

[T]he central mandate—that most employers have to cover preventative care for women—has been law for over a decade. This point has been completely lost in the current controversy, as Republican presidential candidates and social conservatives claim that Obama has launched a war on religious liberty and the Catholic Church.

Obama's additions to the current law now require business with less than 15 employees have to follow it and no co-pays for anyone.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-09T11:00:00.003-06:00

Jedward: "All The Small Things"

Quote of the Day

2012-02-09T10:29:00.001-06:00

"We try to look at child care as more of a form of work support."—Lynda Laughlin of the US Census Bureau's Fertility and Family Statistics Branch, explaining why is it that the Census Bureau assumes mothers to be the "designated parent" in a two-parent household, and why further it considers a father providing childcare while mother is at work/school to be a "child care arrangement" but a mother providing childcare while father is at work/school to be designated parenting.

That is to say that the US government is engaging in that most infuriating of parenting tropes: Moms parent and dads babysit.

(Not to mention that they evidently do not consider childcare "work," no matter who is doing it.)

I don't even know what the Census Bureau does with two-parent households in which the parents are the same sex. Curl up in the fetal position, cover its ears, and pitiably whine "No no no no I can't hear you!", presumably.

[H/T to Shaker Rachel.]

Top Chef: Texas Open Thread

2012-02-09T10:00:00.013-06:00

Guest judge Jimmy (A Unicorn) found your bouillabaisse to be chalky!
Bev returned from the dead, like a Top Chef zombie and everyone stumbled around the pantry and the whole show is just beyond ridiculous now. Speaking of zombies, Bill Hinzman who played an iconic walker (ha!) in Night Of The Living Dead died. Also speaking of which, The Walking Dead returns this weekend. Dust off your zombie shoes, everyone!

Good News: Unemployment Among Black Men Drops

2012-02-09T09:37:00.000-06:00

Shani O. Hilton at Colorlines:

When the Labor Department released the January unemployment rate last week, there was finally some good news to celebrate—and some news that seemed almost too good to be true. Black unemployment saw its steepest drop since the recession began, dipping more than two points. Apparently, that happy improvement was largely driven by black men being hired in larger numbers than anyone can remember.

So what, exactly, is happening here? Nobody saw it coming, and there's no immediate explanation. I talked to Algernon Austin, director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program at the Economic Policy Institute, to get some insight.

Colorlines: So, the interesting thing about January's unemployment rate was that the unemployment rate for black men dropped 3 percent—from 15.7 percent to 12.7 percent—even though workforce participation stayed about the same. That's not something we've seen before, is it?

Algernon Austin: Such a large drop in the unemployment rate is quite surprising. Certainly, we haven't seen a drop that large any time recently. There was a slight decline in workforce participation, but even looking at that, we're talking about a very large decline for blacks, and particularly black men, which is quite unusual.

What are the fields—or are there any—where it's more likely that black men were hired?

It's a real mystery to figure out what might be going on here. The public sector dropped jobs, so that's not likely to be it. Restaurants and bars—that's not likely. Retail, maybe some retail; maybe some health care. Maybe temporary health services, construction. But really, I don't know.

It is not just a coincidence that, during the first bit of job growth we've had since Barack Obama was elected, black men are "being hired in larger numbers than anyone can remember." It is evidence of the known effects of visible diversity.

To think that seeing a black man in the news, competently running the most powerful nation on the planet, day after day for three years, hasn't worked on the subconscious of US employers, hasn't sent a message that gets internalized in the same way the narratives of exclusion and marginalization and less than do, is to imagine that humans work in a way that we actually don't.

That is not the only explanation for this good news. There are certainly other influences, which Algernon Austin and his team will suss out at the invaluable EPI.

But I wanted to note nonetheless: This is no coincidence. This is the value of meaningful inclusion.

Primarily Terrible

2012-02-09T09:03:00.001-06:00

Supporters pray over Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (C) during a campaign stop at the Bella Donna Chapel on February 8, 2012 in McKinney, Texas. [Getty Images]

I'm thinking it's images like the one above (barrrrrrrrf) that necessitated frontrunner (!?whut?!) Rick Santorum assuring voters that he is not running to be "pastor in chief" of the United States. (He totally is, by the way.) I will point out yet again, because I'm an asshole like that, that the church in which this ~~revival~~ campaign event was held is a tax exempt entity, since it is not considered inappropriately political for a congregation to lay its hands on a presidential candidate and pray for him in front of the news media.

I will also note (#asshole #atheist) that these laws were put into place back when religious institutions in this country were generally in the business of actually helping the poor in their communities and not building multimillion-dollar entertainment complexes complete with ATMs and gift shops.

Anyway!

Here is a fun quote from Rick Santorum, Master of Projection: "The intolerance of the left, the intolerance of the secular ideology, it is a religion unto itself, it is just not a biblical based religion, and it is the most intolerant. Just like we saw from the days of the atheists of the Soviet Union, it is completely intolerant of dissent. They fear dissent. Why? Because the dissent comes from folks who use reason, common sense, and divine revelation and they want no part of any of those things."

"Reason, common sense, and divine revelation." One of these things is not like the other, Rick Santorum!

Rick Santorum also said at the same ~~revival~~ campaign event: "The institution of marriage saved my life." Rick Santorum is a hyperbolic dipshit, so it is not literally true that marriage saved his life, but he clearly finds his marriage VERY IMPORTANT to the quality of his life. Which, of course, makes it even more heinous that he endeavors to deny participation in the institution of marriage to some people, on the basis of whom they want to marry.

"Here is a life-saving thing that YOU CANNOT HAVE!"—Rick Santorum, Good Christian.

Speaking of Good Christians, the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is this week, and, naturally Mitt Romney is heading on over in order to pretend like there's a chance in hell that he'll ever appeal to extreme social conservatives.

CPAC FUN FACT! In 2007, Mitt Romney introduced Ann Coulter at CPAC by saying, "I am happy to hear that after you hear from me, you will hear from Ann Coulter. That is a good thing. Oh yeah!" before Coulter took the stage and called John Edwards a nasty gay slur.

Mitt Romney will be in GREAT COMPANY again at this year's CPAC: "CPAC will play host to anti-gay groups such as the Family Research Council, the birther leader of WorldNetDaily, and the Apartheid-nostalgic Youth for Western Civilization. But that isn't all. Following speeches from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Michele Bachmann, CPAC is hosting (pdf) the panel 'The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity' with Peter Brimelow, the founder and head of VDARE.com ... a White Nationalist website, run by [a dude] from Great Britain [who] expresses his fear of the loss of America's white majority, blames non-white immigrants for social and economic problems, and urges the Republican Party to give up on minority voters and focus on winning the white vote."

Awesome! Good company you keep, Mitt Romney!

Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, who is still definitely in the race for inexplicable reasons, will also be in attendance at CPAC.

I guess Ron Paul isn't attending? Well, that makes sense. He's probably pretty confident everyone already knows he's a racist thanks to those suuuuuuuper racist newsletters.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

P.S. I just saw this wire photo of Rick Santorum wearing a cowboy hat while campaigning in Texas...

...and now I cannot unsee this:

To the Beltway...and BEYOND!
That may be the ticket with the best chance of beating the unstoppable Goat|Paperclip this year!

Have a nice day!

Open Thread

2012-02-09T08:00:00.002-06:00

Hosted by an AT-AT Walker.

Question of the Day

2012-02-08T18:00:00.005-06:00

What is your favorite comedy film starring a woman?

It doesn't have to only star a woman (or women), but it has to have at least one woman as a central (and not secondary) character.

Because I am as predictable as the sunrise, I will say Harold & Maude, which is a comedy, if a dark one.

Washington State Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage Bill

2012-02-08T17:55:00.001-06:00

The Washington House passed a bill today to allow same-sex couples to wed. The state Senate approved the measure last week. Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire is expected to sign the measure into law next week.

The law goes into effect in ninety days.

As per usual, bigoted assholes are expected to fight to have the law overturned.

Photo of the Day

2012-02-08T17:31:00.000-06:00

Hillary R. Clinton, US secretary of state arrives for day 2 of the 48th Munich Security Conference at Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 4, 2012 in Munich, Germany. The 48th Munich conference on security policy is running till February 5, 2012. [Getty Images]

I think it was Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo who was making her laugh.

Breaking Nooz

2012-02-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops says birth control is more powerful than god. You heard it here first.

Number of the Day

2012-02-08T15:57:00.000-06:00

$40 million: The domestic gross made by Bridesmaids just through "digital platforms including internet video on demand (VOD), pay-per-view, hotel viewings, and electronic-sell-through transactions," making it the most ordered VOD title of all time.

VOD hasn't been around that long, of course, which cuts both ways: It's the most popular VOD film of all time in what is a relatively new medium, but it just made forty million freaking dollars in a relatively new medium.

Which is to say nothing of the gerjillion dollars it made while in theaters.

Note to the Film Industry: Women are funny. Women want to see other women being funny. Men want to see women being funny, too. Women can carry movies. WOMEN CAN MAKE YOU MONEY. Lots of it.

You Are Shitting Me. You Have to Be Shitting Me.

2012-02-08T15:21:00.002-06:00

[Content Note: Domestic and sexual violence.]

A judge in Florida has sentenced a man charged with domestic battery to take his wife, and victim, on a date. Or as MSNBC puts it in their disgusting lede: "Just in time for Valentine's Day, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday that a man involved in a scuffle with his wife treat her to an evening at a local bowling alley and a romantic meal at Red Lobster."

Judge John Hurley [who also ordered that Joseph Bray, 47 and his wife Sonja, 39, get marriage counseling] handed down this ruling instead of setting bond or slapping Bray with a prison sentence after he deemed domestic violence charges leveled by Bray's wife to be "very, very minor."

According to Bray's arrest affidavit, Bray and his wife got embroiled in a spat after he failed to wish her a happy birthday. Bray's wife claims that her husband shoved her against a sofa and grabbed her neck.

The judge, citing Bray's otherwise clean record and the incident's apparent lack of serious violence, did not consider Bray's behavior a major offense. However, Bray must follow the stipulations of Hurley's ruling very closely if he wants to avoid potential jail time.

"He's going to stop by somewhere and he's going to get some flowers," Hurley said at a hearing, according to Florida newspaper Sun Sentinel. "And then he's going to go home, pick up his wife, get dressed, take her to Red Lobster. And then after they have Red Lobster, they're going to go bowling."

Hurley noted that he would not typically treat a domestic violence charge in a similarly jocular or light-hearted manner.

"The court would not normally [make this ruling] if the court felt there was some violence but this is very, very minor and the court felt that that was a better resolution than the other alternatives," Hurley said.

And to add to the rib-tickling tone of this whimsical domestic violence sentencing, Daniel Arkin of NBC Miami, who filed the story, amusingly wraps it up with a review of the local Red Lobster: "Fortunately for Bray and his wife, the Plantation Red Lobster receives high marks in Google Maps' Review section."

According to this Sun-Sentinel article on the outrageous sentencing, Hurley handed down his sentence after asking Sonja Bray, in front of her violent husband in court for abusing her, if "she was hurt or in any fear of her husband," to which, in front of her violent husband in court for abusing her, she answered no.

After she said she wasn't, and Hurley confirmed that Bray had no prior arrests, the judge continued his questioning with a lighter tone.

"Do you have something you like to go to?" he asked. "Is there a restaurant you like to go to?"

The woman answered that she enjoyed bowling and eating at Red Lobster. And so the judge made his decision accordingly.

"Flowers, birthday card, Red Lobster, bowling," Hurley said.

I was, as a teenager, locked in a room with my rapist by school administrators and told, "Don't come out until you've worked out your differences." He spent the entire time threatening to kill me, my family, and my dogs, if I ever reported anything he ever did to me again. When the head counselor eventually came back to that room, I was asked if we'd managed to work things out, and I confirmed that we had.

Because I would have said anything to get the fuck out of that room.

He raped me again and again over the next three years.

I desperately hope that Sonja Bray is safe. And I hope that Judge Ha Ha Chuckles is removed from the bench immediately. He literally facilitated what could very well be part of a pattern of escalating abuse: Violence, elaborate display of romance, violence. No one who thinks that sentence is appropriate, no one who fails to recognize how it fits into a recognized abuse cycle, has any fucking business presiding over domestic abuse cases.

[H/T to Shaker Julie.]

An Observation

2012-02-08T14:30:00.000-06:00

Per the stereotypes of the aged and aging, I am terrible at getting older.

I like my grey hair, I love my wrinkles, I am ever more hopeful, and, with due acknowledgement of a broad stroke, I generally find the younger generation to be extraordinarily neato.

Get ON my lawn!

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-08T13:44:00.000-06:00

Doggedly Cute:

Dudley

Zelda

Besties

Wednesday Blogaround

2012-02-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

This blogaround brought to you by tree stumps with hidey holes.

Recommended Reading:

Hey, Alcatrazies! You know how Jorge Garcia is awesome, and we can't stop talking about how awesome he is in Alcatraz, and, before that, we couldn't stop talking about how awesome he is in Lost? Just FYI, he's awesome in real life, too: Classmates.com/Memory Lane, What Were You Thinking? [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of racism.]

Teresa: How the US Became a Nation of Freelancers

Vanessa: Mitt Romney, Komen, and the War Against Women's Health

New Black Woman: Arizona State Lawmaker Suggests Holiday to Celebrate White People

Angry Asian Man: Starbucks Labels Drinks with the "Chink Eyes"

Andy: Ellen DeGeneres Rips 'One Million Moms' for Calling for Her Firing [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of homophobia.]

Steven: Obama Campaign Copies Gingrich—Decries Then Embraces Super-PACs

Elle: Not-So-Trivial Trivia

Adam: The Very Last World War I Veteran Has Died

Resistance: Q&A [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of racism and white privilege.]

Will: Slurp the Soup of the Sea [Content Note: The post at this link contains beautiful but disturbing images of garbage from the oceans, some of which has hurt animals.]

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

Why I'm Pro-Choice, and My Boyfriend Is, Too

2012-02-08T12:07:00.000-06:00

by Shaker BrianWS, who may or may not become a full-time contributor someday based on a swirling purple vortex of glittery keys only one of which fits into two crumbling locks, one of which opens a door to Shakesville, and the other of which opens a door to a rip in the time-space continuum beyond which is either a parallel universe or a Malkovichian hole into Rick Santorum's brainpan.

[Content Note: Anti-choice views on reproductive rights; disrespect for autonomy and consent.]

I will never need an abortion. It's a fact of my life as a cis gay man in a relationship with another cis gay man, but being fervently pro-choice is very important to me, and it's also very important to me that I found a partner who shares that belief.

I'm pro-choice not only for the women in my life who have had abortions or who one day may need to terminate a pregnancy, but because I've found that a person's view on abortion rights is a really great test to determine how someone feels about bodily autonomy as a whole—and, to that end, what kind of autonomy over my own body I can expect when dealing with that person.

When I was single last summer before meeting my current boyfriend, I had a profile on OkCupid, and one day received a message from a guy who quickly identified himself as a conservative supporter of Ron Paul.

I don't like Ron Paul one bit, so I was hesitant but curious. Knowing what I know now, I have no problem saying that if that happened to me today, there never would've been drinks or dinner or anything. But it didn't happen today.

We often hear, even from people presumed to be liberal allies, about how "both sides are just as bad," and we're trained by the media to think that every opinion is equally worth being heard, and even this progressive feminist was not immune to having internalized those messages.

"If I don't go out with him just because of his politics, then I'd be an asshole," I thought, and I decided to go out and meet him.

I figured that we could have a good time just hanging out and letting it be casual regardless of political affiliation. That worked for a few dates. We didn't much discuss politics, including abortion, although I knew his position, and I found myself actually enjoying his company.

"I'm the next James Carville!" I excitedly told myself, feeling a slight, and now embarrassing, sense of smugness for having been "big enough" to enjoy his company without agreeing with his political views. In doing so, however, I was hiding a huge part of who I am, and a huge part of what I believe to be true and important in this world, just to be able to say I managed to navigate that political divide.

We did that dance for about a month, sharing drinks, movies, dinners, and games about every other day, all while both trying our best to ignore the giant whirring abortion machine in the room.

That's when the wheels came flying off. We were invited to a Pride party at his ex's apartment overlooking the parade route, and we were excited to go to that together. There were plenty of drinks, plenty of amazing new friends to meet, and I was having a great day. We were both worried initially that his ex might be weird about me being there, but it turned out that his ex and I hit it off immediately.

He and I were, in fact, on the back deck, chatting, laughing, and generally having a great day, when another one of the party's hosts came up to me and said, "You might want to go talk to your date; he's really upset right now."

"Why?!" I asked. It was a great day with great company, and nothing seemed like it could go wrong. I went to look for him, to find that he had angrily stormed out of the party. I texted him to find out what was wrong, and it was then that his adherence to a strict conservative ideology became the problem that, deep inside, I always knew it was going to be someday, sooner than later.

He was angry that I was socializing with his ex, and told me that I had humiliated him by being friendly with his ex. Naturally, this made no sense to me—after all, we had accepted an invitation to a party at his ex's house, and learned that our earlier worries about it being uncomfortable were completely unfounded. So unfounded, in fact, that his ex and I were able to act like adults who had never met one another, treat each other with respect, and find out that we actually had a lot in common and enjoyed talking to one another.

The only one who found the situation uncomfortable was the guy I was seeing—the guy who had put us into this position in the first place. I felt a ton of pressure going over to his ex's house that day; it's not easy to be the "new guy" in a tight-knit group of friends when an ex is included. The fact that it wasn't the weirdest day my date and I had ever spent together should have been a huge victory.

Instead, it turned ugly.

He had wanted me to go to this party with him at a place that could have been very uncomfortable for me, and I had made the best of it. He didn't want me to make the best of it for me, though—he wanted me to make the best of it for him. And I had failed to behave as he had desired for me to behave.

As the night wore on, he continued to berate me via text messages and phone calls. He policed my behavior in exacting detail, slut-shamed me for being friendly with his ex, belligerently screamed at me, plainly and simply commanding me to be something more like what he wanted, rather than who I actually am, and to make the choices he wanted me to make, rather than the choices that were right for me.

So clueless, he then demanded that I spend the night at his apartment. I felt afraid, and I felt unsafe. I left and never saw him again.

In the end, it should have come as little surprise to me that he would show his hand like that at some point. But it wasn't until he actually tried to claim what he thought was his right to control my body and my actions that I actually let it all sink in.

And when it was done sinking in, I was left with this: Fuck. That.

Sure, this could have been the jerk behavior of anyone with any political ideology, but I am left with the thought that true belief in rigid conservative anti-choice ideology presents a fundamental problem for those desirous of an egalitarian relationship. The anti-choice position is rooted in a desire to control women's bodies, restrict their ability to act as individuals, and to police their behavior. If my date thinks that control over a woman's body is his right, what guarantee do I have that he would ever think any differently about MY body?

There's an undeniable connection between views on abortion rights and views on bodily autonomy as a whole, and that's why gay men need to care about abortion rights. The same people who will work tirelessly to restrict women's autonomy over their own bodies and choices won't hesitate for a moment to tear mine away, too.

The only body that an anti-choice conservative thinks shouldn't be controlled is his (or her) own.

Being pro-choice means respecting the autonomy of women and other people with uteri over their own bodies, full-stop. There is no halfway. There are no, "...but" qualifiers. You either do—or you don't.

It's not about babies, or whatever other bullshit anti-choicers say to try to pretend that it's about anything other than controlling and policing women's bodies—experience tells me that assholes with rigid anti-choice ideologies based around controlling other people's bodies aren't likely to ever consider exceptions to that rule for me and my body just because I don't have a uterus.

Comments Not Appearing in New Zealand & Australia

2012-02-08T11:32:00.001-06:00

A bunch of readers have contacted me about comments threads not appearing in New Zealand and Australia, due to Blogger now redirecting blogspot.com to blogspot.co.nz and blogspot.co.au.

This causes a compatibility failure with Disqus, our third-party commenting system. For comments to load correctly, one must be viewing the blog at blogspot.com, and Bekitty's fix doesn't appear to be working anymore.

I'm so desperately sorry for the inconvenience, but it is, unfortunately, nothing over which I have any control, short of relocating Shakesville to its own server, which didn't work out so well last time I tried it.

You can contact Blogger to politely ask them to fix the problem by tweeting at them @blogger.

UPDATE: Shaker Flunkette in Australia writes: "What has been working for me (and is still working now) is to take the '.au' off the end of the url when it redirects me, and putting '/ncr' there instead, and pressing enter. If I right-click on post titles from that page and select 'open link in new tab', the page in the new tab allows me to view and post comments."

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-08T10:30:00.005-06:00

Liquid Liquid: "Cavern"

And It's a Group With Actual Members

2012-02-08T10:03:00.000-06:00

Lest anyone get the impression that Bill Donohue and his one-man outrage operation, the Catholic League, or even a serious organization like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, reflect the entirety of opinion on the issue of reproductive rights, and making birth control available via healthcare plans, Catholics for Choice have joined with 19 other religious groups to sign a letter supporting the Obama administration's position on contraceptive coverage.

The letter can be read here (pdf).

In a statement, Jon O'Brien of Catholics for Choice said that the letter "shows what those of us who work in the field know only too well. Some of the strongest supporters for family planning are in the religious community. We know that the vast majority of all American women use and support access to family planning, including 98 percent of sexually active Catholic women. The loudest voices in the Catholic community are those of the priests and bishops who know that they are being ignored when it comes to their teachings on family planning. They may be the loudest, but we know they also represent a tiny minority of Catholics."

I hope President Obama is listening.

They are loud, but they are a minority. And, most importantly, they are wrong.

Quote of the Day

2012-02-08T09:40:00.001-06:00

[Content Note: Rape culture; clergy sex abuse.]

"I'm not the slightest bit surprised that of course the scandal was going to be fun in the news—not fun, but the easiest thing to write about. If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I'd be happy to know who he is. … Well, the media everywhere made that the whole thing. I never had a case. And I believe that the cases I had were each handled just exactly as they should have been. … [The media] can talk about sex abuse or talk about their concern about finance—that's all right. I believe the sex abuse thing was incredibly good."—Former Bridgeport, Connecticut bishop and New York City cardinal Edward Egan, who, during his tenure at Bridgeport, "let accused priests continue to work in local parishes, authorized payments to victims in exchange for silence agreements, and lied about those payments during a deposition," but continues to maintain that the institutional sex abuse problem in the Catholic Church is a non-story inflamed by sensationalist media, and that the Church's—and especially his—handling of predator priests has been exemplary.

If the interview whence these excerpts came is indicative of the attitude among Church leadership—and one must reasonably believe that it is, given Egan's promotions and plaudits—it's no fucking wonder that there are legions of survivors of clergy abuse who have never seen anything resembling meaningful accountability.

[Via @delong.]

Primarily Disastrous

2012-02-08T08:24:00.000-06:00

WTF?! for America.
OMG, y'all! Rick Santorum won ALL THREE primaries last night. Or, to be precise: The two official caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota after winning their unofficial straw polls and the unofficial primary in Missouri ahead of its official caucus next month. (Whatever.) RICK. FUCKING. SANTORUM. Rick Santorum! Rick Santorum! Rick Santorum! Whuuuuuuut. Even for you, Republicans, this is incredible! RICK SANTORUM!!! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

RICK SANTORUM?!
Listen, y'all: I know I'm a total garbage monster for saying this, but I kind of hope he's the nominee. (He won't be.) I hope he's the nominee, and the entire country finally gets a good goddamn look at how utterly intellectually bankrupt the GOP really is, and we all vote in a national referendum to criminalize the Republican Party on principle.

"Sorry, conservatives: You're going to have to do better than this. We're not outlawing your vomitous ideology, but you need to build a new party from scratch with serious candidates, and you've got the next four years of President Obama's second term to do it. GOOD LUCK!"—America.

Santorum/Bachmann 2012!

Failing that, Rick Santorum (RICK FUCKING SANTORUM ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!) could just be elected our next president, and we can go ahead and declare the Great American Experiment a dismal failure. ("Whooooooooops!"—The Founders.) Then we can start two new countries called Progressistan and Aynrandia. Good luck, Aynrandia! I hope you succeed in building bridges with NO TAXES!

In news other than RICK SANTORUM BEING CONSIDERED A SERIOUS NATIONAL CANDIDATE WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK, Mitt Romney—who didn't lose by just a little bit, either—is still being plagued by money issues. That is to say, the millions upon millions of US voters who are struggling to get by each month are not impressed with shit like Romney's offshore tax shelters and his kids' $100 million trust fund. Conservatives like Mitt Romney love to say things like, "I'm not going to apologize for being successful!" even though no one is asking them to. The thing is, it's just a little unseemly to be flippant about having sooooooo much money when so many people are hurting.

It's not like elected Democrats aren't filthy stinking rich, too (although very few are as rich as Romney); it's just that they have the decency to acknowledge it's a massive privilege and the honesty to admit it's not because they're so much more talented and hardworking and smart than everyone who doesn't share that privilege.

Barack Obama has never denigrated his own effort and capacity by recognizing he also had a fair amount of luck in life, which provided him opportunities he maximized. But listen to Mitt Romney, and you'd think he was the firstborn of a grindstone and a bootstrap, not the incredibly privileged son of a wealthy corporate executive who became a state governor.

In summation: Mitt Romney is gross.

Moving on!

Something something Ron Paul. Liberty. Freedom. Forcible childbirth.

Newt Gingrich is still truckin' along, hoping that he's the last one standing in this endless game of Musical Candidates. There is, in the world, news about Newt Gingrich, and his career of corruption, and his candidacy of codswallop, but I bet you have even less interest in reading about it than I have in writing about it. So let's not and say we didn't! HIGH FIVES!

Next Stop: Maine.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Thread

2012-02-08T08:00:00.002-06:00

Hosted by a faucet.

Question of the Day

2012-02-07T18:00:00.001-06:00

What is your favorite mythological creature?

In addition to literal answers like "unicorn," cheeky retorts like "a genuinely progressive US president" are also welcome.

Dr. Seuss + Ron Swanson = WIN

2012-02-07T17:24:00.000-06:00

I fear that what you've heard, my friend
Is that I want a lot.
I shall my plea once more resend:
Give me all you've got.
[Image via BuzzFeed, by way of @scatx.]

Quote of the Day

2012-02-07T16:44:00.000-06:00

The lonely emo prince played Rock Paper Scissors with his shadow to determine the next step in the course of his fate—but, alas, it was always a tie.

For awhile, I was posting pictures and silly things about Robert Pattinson, and how he delighted me, but people thought I was making fun of him, so I stopped. But he really does delight me! I like lots and lots of things about him, including and especially that he is a hair wizard, but most of all I love his sort of sanguine diffidence about his extraordinary level of fame by virtue of a cheesy franchise for which he cannot mask his amused contempt.

To wit, the Quote of the Day:

"Doing something like Twilight opens doors and it closes others. You can say, 'Oh if I was still unknown, then no-one would judge me,' but at the same time, nobody would give a shit, either."

This is followed in the article whence it came by "He laughs."

I like him.

Eureka!

2012-02-07T16:05:00.000-06:00

Well, this happened in the world: Ten-year-old fifth-grader Clara Lazen discovered a new molecule.

[Lazen's] class assignment was to build a molecule using one of those modeling kits with the colorful balls and plastic connectors. Many kids would probably throw together a little H2O and call it a day — but not Clara. She randomly pieced together a combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms to create a molecule her chemistry teacher, Kenneth Boehr, had never seen before.

"I just saw that these go together more," Clara told the Fox News local affiliate in Kansas City. "Like they fit more together. And they look better. And all the holes have to be filled in for it to be stable."

Astonished, Boehr emailed his friend Robert Zoellner, a computational chemist at Humbolt State, to confirm whether it was legit. "Ken sent me a picture of the molecule on my cell phone and usually I can tell right away if it's real," Zoellner says.

This time, he couldn't.

To check whether Lazen had just discovered a new molecule, he ran the molecule's formula through an Chemical Abstracts, an online database of chemistry research dating back to 1904. He found one match: nitrogylcerin

But (and it's a big "but"), Lazen's molecule, dubbed tetranitratoxycarbon, had a different structural arrangement, which meant they could now tell the world they had just discovered a new molecule. Similar in composition to nitroglycerin, an explosive, Zoellner says tetranitratoxycarbon may have the potential to store energy, combust or do a little of both. At the very least, it's a molecule chemists can attempt to synthesize and toy with to see if there are any possible technological applications.

Neat!

[H/T to @pourmecoffee.]

Alcatraz Open Thread

2012-02-07T15:19:00.000-06:00

Did you watch Alcatraz last night? What did you think of it? Did you love it? I did! I LOVED IT.

Here are the Top 5 things I loved about it (some minor spoilers):

1. I love Jorge Garcia! I love his character, Dr. Diego Soto, soooooooooo much! I really love how he is shown to be sensitive and empathetic during his every interaction with any other character. And it is not pandering or paternal, but simply considerate, which is, frankly, pretty revolutionary for a male hero on a network show. Jorge Garcia plays him so well; he can break my heart just with a look. Jorge Garcia, you are awesome.

2. I love Sarah Jones! I love her character, Det. Rebecca Madsen, soooooooooo much! I love that there has never been any question about her competency in her professional role because of her womanhood, because the show's writers aren't so goddamn lazy that they think throwing out casual misogyny only so it can be refuted is radical and feminist. Instead, they're doing something genuinely radical and feminist, which is to write a character that sounds and feels and behaves like a real-life woman might, instead of a writing a dude character with a female name. Thank you, writers! Thank you, Elizabeth Sarnoff! Thank you, Jack Bender! Thank you, Sarah Jones!

3. I love Robert Forster! I once read that he doesn't really like playing bad guys, and I don't really know if that's true, but it kind of gave ma a soft spot for him.

4. I love the mystery that's building. I loved the scene in the car with Sam Neill and Guy Hastings, the guard, and Guy's heartbreak when he says, as a statement, with grim resignation, "I'm never going to see her again, am I." I love that this show won't let you enjoy the mystery, won't let you see the violence, won't let you in on the family secrets, without reminding you squarely of the consequences of this THING that happened. I love that the show loves its characters enough to exhort us to care about each of them.

5. Everything else!

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

CAT FACTS!

True Fact: The static electricity in Matilda's fur after a vigorous winter petting session could, if properly harnessed, solve the energy crisis. [cc. Al Gore]

True Fact: Sometimes you can only get peace from a rampaging rambunctious greyhound on top of the water heater in the laundry room.

"That dog's 7 minutes of activity a day is really aggravating."—Olivia.

True Fact: This is a picture of Sophie, thinking about Europe. Where the history comes from!

Photos of the Day

2012-02-07T14:19:00.000-06:00

President Barack Obama pumps the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon invented by Joey Hudy, 14, from Phoenix, Arizona, while touring student science fair projects on exhibit in the State Dining Room at the White House February 7, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama hosted the second White House Science Fair celebrating the student winners of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country. [Getty Images]

President Barack Obama reacts after watching a marshmallow launched from the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon. [AP Photo]

President Barack Obama reacts after watching a marshmallow launched from the Extreme Marshmallow Cannon. [Reuters Pictures]

Love.

Reproductive Rights Updates: KS, TX, PA, VA, NB, MS, TN, FL, National

2012-02-07T12:44:00.003-06:00

Are you ready for, well, a lot of depressing and infuriating news? Because I have it. A lot of it.

Always leading the pack in taking away autonomy from people, the state of Kansas is up first:

Kansas lawmakers have been given six days to consider one of the most sweeping state anti-abortion bills to be introduced.

A Kansas House committee is scheduled to take up a bill Wednesday that would exempt doctors from malpractice suits if they withheld medical information to prevent an abortion. The measure would also take away tax credits for abortion providers, remove tax deductions for the purchase of abortion-related insurance coverage and require women to hear the fetal heartbeat. The bill includes several provisions, which passed in other states and now face federal lawsuits. The bill would also require women be told about potential breast cancer risks from abortions, even though medical experts discount such a connection.

[...]

Among the most contested provisions of the bill is the section that would exempt a doctor from a medical malpractice suit if a woman claims the physician withheld information about potential birth defects to prevent her from having an abortion. In addition, a woman would not be able to sue if she suffers health damage from a pregnancy as a result of information withheld from her to prevent an abortion. A wrongful death suit could still be filed, however, if the mother died.

Oh well gee. Small favors and all that. Even for Kansas this is a hideously appalling, outright hateful piece of legislation. Not being able to sue for malpractice when a doctor refused to disclose that a pregnancy could cause damage--and did? WHAT. Just WHAT.

****

In Texas, Judge Sam Sparks says he "had no choice" but to dismiss a suit against the ultrasound law:

Sparks said his hands were tied by last month's federal appeals court ruling that found the sonogram law to be an appropriate exercise of the state's power to regulate the practice of medicine.

But in his order dismissing the lawsuit by abortion providers, Sparks took issue with the appeals court ruling, saying it "eviscerated" the free speech rights of doctors to support a law that improperly limits a physician's ability to exercise medical judgment.

"The act requires doctors to attempt to discourage their patients from obtaining abortions ... even in cases where the doctors have determined that an abortion is, for any number of reasons, the best medical option," he said in his order.

"This court believes Texas overstepped its legitimate authority when it substituted its medical judgment for that of doctors, and imposed a uniform method of treatment for all patients, rather than allowing physicians to make medically appropriate, case-by-case determinations."

[...]

In Monday's order, Sparks said the law seemed designed to make abortions more difficult to provide and receive, not to inform women about the procedure.

"Informed consent requirements exist to protect the rights of patients and to honor their autonomy, not to provide states with an excuse to impose heavy-handed, paternalistic and impractical restrictions on the practice of medicine," Sparks wrote.

Right the fuck on!

The state reportedly informed clinics that the ultrasound law would start being enforced immediately.

***
In Pennsylvania, the House Health Committee as moved forward Monday with the Orwellian "Women's Right to Know Act", which is a mandatory ultrasound bill:

The Pennsylvania House Health Committee voted yesterday to advance something they’re calling the “Women’s Right to Know Act,” which would allow a woman to take a look at an ultrasound and listen to the fetus’ heartbeat before getting an abortion.

[...]

According to the legislation, the doctor performing the procedure is required to “Position the screen so that the patient is able to view the ultrasound test in its entirety, with a view of her unborn child, while that test is being conducted to determine gestational age,” although, “The patient is not required to view the screen.” Then, two prints of the ultrasound are made. The woman seeking the abortion and the doctor providing the procedure both get a copy. The doctor must tell the woman how old the fetus is and if the heartbeat is normal.

The sonogram is required 24 hours before an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, emergency or when the pregnancy is less than eight weeks gestation.

***

In Virginia, a couple things. One, a few days ago the senate passed a mandatory sonogram bill, which now goes to the House of Delegates.

Second, that House has passed legislation that cuts off Medicaid funding for abortions.

[The legislation] conforms state policy for Medicaid recipients to a longstanding federal law known as the Hyde Amendment, which forbids government funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or the mother’s life.

Virginia is among several states that allow Medicaid to cover abortions, but does so using only state funds.

Democrats said it unfairly singles out low-income women who learn of grossly incapacitating fetal deformities but would have to give birth anyway while wealthier women could terminate their pregnancies under such tragic circumstances.

How much does the GOP hate poor people? SO MUCH. SOOOOOOO MUCH.

***

In Nebraska, they're attempting an administrative run-around to providing funds to Planned Parenthood (see: Ohio, Texas, for other examples).

The bill (LB540) would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to apply for a Medicaid waiver or an amendment to an existing waiver to provide medical assistance for family planning services for low-income residents who earn 185 percent or less of the federal poverty level.

An amendment offered by the Health and Human Services Committee would have provided that no state funds be used to pay for abortions.

Then Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton dropped another amendment into the mix. Not only could none of the money be spent for abortions, but it could not go to any entity that performs or promotes elective abortions or that affiliates with one that does.

[...]

When asked by Omaha Sen. Brenda Council whether Fulton was targeting Planned Parenthood, he said no, although he understood Planned Parenthood would be the largest organization affected.

"Can you identify any other entity that would fit the description other than Planned Parenthood?" she asked.

"Off the top of my head, I can't," he said.

There could be another one in Omaha, or one that would qualify in the future, he said.

"I think it's problematic that we're singling out an organization, and in many communities, mine included … the only Medicaid providers for low-income women happen to be Planned Parenthood," Council said.

According to Guttmacher, in the state of Nebraska (in 2006) there were this many clinics:

Health department clinics: 0
Community health centers: 1
Planned Parenthood clinics: 5
Hospital outpatient clinics: 8
Other independent clinics: 18

And they provided this many people with contraceptive care (just one--big!--aspect of family planning):

Health department clinics: 0
Community health centers: 1,850
Planned Parenthood clinics: 17,750
Hospital outpatient clinics: 2,500
Other independent clinics: 15,410

Planned Parenthood provided nearly as many clients with care in their five clinics as twenty-seven other clinics combined.

***

In Mississippi, the House there has approved legislation which is called the "Child Protection Act". Besides addressing issues of sexual abuse in schools, it also deals with abortion and minors:

Additionally, House Bill 16 would reaffirm parental consent requirements for minors seeking abortions, and physicians who perform abortions on girls younger than 14 would be required to preserve fetal tissue for DNA to be used in statutory rape or other prosecutorial cases.

"This is a documented problem and this is (another) way to detect abuse," Gipson [Andy, R-Braxton] said.

Gipson said he does not know how much it will cost the state to carry out the effort if it becomes law.

BTW, the state of MS already has pretty much all of these laws on the books.

***

Tennessee, if you recall, voted to defund Planned Parenthood last summer. Last year Shelby County TN was made the news with the fact that they opted to cut off Planned Parenthood and now force the resident poor and un/under-insured to go to a religious group for health care. Well, Planned Parenthood is suing the state:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Affiliates of Planned Parenthood are suing the state Health Department to have their funding restored.

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee and Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region filed the lawsuit Thursday to restore preventive care funding under the HIV Prevention Services and the Syphilis Elimination grant programs.

Planned Parenthood, which also provides abortions, said in a news release that no reason was given for the contracts being terminated in December. It also said no provider was identified as a replacement.

Of course no provider was identified! Because how much does the GOP hate poor people? SOOOOOOO MUCH.

***

In both Florida and national news, today the US House will mark up a bill--that has 78 co-sponsors!--that bans abortion "based on race and sex". Because that's so not a total waste of time and utter bullshit, amirite? How it relates to Florida is that two state congresspeople are attempting to do the same thing:

The United States House of Representatives will today mark up a bill that would outlaw abortions sought because of race or sex.

Late last year, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011, which would “prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or race, and for other purposes.”

Florida legislators are moving forward a bill that mimics Frank’s proposal. So far, sponsors have not been able to justify a need for the bill, but rather claim it is an effort to protect Florida from becoming a “safe haven” for race- or sex-based abortions.

Yes. I'm totally sure that's exactly what will happen, Florida. You'll become a snowbird AND abortion tourist mecca. Sure.

The "Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011? WHAT. "Prenatal nondiscrimination"? Really? OFFS. Using Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass as representatives of the sort of people you're "protecting"? I have an idea: how about passing the ERA and not passing onerous voter id laws? Or, here's a wild idea (prepare yourself): how about jobs? Oh, that's right, you have "priorities".

California's Prop 8 Ruled Unconstitutional

2012-02-07T11:58:00.003-06:00

A three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution by stripping gay Californians of the right to marry.

Yay!

U.S. district judge Vaughn Walker struck down the measure in 2010. That decision was appealed by a bunch of bigoted douchebags claiming Walker's sexual orientation constituted bias.

Boo!

Today's verdict will likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by those same bigoted douchebags.

Discuss.

Note from Liss: The Ninth Circuit Court's Prop 8 site is totally slammed right now, but if and when you can get it to load, you'll be able to read about the decision here.

Something Something Ron Paul

2012-02-07T11:27:00.000-06:00

[Content Note: Rape culture; encroachments on reproductive rights; violence.]

Yesterday, I wrote about Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's recent interview with CNN host Piers Morgan in which Paul said he would give a family member who had survived a rape "a shot of estrogen," but only "if it's an honest rape."

scatx has been following up on reactions to this story and its coverage at the tumblr she created expressly for that purpose, Honest Rape. If you'd like to submit your translations of what Ron Paul meant by "honest rape," you can do so here.

My contribution.
Also, as per usual, the violent trolls are coming out in droves in response to scatx's feminist anti-rape activism, threatening and harassing her, thus proving the goddamn point again, and in the interest of balancing that scale a bit, I just want to take a moment to note that scatx is brave and strong and clever and awesome, a total fucking champion, and I am glad to have her on my side.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-07T11:00:00.002-06:00

Garbage: "Queer"

Karen Handel Resigns from Komen

2012-02-07T09:37:00.002-06:00

The AP is reporting that Karen Handel has resigned as vice president for public policy for Susan G. Komen for the Cure after the massive public relations disaster caused by withdrawing funding from Planned Parenthood.

Whooooooooooooooops!

Buh-bye.

Update 1: Care of Deeks, here's her resignation letter.

Update 2: And here is a piece, via @Clinic Escort, by Clara Jeffery "on why nothing short of a board shakeup at Komen will do."

Choice Is Scary!

2012-02-07T09:31:00.002-06:00

So, the Catholic Church leadership (and one-man outrage machine Bill Donohue, who continues to be treated as if he represents people other than himself; I am thisclose to starting a "Feminist League" to see if I can get as much attention with obnoxious press releases as he can) are all still angrily pooping their pants over the new requirement to cover birth control in health insurance policies for their employees, even though a majority of the church's parishioners (especially the women) reject their position.

I have a few observations about this:

1. I cannot stress enough how strongly I believe religious institutions do not warrant tax exempt status in this nation, and the fact that this explicitly political position is not even a breach of the exemption underlines how absurd the policy really is. They are political entities every bit as much as this community is, granted special rights only because their political activities are justified by god-belief.

2. This entire debacle exposes what complete balderdash the Church's concept of "faith" really is, because its leaders clearly have no faith in their own adherents to make choices consistent with the Church's anti-contraception doctrine. They'd rather restrict any and all reproductive choice altogether, including access to contraceptives, denying the free will with which their god supposedly imbued his human creations. They don't give a fuck about faith; they're interested in control.

3. Catholic women make the best choices for themselves irrespective of Church doctrine because that's what women do. Further evidence, not that any was needed, that women and other people with uteri will take whatever measures they need to take to not be pregnant when they don't want to be pregnant.

4. This requirement is categorically not a violation of the Catholic Church's right to practice its religion. Catholic organizations in the US (which are not Catholic churches) do not hire only Catholic employees. Catholic hospitals, for example, have in their employ doctors, nurses, techs, orderlies, admin staff, etc. from all different religious and atheistic traditions, most of which do not share the Catholic Church's prohibition on birth control. That's the cost of doing business in a multicultural nation. If the Catholic Church doesn't like the idea of having to provide required services to non-Catholic people, then they can pack up and take their money-making enterprises to Vatican City.

5. Which, of course, still wouldn't make them happy, because individual Catholic people still have free will and should have the right to express that free will, even when it contradicts Church doctrine. If allowing free will is good enough for god, it oughta be good enough for the Catholic Church. Yeesh.

Primarily Terrible

2012-02-07T08:52:00.001-06:00

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, walks away from the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues during a campaign stop at in Bemidji, Minn., Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. [AP Photo]

Y'all, I'm worried about Rick Santorum. I remember a time when he never would have gotten that close to man-on-bull action. He's really lost his way during this national election, having to spend time in red-light districts like Iowa and centers of moral corruption like New Hampshire. If he makes it to Indiana, who knows what could happen? I live here, and look what it's done to me! We should send him back to the safety of Pennsylvania right away, before he ends up living in a gay brothel giving abortions to undocumented immigrants like I do.

Ha ha just kidding! Don't worry—Rick Santorum is still the heinous specimen of compassionless wreckage he's always been!

See Exhibit A: Santorum Longs for Good Old Days of 'Shadow Abortions' When Women Obtained Back-Alley Procedures.

In good news (for no one but Rick Santorum), he might win Missouri's non-binding primary! And he's doing well in Minnesota and Colorado, too! GOOD FOR YOU, RICK SANTORUM! You really picked a perfect year to run for president, when even a nightmare candidate like yourself would be given consideration by reasonable people desperate to find an alternative to the detestable frontrunner!

Speaking of Mitt Romney, he proudly announced the endorsement he got from former California Governor Pete Wilson, supporter of the state's infamous Proposition 187, which targeted undocumented workers. So, take note: Mitt Romney doesn't care about poor people, he definitely doesn't care about women and the queer community, and he also doesn't care about Latin@ voters. True Facts!

Do you think that Mitt Romney realizes that "the 1%" isn't just a turn of phrase? Does he know it literally means 1% of the population? And that he needs more than 1% of the population to win a general election? Math is hard.

Something something Ron Paul. Still yammering about "freedom" while arguing that bodies with uteri should be government property. You are so terrible, Ron Paul! Gross!

Newt Gingrich, who is still in the campaign and is seriously boring me, was on the news this morning babbling some nonsense about how important he is blah blah and the proof is in the Saturday Night Live pudding or whatever. Who cares. Also: Wikipedia scrubbing! That is so boring! Even Newt Gingrich's campaign scandals are making me yawn!

Don't worry, Newt Gingrich. You are still more exciting than Jon Huntsman!

Hey! Speaking of candidates who have totes jumped outta the clown car, Michele Bachmann says she was the perfect candidate. Ha ha whooooooooooooops! She is even worse at math than Mitt Romney! Even mediocre candidates need more than 0% of the vote, Representative Bachmann!

Rick Perry is still definitely out of the race. He has not un-suspended his campaign yet.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Open Thread

2012-02-07T08:00:00.001-06:00

Hosted by an angler fish.

Question of the Day

2012-02-06T17:59:00.000-06:00

We've done this one before, but not for ages... What's your favorite silly question game to play with friends?

Iain and I, and many of our friends, are big fans of "How Much Would Someone Have to Pay You To...?" (which I'm guessing is self-explanatory), "Would You Rather...?" (in which two hilariously heinous options are posed for selection and explanation of one's choice, the latter being the fun part), and the always-popular "Who Would Win in a Fight?"

Last time we played, Kenny Blogginz asked me, "Who would win in a fight: Gandalf or Robocop?"

I replied, "Obviously, Gandalf. Insects can wreak havoc with machinery, and he would recruit kamikaze moths to fuck Robocop's shit up. He could win via mothstrike from the other side of the world."

KBlogz told me that he has asked many, many people that question, and many have chosen Gandalf, ultimately indefensibly, but that mine was the most creative strategy and defense of my choice that he'd heard. I naturally beamed with the pride of the impossibly nerdy.

Quote of the Day

2012-02-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

"This is just a quick note to my Missouri friends to let you know that I'm planning to vote for Rick Santorum in the non-binding presidential preference primary on Tuesday, February 7."—Phyllis Schlafly.

Now all of you who have been eagerly waiting to find out who Phyllis Schlafly is supporting so you know who to support can go cast your vote for Rick Santorum.

You're welcome.

Number of the Day

2012-02-06T16:41:00.002-06:00

50: That's how old Guns N' Roses frontman (and my fellow Hoosier) Axl Rose is today! Which I know because the American Association of Retired Persons tweeted this earlier today:

Happy b'day to Axl Rose, who turns the big 5-0 today. Welcome to the 50s jungle! Share your 50s b'day advice w/ Axl#turning50
— Official AARP Tweets (@AARP) February 6, 2012

Happy Birthday, Axl. LOL.

Do You Want to Know Why Sex Is Great?

2012-02-06T16:08:00.001-06:00

Flula is here to explain:

These are my reasons why sex is great: Sex is amazing, you know?! It is like this movie, Lethal Weapon—have you seen this, with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover? Oh, it's amazing! Right?! Riggs is there, and he's like a tough boy, "I don't care nothing," right? And then Murtaugh, he's like fifty years old and he's like, "I just, I just wanna make a retire right now!" Riggs is like, "No! No! I'm gonna hurt my shoulder and then I'm gonna jump from a building and then I'll put my, put my stuff on the beach, and I'll put my pants down—all the people see my booty!" And my dog is there, and machine guns with helicopters, and shooting everything around! And then like foreign peoples are there, like, "We're gonna get you; we're gonna kill you really good," or something like this from South Africa, and everyone dying—and saxophone! Always saxophone playing! Everywhere, all the scenes. He probably hiding like Kenneth G in the background. [mimes saxophonist] Brrring! "I must retire!" Brrring! Play it right out! And then Riggs is jumping and then they got a giant mobile phone—it's like eight hundred pound! Doo-doo-byew-dee-boo! And the everything happening! And then KWWVEEWWW! [mimes explosion] Credits! Yeah! [mimes credits scrolling down the screen] So, to conclude it: Sex is great!

This is not my favorite Flula ever (that would be "Daddy Long Legs, Who Did Name You?" followed closely by his deconstruction of the idiom "Shooting Fish in a Barrel"), but it's up there.

True Fact: "Kenneth G" made me LOL for fully one nonillion hours.

In Start a War to Win an Election News...

2012-02-06T15:17:00.002-06:00

From the Guardian: Obama orders new sanctions on Iran, including 'deceptive' Central Bank.

President Barack Obama has ordered new sanctions on Iran, including its Central Bank, moving to enforce a law he signed in December.

In a letter to Congress Monday, Obama said more sanctions are warranted "particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks." He said the problems included the hiding transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies of Iran's anti-money laundering regime and the unacceptably high risk posed to the entire international financial system posed by Iran's activities.

I know that I'm just a dirty hate-America hippie and all, but I continue to be amazed by the US' unmitigated temerity to justify its continued belligerence toward Iran by pointing out that Iran is doing the same shit that we are.

"They want nuclear weaponry!" So do we. "They allow government shenanigans!" So do we. "They treat women like second-class citizens!" So do we. "They are allowing dodgy banking practices!" So do we.

That is not, of course, an argument in favor of the Iranian government's warmongering, corruption, misogyny, and general shadiness. It's an argument against warmongering, corruption, misogyny, and general shadiness, no matter whence it emanates.

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-06T14:22:00.000-06:00

So, most of the time when Dudley wants to run around the backyard like a wild greyhound type person, Zelly is right there with him. But, occasionally, Zelly doesn't feel like it, and Dudley will engage in all sorts of ridiculous antics to try to get her to join in. Last week, he discovered that if he starts digging, she'll come over to investigate. At which point he takes off like a shot, hoping she'll give chase.

This is pretty amusing, except for the fact that his massive clodhoppers can dig a GINORMOUS hole in about six seconds.

(And it's not that we care so much about the state of the yard aesthetically, but neither of us wants to break an ankle walking across a yard full of holes, especially when snowfall renders them invisible.)

I managed to catch this on video over the weekend. Note, in addition to the hilarity of Dudley's goofballery and my increasingly serious pleas to knock it off with the digging already, how quickly Zelly susses out that I don't want Dudz digging and starts herding him away from his trenches. I don't know what her breed mix is, but there's some kind of amazing intuitive shepherd in there.

Video Description: Dudley runs behind some trees, futzes around for a minute, then bursts out and goes tearing around the yard, Zelda in hot pursuit. When he notices that Zelda has stopped giving chase, he stops and starts madly digging, throwing huge piles of dirt out of the hole with his huge paws. "Dudley, stop digging you stinker!" I tell him. "Dudley! You better stop digging, you little stinker!" He continues to ignore me as I walk toward him, but Zelda runs over and chases him away. He runs from one side of the yard to the other; when he stops at the hole, Zelly chases him away again. He runs to a trench he's started on the other side and begins digging. "Dudley! What are you doing?!" Zelda chases him away. He runs back and forth. He goes back to the first hole, leans in, and starts digging. "Dudley, stop digging!" I say, serious now. "Zelda, go get him!" I walk toward him. "HEY! Hey, Dudley! STOP! You're gonna dig your way all the way to the other side of the earth!" He lies down next to the hole. "All right, you just hang out there," I tell him. "I think we're gonna need a shovel."

For those who can't view video, some still shots of the Bad Boy and the Good Girl...

Dudley proudly shows off the giant hole he dug in a matter of seconds. I'm not even going to tell you how long it took me to clean the mud from his feet and belly.

In addition to being a well-behaved dog who doesn't dig giant holes in the yard, Zelly also learned how to "high-five" in about ten minutes this weekend. She learns tricks faster than I can come up with them.

Dudley and Zelda have also learned a joint trick that is redonkulously cute: When I say, "Shake together!" they both put their paws in my hand, one on top of the other. It slays me every. damn. time.

More News from the Conservative Legislation Lab

2012-02-06T13:36:00.000-06:00

It was another banner week in Indiana under the governance of Mitch Daniels last week, as my state passed its gross right-to-work bill, the state senate passed a measure that would allow public schools to teach creationism, and our Republican Secretary of State was convicted of six felonies: Three counts of voter fraud, two counts of perjury, and one count of theft.

Ha ha don't worry! The judge will probably reduce them to misdemeanors so he can keep his job!

"Halp! Ha ha! Halp us! Halllllllllllp!"—Indiana progressives.

Photo of the Day

2012-02-06T13:00:00.000-06:00

Meet Mantisman! Part mantis, part man! (Paging, Roger Corman.) He showed up in my mail the other day, a gift from Liss. A couple weeks back I asked my friends (harrumph!) on Facebook to send me cool stuff for my mantle. My mantle is empty. My mantle was empty. No more! Not now that Mantisman has arrived.

Okay, so he looks more like a baby than a man, right, so I've a mantisbaby to look after. Of course. Because as I told Liss yesterday, I keep finding him in different spots around my apartment. Either the cats are getting ahold of him or he's alive.

She replied: "I hope it's that he's alive. Obviously." Obviously.

Say hi to Mantisman (AKA Mantisbaby), everyone!

Monday Blogaround

2012-02-06T12:38:00.000-06:00

This blogaround brought to you by toes.

Recommended Reading:

Ben: How Much Did Media Companies Spend Lobbying on SOPA and PIPA?

Sharon: Ending "Farmer's Wife" Syndrome

Andy: Roland Martin Makes Excuse for Homophobic Tweets in Statement [Content Note: The post at this link contains quoted expressions of homophobia and associated discussion.]

Melanie: If It Looks Like a Compliment, and Sounds Like a Compliment…Is It Really a Compliment? [Content Note: The post at this link is an exploration of 'benign sexism'.]

Monica: Blake, Stop Using The T-Slur [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of the use of a transphobic slur.]

Arturo: The Racist Super Bowl Commercial You Might Have Missed [Content Note: The post at this link contains discussion of racism, Othering, and xenophobia.]

New Black Woman: Things White Activists Say to Activists of Color [video]

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

On Hillary Clinton, Trailblazer

2012-02-06T11:30:00.000-06:00

Last Monday, I mentioned that I'd been interviewed for a piece about Hillary Clinton and promised to link it once it was published. The piece, "Farewell to Our Feminist-in-Chief," which was authored by TigerBeatdown's Sady Doyle, is here. You should read it! And pretty much everything else in In These Times!

Although Clinton did indeed announce on Jan. 26 that she will "step down from her position as the Secretary of State when the president's terms ends," I don't know that we're really saying farewell to her. In fact, I suspect we are not. Clinton has hinted that she will continue her work on behalf of the world's women and girls in a different capacity, and she may well become even more influential in the private sector than she's been in the public sector. Having the length of your reach unimpinged by bureaucracy is an idea about which her husband has spoken many times since launching the Clinton Global Initiative, and it's conceivable that Hillary Clinton still has ahead of her a path along which she will open all sorts of new avenues of influence and opportunity for women and feminists, all over the world.

But she will, as Sady notes, be leaving a huge void. With no disrespect to women like Senator Patty Murray or Representative Nancy Pelosi, who are awesome, neither has quite the same profile as Hillary Clinton—and the void of a passionately feminist woman with that sort of recognizability is going to be profound.

To me, it's terribly concerning and disheartening that she is leaving an obvious vacancy—that there is still only room, or so it seems, for one woman among the men, that US politics is still doing the Star Wars thing: If you're a boy, you can see if maybe you're more like Luke or Han or Chewie or Yoda or Obi-Wan or Lando Calrissian, or maybe a little like each of them, but, if you're a girl, you're sort of measuring yourself against Leia. Like her or not like her—check one box.

A continued dearth of multiple types of women inhabiting that rarefied air means any woman who comes after her will still suffer the same fate of being passionately loved and passionately loathed, like her or not like her, because there aren't alternative models of what being a woman in the upper echelons looks like.

And additionally, anyone who comes after will be compared to her.

As if it's not hard enough being a woman who has to fight the pressures of tokenism. Now you've got to live up to the bar set by Hillary Clinton. Yikes.

We've let her down by allowing that to happen, you know? She has borne the burden of standing in for "women" for her entire career, with the tacit promise that it would all be worthwhile because she'd be blazing a trail on which many women could follow. But after decades of carrying that imposed status of standard-bearer for the monolith, after it was used to try to discredit her over and over and over, still she walks away from a landscape fundamentally unchanged to the sound of dismissive shrugs: She hasn't proven that women are competent; she was just exceptional.

Check out this fucking irony: The credit for being exceptional which eluded her for much of her career is now being used to wave away the obvious call for gender inclusion that her legacy should rightly inspire.

How truly disappointing.

At the end of the Beltway celebrations lauding her accomplishments at the end of her term, once the crowds have dispersed and the music has faded, we will hear in the silence a collective sigh of relief from the Powers That Be: "Well, we weathered that extraordinary career without being forced into institutional change! Phew!"

We've still got so much work to do.

Which reminds me of a dream I had about Hillary Clinton once upon a time: I asked her, "What can I do?" And she told me, "Everything you can."

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

2012-02-06T11:00:00.000-06:00

Mazzy Star: "Fade Into You"

Something Something Ron Paul

2012-02-06T10:18:00.000-06:00

[Content Note: Rape culture; encroachments on reproductive rights; violence.]

I didn't want to bury this in today's Primary Speaking post, because it's too important: Ron Paul's antipathy toward women plumbed new depths during a recent interview with CNN's Piers Morgan, during this extraordinary exchange about his views on abortion and sexual assault:

MORGAN: Here's the dilemma, and it's one I put to Rick Santorum very recently. I was surprised by his answer, although I sort of understood from his belief point of view that he would come up with this.

But it's a dilemma that I am going to put to you. You have two daughters. You have many granddaughters. If one of them was raped -- and I accept it's a very unlikely thing to happen. But if they were, would you honestly look at them in the eye and say they had to have that child if they were impregnated?

PAUL: No. If it's an honest rape, that individual should go immediately to the emergency room. I would give them a shot of estrogen or give them --

MORGAN: You would allow them to abort the baby?

PAUL: It is absolutely in limbo, because an hour after intercourse or a day afterwards, there is no legal or medical problem. If you talk about somebody coming in and they say, well, I was raped and I'm seven months pregnant and I don't want to have anything to do with it, it's a little bit different story.

But somebody arriving in an emergency room saying, I have just been raped and there is no chemical -- there's no medical and there's no legal evidence of a pregnancy --

MORGAN: Life doesn't begin at conception?

PAUL: Life does begin at conception.

MORGAN: Then you would be taking a life.

PAUL: Well, you don't know if you're taking a life either, because this is an area that is -- but to decide everything about abortion and respect for life on this one very, very theoretical condition, where there may have been a life or not a life.

MORGAN: But here's the thing: although it is a hypothetical, it does happen. People do get raped and they do get impregnated. And sometimes they are so ashamed by what's happened that weeks go by before they may even discover they are pregnant.

They have to face this dilemma. And they are going to have a president who has a very, very strong view about this.

PAUL: This is like the proposal that the people who like abortion, endorse abortion because it's the woman's right to her body. You say, well, does that mean one minute before birth, you can kill the baby? I did this on one of the TV programs where some women were opposed to what I was saying.

I said, this nine-pound baby is in the woman. She has the right. She argues her case. I said you would abort this baby because the woman has had unfortunate some circumstances, so the doctor gets paid a handsome fee to kill this nine-pound baby?

Oh, that's not what we're talking about. But that is what they are talking about. They are talking about a human life. So a person immediately after rape, yes. It's a tough one. I won't satisfy everybody there.

But to tell you the truth, what I saw happening in the 1960s and the change in the law and -- no, the change in attitude, people were doing illegal abortions. To me it is a moral problem. It was to change the morality of the '60s, the lack of respect for life, leads to the lack of respect for liberty and all the things that I believe in.

Emphases mine.

There is a lot to unpack there, but let's start with this notion of an "honest rape." First of all, Ron Paul is playing into and promulgating the erroneous narrative that women routinely lie about having been raped. That is flatly false.

Secondly, I will say again that denying access to a legal medical procedure to women is so thoroughly unethical and so thoroughly breaks faith with women and other people with uteri that even if they did have to lie to gain access to abortion, it would be entirely reasonable. If Ron Paul and his fellow exceptioneers want to limit access to safe abortions to people who have been raped, then they should expect women and other people with uteri who are pregnant to lie about having been raped (which, let's note, is fundamentally different than filing a false report against a specific individual). That's not because "bitches be lyin' about rape," as every rape apologist on the planet incessantly claims, but because whatever restrictions are placed on access to safe and legal abortion will force people to find whatever means possible to skirt those restrictions.

And anyone who thinks that's SIMPLY HORRIBLE really needs to take a breath and consider whether they wouldn't tell a lie if the alternatives were a radically life-altering event and/or temporary or permanent injury and/or death.

Then there's Piers Morgan's absurd contention that it's "very unlikely" one of Ron Paul's female relatives would be victimized by sexual violence. Um, no. Unfortunately, that is also flatly false.

But I guess one shouldn't be terribly surprised that Morgan isn't hip to rape statistics when he doesn't even seem to understand how reproduction works. Women and other people with uteri do not receive a magical pregnancy alert from uterus to brain at the precise moment of implantation. Most pregnant people don't know for at least a couple weeks if they're pregnant. That's nothing unique to survivors of rape who "are so ashamed by what's happened."

Certainly, the trauma of rape—of which shame is merely one manifestation—can delay the discovery or acknowledgment of pregnancy, but Morgan's bad math is not only contributing to the preponderance of bad information about how women's bodies work; it's also playing into and promulgating the narrative that women casually delay seeking abortions.

And then there's Ron Paul's laughable contention that "the lack of respect for life," that is, being pro-choice, "leads to the lack of respect for liberty," that is, being anti-choice.

Again: I can't put it more plainly than this: I am not free, if the word is to have any meaning at all, as long as Ron Paul is up in my uterus.

There's still plenty to parse and deconstruct here. Have at it in comments.

[Hat tip to Honest Rape.]

Primarily Annoying

2012-02-06T09:18:00.000-06:00

Congratulations! You are the least barfiest!
Future general election loser Mitt Romney was the BIG WINNER this weekend, as he ran away with Nevada's Republican Primary, taking more than 50% of the vote. And if there's one place in America where people will trip over each other to put down money on a bad bet everyone sees coming from a mile away, it's Nevada, so that makes sense.

Speaking of how Mitt Romney is an awful candidate, this is my favorite poll result in ages: "By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him." LOLOLOLOLOL! Awesome.

In other terrible news for Romney from the same poll: Even though the economy is still a shambles, and even though President Obama's "ratings on handling the economy and job creation remain negative," and even though nearly "nine in 10 people still rate the economy negatively," US voters still rate Obama more highly on "who would better protect the middle class."

Even more damningly: "Fifty-two percent of voters say Obama better understands the economic problems people are having, while 37 percent say Romney does."

And: "Two-thirds of all Americans say they do not think [Mitt Romney] is paying his fair share [of taxes]."

Whoooooooooooooooooops!

Gee, it's almost like US voters are—despite their garbage media and the preponderance of bootstrap narratives implicitly lionizing corporate and individual greed, at both of which Mitt Romney has excelled—clever enough to have determined that Mitt Romney is a gross jerk who lives in a bubble of privilege and supports policy that condones the exploitation of workers and codifies job-killing corporate welfare at the taxpayers' expense. Huh!

In case the point was not yet clear enough, a Mitt Romney biographer is making the rounds with the not-news that the candidate "grew up in a series of bubbles."

#noshitsherlock

Meanwhile, Dick Armey (insert deep breath where SO MANY JOKES want to be) has accused Newt Gingrich of waging "a first-rate vendetta" against Mitt Romney. I guess? Personally, I've always been under the impression that Newt Gingrich could never hate anyone as much as he hates himself, but if Dick Armey says Newt Gingrich hella hates Mitt Romney and it's totes vendetta time, then who am I to argue with Dick Armey?

Something something Ron Paul. Liberty, freedom, liberty, freedom, forcible pregnancy. It's in the Constitution! Look it up.

Now it's time for another Rick Santorum FUN FACT! In his book, It Takes a Family (take THAT, Hillary Clinton!), Rick Santorum asserts: "The radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness." And that is why there are no more children and no more families in the United States of America today. The end.

^ Also a fun fact.
Finally, in related news, E.J. Dionne, Jr. takes a fun look at the Citizens United catastrophe: "We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and it doesn't work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn't happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy." Whoooooops!

Tomorrow: Minnesota!

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Superbowl Open Thread

2012-02-06T08:10:00.071-06:00

I did not watch the Superbowl, because no one in our house cares about it, and, if you don't care about it and have a partner who also doesn't care about it, it's one of the best date nights of the year. ("We've got the world to ourselves!") How much do we not care about the Superbowl? Yesterday afternoon, I walked into the living room and Iain had the pre-program on. I asked him if he wanted to watch the Superbowl. "Oh hell no. I just put it on while I was talking to my dad, because he was asking about it and I was curious to see what time it was on." Pause. "And what teams are playing." LOL!

(I love that guy. I really do.)

So we didn't watch, although I was curious to see the halftime show, because Madge, Nicki Minaj, and M.I.A. (Did Nicki Minaj win the Superbowl? I hope she did! I love her!) When we got home from dinner, I flipped to the Superbowl to see if it was halftime yet, but it was not. It was, however, time time for a gross Skechers advert that features greyhound racing. Yuck, Skechers. FYI: Greyhounds are fast at the dogpark, too, where they're not abused. Boo.

Also: I noticed Budweiser thinks Arizona = Indiana. Whoooooooooooops there is no desert in Indiana. And we don't wear cowboy hats.

Eventually, I did see the Halftime Show (whut.) that culminated in a rousing rendition of Madonna's 1989 (!) hit, "Like a Prayer," the chorus of which—"When you call my name it's like a little prayer / I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there / In the midnight hour I can feel your power / Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there"—is a double entendre for a blowjob, which apparently everyone has forgotten in the interceding 23 years from when that was A SCANDAL!

This gave Iain and me a huge laugh, especially when, at the end of the performance, the lights went out in the stadium except for giant glittering letters on the field reading "WORLD PEACE." Sure. Totes. Definitely. Also: LOL FOREVER. So, evidently the message of the Superbowl Halftime Show was World Peace through better blowjobs. Well, someone give me and all my hobag friends the Nobel Peace Prize!

Before tuning out again, I heard Clint Eastwood gravelly intone, "How do we come from behind?" Damn, that was one sexxxy Superbowl!

Please feel free to use this thread to discuss the game, the advertisements, how awesome or not awesome quarter-end Brady Tebow Manning is, and/or any other related American Football business.

(Once again, I feel I have knocked a review of the Superbowl out of the park! Huzzah!)

Open Thread

2012-02-06T08:00:00.003-06:00

Hosted by "Beautiful Chemistry."

Sunday Shuffle

2012-02-05T14:46:00.000-06:00

Bob Marley & The Wailers; Is This Love

How about you?

Open Thread

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by Stripe the gremlin.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by striped things.

Open Thread

2012-02-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hosted by a hyena.

The Virtual Pub Is Open

2012-02-03T17:00:00.003-06:00

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay. Skadoodlies.]

TFIF, Shakers!

Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!

If It's Friday, It's Jesus Jones!

2012-02-03T15:32:00.000-06:00

Greyson Chance ♥s Liss.

Daily Dose of Cute

2012-02-03T15:00:00.000-06:00

Jack and Potter, BFFs.

Primarily Horrendo

2012-02-03T14:13:00.000-06:00

OMG, y'all! Were you SO SURPRISED by today's BIG NEWS?! Billionaire gentleman and genius Donald Trump DID NOT, as expected, endorse Newt Gingrich, but instead endorsed Mitt Romney! WOWEE WOW! Now that's a reversal even the very talented screenwriters of Atlas Shrugged, Part II: The Shruggening couldn't have written! The twists and turns this primary has taken! It's like a roller coaster! Mostly because of all the barrrrrrrrrf!

There are three ways to look at this scintillating endorsement news: 1. Donald Trump knows how toxic he is, and hopes his grody endorsement hurts Mitt Romney. 2. Donald Trump doesn't know or care about anything except his own ego and flipped a coin to see which of the two conservadipshits he'd endorse once all the cameras were pointed at him. 3. Who gives a fuck.

My preference is #3. YMMV.

Something something Ron Paul. Something something Rick Santorum. Their SuperPACs each owe me $50,000 for pretending like they still matter enough to mention.

In other not-news, Mitt Romney is a gaffe machine and a flip-flopper and a terrible, incoherent campaigner, no doy. He is also a dumbass.

However, he is also still not Newt Gingrich, and thus is he leading big in Nevada, the site of the next Republican Primary.

Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Photo of the Day

2012-02-03T14:00:00.002-06:00

It occurred to me recently that this young person (S, one of my grandchildren) has only ever lived in a world with a Black President of the USA. That's the only world this child knows. It's quite likely that zie could reach seven years old (zie's about 18 months old here), and that'll still be true.

(photo of a small white child, about 18 months old, sitting at a table holding what appears to be an enormous cupcake covered with pink icing and sprinkles)