What is your least favorite chain restaurant?
I prefer to go to an independent restaurant when possible, but some Midwestern suburbs are nothing but chains—impossible to eat a reasonably priced meal while you're out and about unless it's at a chain. I always find the mid-rangers (e.g. TGI Friday's) to be the awfulest proposition, with food only marginally better than fast food but costing 5x as much. At least with McDonald's, I know what I'm getting (shit), and it's priced accordingly.
As for the worst: The last time I ate at Applebee's, it was a total garbage disaster.
Question of the Day
Sing It, Sister
Rep. Nancy Pelosi tells it like it is:
House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi told a summit of female activists she believes Republicans are engaged in a war on women and women's rights.When asked for a response, because Maude knows we've got to have BOTH SIDES OF EVERY STORY, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski dismissed Pelosi's comments as "scare tactics and demagoguery from Democrats who are trying to distract from the serious conversation Republicans are having about our unsustainable budget."
"There is actually a war on women," the minority leader told several hundred activists attending the Women Money Power Summit sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation. "Abortion is one issue but contraception and family planning and birth control are opposed by this crowd too. Understand what is at risk here," Pelosi said, referring to proposals promoted by the new House Republican leadership.
Pelosi's criticism echoes warnings by other progressive activists who argue the new House Republican leadership's budget cuts disproportionally target programs for women's health and low-incomes women's services.
Pelosi identified three bills pending before Congress which she said take aim at women. One, HR-3, would restrict women's access to abortion and eliminate federal funds for abortion in all circumstances. A second, the stop gap spending measure passed Thursday by the House, would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, including for health checks for sexually transmitted diseases. And the third, the House Republicans' proposed budget for next year, would completely overhaul Medicare and Medicaid. Pelosi argued that proposal will end Medicare altogether.
"This is not reform. This is the same old ideological turn back the clock for women- end Medicare, end Medicare. Are you ready for that?" Pelosi asked the crowd.
...In an interview with CNN Thursday, Pelosi maintained that women will bear the brunt of Ryan's Medicare fix saying, "Women are predominantly the recipients of Medicare, and they are going to be hurt by this. Medicaid—they are going to be hurt by this."
LOL FOREVER.
P.S. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
Q&A
Question: Is former Senator, current Senate candidate, amateur tobacco-spitter, and professional racist George "Macaca" Allen the jackassiest jackass in all of jackassdom?
Answer: Yes.
The thing about his asking Lee if he understands "at-bats" is ridiculous in the extreme, and also echoes the macaca incident. He literally cannot look at someone of Asian descent and imagine that zie is American.
And with regard to his stupid excuse about how he just asks people if they've had a sports career to make conversation...bullshit. Yeah, put my fat female white ass in a room with Allen and let's see if he strikes up conversation by asking me what position I played.
Jackass!
Daily Dose of Cute
Lord Dudlington of Sleepyshire
"I am so exhausted from an entire day of xxxtreme laziness."
Grody Beef Tongue
Number of the Day
Two: Donald Trump came in at the number two spot in both "a quick hit poll of [384] New Hampshire Republican primary voters" and "the respected Wall Street Journal/NBC poll," where he tied for second with Mike Huckabee. (Mitt Romney took first in both polls.)
I cannot even tell you how much I am moving to Britain if Donald Trump is elected president. I don't care how hilarious the 150-story Trump White House and Casino is. I'm outta here.
STFU
[Trigger warning for rape, rape apologia, and Christian supremacy.]
There is not enough shutthefuckup in the world for this mess: Arguing against an abortion exception for rape, Republican state legislator Brent Crane, author of an anti-choice bill in Idaho which would criminalize abortion after 20 weeks with no exceptions for rape/incest, severe fetal abnormality, or psychological health of the pregnant woman, whipped out the old "God's plan" chestnut:
The Idaho bill's House sponsor, state Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, told legislators that the "hand of the Almighty" was at work. "His ways are higher than our ways," Crane said. "He has the ability to take difficult, tragic, horrific circumstances and then turn them into wonderful examples."I'll just go ahead and reiterate what I said when former Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle was talking the same shit: If an anthropomorphic god with a "plan" for every human being existed, and Crane's version of that god were accurate, and that god actively used rape as a way to execute parts of its "plan," then I would seek commune with that god strictly for the purpose of rejecting it outright, strongly preferring on principle an eternal consignment to hellfire than even inadvertently conveying an infinitesimal moment of confusion as to my position.
[H/T to Spudsy.]
Compassionate Conservatives Eliminate Domestic Violence Funding
by Shaker Moderator Aphra_Behn
[Trigger warning for domestic violence]
You remember Georgia's Nathan Deal, he of the homophobic campaign ads and stinktastic record on women's issues. Well, he won the Governor's seat, and so did a whole bunch of GOPeople, so many that the Republicans control both Houses of the GA Legislative Assembly. Now they have to make tough decisions about the budget (when they're not busy totally failing at job creation, that is!) and they've gone about it with exactly the "pro-family" priorities we've come to expect from the Georgia GOP:
Georgia is set to eliminate all state money for domestic violence programs, replacing it with federal funds that some advocates say will limit the services shelters for battered women can provide.Yes, you read that right. In order to solve the state's budget woes, the House and the Senate both voted to eliminate all state money for DV programs.
And if you think that Deal and his fellow Republicans just don't care about domestic violence, well, hold on there, partner! They are just going to use federal money instead: TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) will make up the difference.
Except, not so much.
In memos and e-mails from February and March, HHS officials asked the state to explain its use of TANF dollars but said they would not know for sure whether they were permissible until they conducted an audit.To sum:
1. Led by GOP Governor Nathan Deal, both the Georgia GOP-led House and the GOP-led Senate have voted in a budget that eliminates funding for DV shelters. They say federal money will make up the difference.
2. The Feds say that's a questionable use of funds.
3. The Georgia GOP keeps it in the budget anyway. Because they don't actually give a shit.
You can dress this up any way you like—I especially love the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute guy who calls this "creative"—but it signals a fundamental disdain for the rights of women. As Liss says, this shit doesn't happen in a void. If you think that it's a coincidence that this same legislature has seen bills introduced that classify abortions as "prenatal murder" and rape survivors as "accusers"...well, then you have a very broad definition of "coincidence."
Anyway, we shouldn't worry, because Nathan Deal (of the barftastic track record on DV) assures us that the money will be there somehow!
"We do feel this is a permissible use of TANF funds," Robinson said. "But no matter what happens the money will be there for these shelters."Well, I feel better, don't you? I guess that it will come from the Super Secret Leprechaun Gold Emergency Fund, or maybe just from Nathan Deal's ass. Because it certainly isn't in the budget.
And that says it all, really. If DV were a priority, then funding for shelters wouldn't be an expendable political football. Full stop.
But then, for DV to be a priority, the GOP would have to admit that its vision of gender, family, and sexuality isn't the idyllic Fifties-as-seen-on-tv. Rather, defunding DV shelters emphasizes the fact that, like the GOP's "pro-life" ideology, their "pro-family" position is inherently violent, propping up the authority of abusers, no matter the cost to children and partners.
Conservative? Sure. Compassionate? Please.
If you live in Georgia and would like to contact your representatives and/or the governor's office, contact information can be found through Congress.org.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read today
[Trigger warning for sexual assault]
I was just reminiscing with Liss about the heady pre-9/11 days when I was a student volunteer for my local ACLU chapter. The highlight was clearly getting to briefly meet Molly Ivins.
This brings me to two of the earth-shatteringly novel arguments Wendy Kaminer makes in her Atlantic column, "Sexual Harassment and the Loneliness of the Civil Libertarian Feminist":
1) Why do feminists hate civil liberties?
2) Why don't you bitches lighten up already?
You may have heard that Yale has a wee problem with sexual assault. You may have also heard that a group of women have filed a Title IX complaint against Yale's failure to do anything about sexual harassment and assault.
[Spoiler alert] Kaminer is against these meek feminists' insistence that Yale do something. Because free speech. Because scare quotes. (Seriously, is there a section in the Chicago Manual of Style I can refer her to? That shit is out of hand in this article. "Bullying"? Really?)
Anyhow, there is a serious discussion to be had about the extent of our First Amendment rights, but not only is this not necessarily an appropriate context, it's also not actually what Kaminer appears to be going on about. Mostly she's pissed at feminists. Also: Kaminer is a "feminist".
Like, there's this:Reviewing the charges of sexual harassment underlying the Title IX complaint by a group of Yale students and alumnae, I can't find feminism -- at least not if feminism includes independence, liberty, and power for women. Instead I find femininity -- the assumption that women are incapable of fending for themselves in the marketplace of epithets or ideas, the belief that women are rendered helpless by misogynist speech and the sexist tantrums of their male peers.
Fucking third-wave feminists being all feminine with their gingham and their heels, and, oh wait, what? Sexist tantrums, rape, whichever. Speaking of meek, feminine, and helpless: Fucking Title IX complaint to the fucking Department of Education. It's like whoa ladies, why don't you put down the lipstick and start standing up for yourself? I mean,what accounts for such feminine timidity, this instinctive unwillingness or inability to talk or taunt back, without seeking the protection of university or government bureaucrats?
Remember ladies: next time a would-be rapist harasses you, say something unkind. The problem solves itself, really. Let's not built a movement that involves society writ large-- that shit's feminine.
Here's the thing. I'm willing to cede that people have the right to say bigoted things. You know, civil liberties! However, people don't have the right to make threats. Also, Yale? Is not some dude standing on a street corner. In fact, Yale's kinda a big deal. At least I've heard it's big back East.
Yale has women employees. (Inorite? Feminism FTW!) Yale is responsible for their safety, as well as the safety of an entire community of folks, including students-- some of whom are women. Yale even has a police department, which, you know, could take women's complaints about sexual harassment and rape seriously.
Regardless of whether or not "rape culture" is real [Spoiler alert: it is], Yale administrators have the right to speak up, and a responsibility to not foster an environment where women are intimated with threats of violence, and um, the actual physical violence that's actually happened at Yale. So, this whole Title IX business is not really about men saying and doing "stuff", but rather about Yale refusing to say and do stuff. You wouldn't know that from Kaminer's piece, though.
Via: @KateHarding
Quote of the Day
"Let's stop saying the differences are small. The GOP refuses to deal unless we defund Planned Parenthood."—Rep. Anthony Weiner, who tweeted this with the blunt hashtag #womenunderattackindc.
And let's be very clear about what their demand to defund Planned Parenthood actually means: "Planned Parenthood is already prohibited [by the Hyde Amendment] from using public funds to terminate pregnancies, and has been for many years. What we're talking about here is Republicans shutting down the government over access to contraception and family planning services."
And the very important preventative healthcare services (like cancer screening) that Planned Parenthood provides to women at low cost.
Rep. Weiner is not being hyperbolic. Women are under attack. And this is class warfare.
The Latest on Budgetfuck 2011
UPDATE: @thinkprogress is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) expects a shut-down, because although "the numbers are basically there on deficit reduction," the GOP "won't agree to keep the government running unless they defund Planned Parenthood."
The GOP are now officially holding the entire nation hostage over women's healthcare.
------------------------------
New York Times—Obama Meeting Fails to End Stalemate Over Federal Budget:
President Obama and Congressional leaders said Wednesday that a late-night White House bargaining session produced no budget breakthrough that would avert a government shutdown this weekend but agreed the two sides had narrowed the issues in efforts to strike a deal.Looks like that biparisanship is working out GREAT. The tone of Washington has really changed since the last time a Democrat was president.
Emerging from a 90-minute meeting with Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Speaker John A. Boehner, the president said aides would work through the night and he and Mr. Reid expressed optimism that a compromise could be reached.
"I remain confident that if we're serious about getting something done, we should be able to complete a deal and get it passed and avert a shutdown," Mr. Obama said.
CNN—Government shutdown could affect operations at the White House:
The Executive Office of the President encompasses almost 50 different departments at the White House, ranging from the Executive Residence to the social secretary's office to the White House press secretary to the White House Counsel.And that's one tiny piece of the government that would be affected. As Michael Tomasky points out here: "A shutdown affects the economy immediately and directly. Hundreds of thousands of people in the public sector aren't working and therefore aren't spending. Hundreds of thousands more in the private sector who depend almost entirely, or at least largely, on government contracts for their livelihoods are out of luck. This is everyone from GM to pencil manufacturers. A huge swath of the economy just closes. If the shutdown lasts long enough, layoffs come along. Two bad months slow the tender momentum that now exists."
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the law exempts some employees from a furlough if their work is deemed essential during a shutdown. The OMB describes 'excepted employees' as those who are necessary for 'safety of human life and protection of property.' But there's also a clause of which exempts employees that 'perform certain other types of excepted work.' The meaning of that remains undefined."
ABC News—Speaker Boehner on Budget Negotiations: 'No Daylight Between Tea Party and Me':
Speaker of the House John Boehner said he is in lockstep with the Tea Party on budget negotiations despite claims from Democrats that there could be a deal if only he could buck the Tea Party.The profundity of my contempt is cavernous.
"Listen, there's no daylight between the Tea Party and me," Boehner told me [George Stephanopoulos] today during our exclusive interview.
"None?" I asked
"None. What they want is they want us to cut spending. They want us to deal with this crushing debt that's going to crush the future for our kids and grandkids. There's no daylight there," he said.
Meanwhile: "A prominent libertarian constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian has drafted an article of impeachment against President Obama over his attack on Libya, throwing down a legal gauntlet that could be picked up by some Congressional Republicans." Of course.
Your Fee-Fees End Where My Body Begins
by Shaker Laurakeet, who's had it about up to here today.
I've only lived in Illinois for about seven years now, but in that time I've seen women's reproductive rights go through some highs and lows. Now, thanks to Judge John Belz, I've seen a good statute go out the window.
On April 5, 2011, Judge John Belz of the Sangamon County Circuit Court ruled that pharmacists are allowed to choose when they want to do the job they signed up for, at least when it comes to women's ability to control their reproductive autonomy.
This lawsuit was in response to then-Gov. Blagojevich's 2005 emergency order that requires pharmacists to stock and quickly fill prescriptions for emergency contraception, aka the morning-after pill.*
What these pharmacists should be saying is "my rights end where yours begin" (MREWYB). At least, that's how it's supposed to work.
The suit against Illinois came from two anti-choice pharmacists who own pharmacies and who, despite their training, seem to know jack shit about the reproductive system. They decided that they didn't want to sell emergency contraception because ABORTION and CONSCIENCE.
The pharmacists say EC drugs, like Plan B and ella, are tantamount to abortion because the hormone progestin thins the lining of the uterine wall, which could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. This is also how anti-choicers argue that all hormonal contraceptives are abortifacents. Pregnancy is defined biologically as occurring once an embryo is implanted in the uterus. Emergency contraception will work up to three or five days after sex, depending on the exact drug, but it will do nothing if the person is already pregnant. Planned Parenthood has more information and FAQs about EC.
The best (i.e. worst) part? Since 2006, Plan B One-Step and Next Choice have been available without a prescription. You must be able to prove you are at least 17 and you have to ask a pharmacist to hand it to you, as it's kept behind the counter, but that's it. So, these pharmacists are unwilling to HAND YOU A BOX. It hurts their fee-fees.
But your fee-fees end where my body begins.
In his decision, Judge Belz wrote that the Illinois Attorney General provided "no evidence of a single person who ever was unable to obtain emergency contraception because of a religious objection. … Nor did the government provide any evidence that anyone was having difficulties finding willing sellers of over-the-counter Plan B, either at pharmacies or over the Internet."
This contrasts sharply with what advocates witnessed in 2005 when this statute took effect. One woman reported that an Osco Drug in Chicago wouldn't fill her prescription. (I can't seem to find out if this is one of the pharmacies owned by the assholes in question, but I wouldn't be surprised.) If the state simply couldn't find examples since the order went into effect, doesn't this just mean it was working? OH NO, SOMETHING IS WORKING, BREAK IT. (It's the Illinois way.)
According to the news stories, Judge Belz's decision also said that the state conceded that the health impact of overturning the statute "would be minimal." In what way? In the way that unintended pregnancy is a minimal life event? In the way that forces a woman to play pin-the-tail-on-the-pharmacy in order to secure an emergency medication to which she's got a legal right? In that knocking down a useful law that would guarantee access to basic, legal healthcare products won't have consequences beyond itself?
Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her office will appeal. For now, I can't find any teaspoon opportunities, but I'll keep my ear to the ground.
------------------------------
* It's worth noting that pharmacists do want to practice due diligence when distributing prescriptions. For example, after this statute originally went into effect in 2005, the American Pharmacists Association and others asked then-Governor Blagojevich to refine his emergency order to explain that filling emergency contraception prescriptions "without delay" would not interfere with pharmacists' ability to check for drug interactions, allergies, that sort of thing.
[Related Reading: On Conscience Clauses; HHS Rule Change Update.]
Question of the Day
Eastsidekate (on whose behalf I'm posting because James Franco): "When they make a major motion picture about your life, what song (or songs) are going to be in the soundtrack?"
Mine:
Bad Reputation / Joan Jett
Fat-Bottomed Girls / Queen
Shakespeare's Sister / The Smiths
Ain't Got No / Nina Simone
I Am Not a Robot / Marina and the Diamonds
Mahna Mahna / The Muppets
And a cover of All You Need Is Me sung by Tina Turner. That doesn't exist in the world, but what the fuck. It's my movie.
Quote of the Day
"Just finished cleaning the house. In other words, my closets and drawers are a mess!"—My friend Tom. (Posted with his permission.) That is so the story of my life, lol.
Kentertainment Korner
I fucking love kalliteration.
Anyhow.
Item! Keanu Reeves talks Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure 3
Here's a rule I thought up while I wasn't sitting through The Matrix 3: if it's not written as a trilogy, you don't get two do-overs.
Speaking of sequels, I've got high hopes for Still Half-Baked, and Dude, Where's My Hybrid? See also: Not Insubstantial Speeds at Ridgemont Corners Office Park
More different item! The Academy of Wev has just reduced the number of Grammy GRAMMY GRAMMY!!!1!(TM) categories.
Like most Americans, I hate music and therefore don't actually watch the GRAMMYS. Anything that makes it possible for "CSI: Criminal Minds" to air before midnight is a-okay with me. However, I will note that they've merged several of the men's and women's categories. Well, that's worked out great with non-gendered categories for Best Motion Picture and Best Director awards at the Oscars. Just ask Kathryn Bigelow. Ladies, amirite?
I Write Letters
Dear Shallots:
You are both adorable and delicious. I love how you're totes like some ambrosial offspring of an onion and a clove of garlic who fucked.
Thank you for being especially delectable sauteed in avocado oil with mushrooms and spinach and a sprinkling of finely shredded Gruyere de Comté.
Love,
Liss
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
Actual Headline: Has feminism blocked social mobility for men?
Actual Subhead: "Feminism provided an obstacle to social mobility for working-class men, Cabinet minister David Willetts has controversially argued. But is he right?"
Actual Final Paragraph Following Contextualizing Quotes and Sidebar Stats Proving That He Is, In Fact, Not Right: "But as long as there is a debate over social mobility, there will also be debate about the repercussions of feminism."
Beebfail.
[H/T to Shaker Apolla.]
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning for sexual violence.]
Newsweek has published a significant piece on the issue of military men raping other men in the ranks. It's a very good piece, and I encourage you to read the whole thing, as I'm just going to excerpt three passages here.
Excerpt One:
Less than two weeks after arriving on base, [Greg Jeloudov, who had joined the US military shortly after immigrating from Russia] was gang-raped in the barracks by men who said they were showing him who was in charge of the United States. When he reported the attack to unit commanders, he says they told him, "It must have been your fault. You must have provoked them."During the attack, his fellow soldiers reportedly referred "to his Russian accent and New York City address," suggesting not only that there is a culture of victim-blaming and hostility toward survivors, but a culture of Othering soldiers who aren't from acceptably conservative parts of this country, no less other nations.
It is particularly galling that a New York City address would be contemptuously cited by soldiers as evidence of "champagne socialism" and the city itself virtually regarded as another country, even as the attack on New York City is routinely called an "attack on America" and used to justify military interventions.
And, make no mistake: Othering is a tool of the rape culture.
Excerpt Two:
Women in the armed forces are now more likely to be assaulted by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.Blink. Blink.
(And, no, it is not because women aren't allowed to serve on the front lines, because, irrespective of the rules, they are serving on the front lines.)
Excerpt Three:
While many might assume the perpetrators of such assaults are closeted gay soldiers, military experts and outside researchers say assailants usually [identify as] heterosexual. Like in prisons and other predominantly male environments, male-on-male assault in the military, experts say, is motivated not by [sexuality], but power, intimidation, and domination. Assault victims, both male and female, are typically young and low-ranking; they are targeted for their vulnerability. Often, in male-on-male cases, assailants go after those they assume are gay, even if they are not.There are two issues to tease out here: The first is that a lot of male-male rape in the military is what's known as "corrective" or "punitive" rape, and that's a very difficult thing to combat in institutions with rigid hierarchies. But one thing that actually will help is the repeal of DADT and the associated alleviation of the stigma against gay soldiers. That won't happen overnight, but it will reduce the rate of corrective/punitive rape in the long term.
The second issue is extortive rape, in which sexual violence is committed by someone with a higher rank (or similar influence), either by force or coercion. Much of the corrective/punitive rape that goes on might also be extortive, but there will also be a separate category of incidents in which a "young and low-ranking" servicemember is raped by a superior simply because the superior knows zie can get away with it, via intimidation or by being the gatekeeper through which reports of sexual violence are processed. And that is also a very difficult thing to prevent in an institution like the military.
The military must first be willing to take allegations seriously, and, beyond that, be willing to establish a victims' advocate that exists outside the normal chain of command. That is, unfortunately, something to which the Pentagon has been incredibly resistant—quite possibly because the brass is well aware how many valuable assets they'd lose if they were forced to be accountable for sexual violence.
In its current state, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office mentioned in the article is, I will say simply, insufficient.
[Previously on sexual violence in the US military: Number of the Day, Yikes, Army Gets Tough on Pregnancy, Congress Must Investigate Crimes Against Female Soldiers, ABC News on Military Sexual Assaults, Another KBR Rape, "Where Has Everybody Been?", New VA Center for Victims of Sexual Assault, Survey Says: The Citadel's Got a Sexual Assault Problem, Recruiting Victims, Pentagon Says No to Office of Victims' Advocate, Pentagon Decides to Take "No Action" on Sexual Assaults at Air Force Academy, Women in the War Zone.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Imagine our delight when the local paper announced that the Farmer's Market would be opening last Saturday -- with a GOAT PARADE!
Of course, this got me out of bed bright and early. Camera in hand, I hastened to the Market to observe the Défilé de Chèvre, where I snapped this beauty:
(Upon seeing this photo whilst talking on the phone with me, 'Liss immediately insisted that this goat's name was "Minerva". I had no response to that except to LOL.)
You have now seen thirty-three percent of the goat parade.
That's right -- the entire Prozession der Ziegen was three goats (really cute, bedazzled goats, to be sure, but just the three).
Because with less than three goats, I suppose you can't really call it a "parade" -- as all true goat-fanciers know, the technical term for two goats is "a couple of goats".
You can see the other 66% of the parade, below the fold.
Ms. Prim and Proper (not her real name).
Baby Goat Zen Master
Disclaimer: Goats were petted in the making of this documentary.
Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of the upcoming goat fanciers memoir, Two's Company, Three's a Parade, by Portly Dyke.
Recommended Reading:
Adrienne: Love in the Time of Blood Quantum
Latoya: Janelle Monáe on Music and Being The Other
Stephanie: [TW for misogyny, violence] Seriously? These Are the 40 Greatest Movie Posters?
Rana: Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
Andy: Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton
And you're reading Tigtog's regular Femmostroppo Reader, right? If not, you should be!
Leave your links in comments...
Glenn Beck To Leave Fox News
Since I am the resident expert on all things Glenn Beck (straight scoop: he likes piña coladas and walks in the rain!) it is with a heavy heart I bring some sad, sad news: Glenn Beck is leaving Fox News. Oh, whoops! I lied! No, he's really leaving Fox, the lie is it is sad, sad news. I mean, someone will be sad, just no one I know.
Not even his advertisers. Not that he had any other than gold hoarders and the Slap Chop™ guy. Okay, maybe the Slap Chop™ guy will be a little sad. I bet he's the sensitive type who likes to cuddle. Or not. Nevermind. No one wants to talk about Slap Chop™ guy. Not even me!
In a statement issued by Beck's company GRA (Garbage Radio Arts) faithful viewers were reassured that Fox and Beck will continue to work together, kind of like Laverne & Shirley, but full of lies and hatred instead. Which, thinking about it, isn't all that different from Laverne & Shirley at all. Poor Laverne, drink some milk and Pepsi, it'll be okay.
There has been some speculation that Beck is leaving to form his own network, like the Oprah Winfrey Network, but full of lies and hatred. (What? It was a good joke.) I'm not sure how that would work, since Beck seems to have trouble attracting advertisers. Plus he can't be on 24 hours a day. (Can he?) I guess he'd hire a bunch of other racist white guys to have their own shows too? Is Stephen Baldwin busy? (He's not busy. (Duh.))
Bye-bye, Beck. I'm sure, though, soon enough you'll be back with another book espousing your dogshit political philosophy and another TV show full of lies and garbage and chalkboards. See ya then! Or not.
Still the Worst
As I have mentioned once or twice or thrice or a billion times, I do not like Dr. Drew Pinsky.
Yesterday, I read an interview with him, in which he once again illustrated why his medical license should have been rescinded years ago:
YOU'VE GOTTEN SOME FLAK BEFORE FOR PRESENTING A DIAGNOSIS OF CELEBRITIES WHO YOU WEREN'T TREATING, INCLUDING LINDSAY LOHAN, WHO TWEETED "I THOUGHT REAL DOCTORS TALKED TO PATIENTS IN OFFICES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS." DOES THAT CONCERN YOU GOING INTO A SHOW BASED LARGELY AROUND OPINION?Wow. Among the many, many things wrong with that fuckery, the mendacious equivalencies are truly breathtaking. Diagnosing mental illness is the same as diagnosing a rash. Sure. Political commentary is the same as medical diagnostics. Sure. And the Hippocratic Oath's note about abstention from "whatever is harmful or mischievous" is just a recommendation, and as long as he doesn't intend to hurt anyone, the demonstrable evidence that his unsolicited pontifications about celebrities' medical problems hurts them doesn't matter. Okay.
Pinsky: It's bizarre to me that you can have political commentators, sports commentators, weather commentators, but with medicine, people go, "You can't do that." It's like, if you show me a picture of a rash, I don't have to know the person to tell you what that rash is. There are lots of medical conditions that you can diagnose never having met the person. Soon enough, we'll have telemedicine and do it through the Internet -- that's the future. You can educate people about politics, criminality, the law, but not about medicine? It's just silly ... I really don't want to hurt anybody, but to say the truth and to offer words that might be helpful in understanding what some of these conditions are. I can't see any reason not to do that. That's changing things for the better.
Then, last night, I watched the Teen Mom 2 season wrap-up with Dr. Drew. These episodes, in which he interviews the young women and their families, are always a garbage nightmare trainwreck of slut-shaming and retrofuck views on mothering and marriage.
After the episode aired, these were the notes I jotted down:
Shorter Dr. Drew: 1. You're a stupid slut who made a horrible mistake which can only be rectified by getting married. 2. You should be grateful for any ostensible crumb of kindness anyone shows you, even if they have manifestly obvious ulterior motives, like lending you money just to have something to hold over your head and control you. 3. The people in your life who are abusive have good reasons, and here they are, and it's kind of understandable when you consider what a stupid slut you are, amirite?It was awful to watch.
And the only one of the male partners who came in for any serious criticism was the boyfriend who is black, who Drew described, while mocking the woman who dates him, as a homeless criminal. Which he is. But so is the white father of one of the babies who's deeply in arrears in his child support payments and bops between the mother's house and his parents' house without paying rent at either place. He, however, was not described as a homeless criminal. No, he got asked by Dr. Drew if he was considering marrying the mother of his child, who he routinely calls a "bitch."
Dr. Drew: The Worst.
Number of the Day
Seven: Bristol Palin's Nonprofit Paid Her Seven Times What It Spent on Actual Teen Pregnancy Prevention.
In 2009, Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie's Foundation. Today, the Associated Press reported that the Candie's Foundation released its 2009 tax information, revealing that Bristol was paid a salary of $262,500.Naturally, the Palin camp has responded by claiming it's just a conspiracy of people out to get them.
But a closer examination of the tax form (pdf) by ThinkProgress shows that the group disbursed only $35,000 in grants to actual teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics: $25,000 to the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center and $10,000 to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
...Thus, the nonprofit paid Bristol over seven times what it paid to teen pregnancy prevention groups.
Sure. Everyone knows that math, like facts, has a liberal bias.
Two Things I Learned on Facebook Today
First, one (1) girl messaged me. So, woo hoo for me! All the sexy ladies like the Deeky. (No doy.)
Secondly, I too can work in counter terrorism and cyber security, with a Homeland Security Degree. Also, I get to be the Bat-Man if I go to Homeland Security College. Because, that's the Batmobile, right? Looks like the Batmobile to me. Did Bruce Wayne get his Bat-Man degree from Homeland Security College? Is that accredited? It's accredited. Definitely accredited. Also, financial aid is availble, which is good. Do you think Dick Grayson got a Pell Grant? And will Pell Grants be suspended if the government shuts down?
And what the fuck is going on with this country when we've allowed a bunch of teabagging assholes to shut down the government? That doesn't seem right. Maybe the Bat-Man can go throw his boomerang at them until they get their shit together. Also, this was sooo not supposed to be a post about politics, but about education.
And girls.
So, nevermind.
p.s. This is my favourite Batmobile, just in case you were wondering. You were wondering.
The Olympic Committee Hates Babies
That is the only reasonable conclusion to come to, given that they have spent years arguing they couldn't possibly allow ladies' ski jumping, since the competitors would damage their babymaking bits, but have now decided at long last to include "women's ski jumping and four other new events for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia."
Unless, of course, the IOC was never actually concerned about women hurting their delicate ladyparts and was using that as pitiful excuse to avoid admitting they're actually scared that women might be better at the sport.
Which is, perhaps, why it was that when their concern about male competitors' delicate fee-fees female competitors' delicate ladybits grew thin, they argued, to stop women competing at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, that "the sport lacked enough elite competitors."
The women seemingly sealed their case at the Nordic world championships in Oslo in early March, when competitors jumped in heavy fog and strong winds.No catastrophic injuries to vaginas (or male egos) has been reported.
IOC board member Gerhard Heiberg of Norway said he was impressed by the level of competition and would recommend the event's inclusion to IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Congratulations, ski-jumping women. You've more than earned your place at the table.
Open Thread & News Round-Up: Budgetfuck
Here's some of what I've been reading this morning...
WaPo—Obama, congressional leaders make no progress on budget:
The first federal government shutdown in more than 15 years drew closer Tuesday as President Obama and congressional leaders failed to make progress on a budget for 2011 after back-to-back meetings at the White House and on Capitol Hill.A transcript of the presser can be found here.
Obama and Congress remained billions of dollars apart and at odds over where to find savings after an 80-minute West Wing meeting that included House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). In the meeting, Boehner floated the possibility that he may seek as much as $40 billion in cuts, $7 billion more than the two sides have been discussing for the past week.
Growing irked by the prolonged negotiations, Obama demanded that the congressional leaders "act like grown-ups."
"If they can't sort it out, then I want them back here tomorrow. And if that doesn't work, we'll invite them again the day after that," Obama told reporters in a rare appearance in the press room, hours after the meeting.
Politico—John Boehner: Democrats 'win' in government shutdown: "Speaker John Boehner is warning his Republican colleagues that Democrats would 'win' a government shutdown and the GOP would suffer a political catastrophe if the federal government runs out of money at the end of this week. 'The Democrats think they benefit from a government shutdown. I agree,' Boehner said during a closed-door, 90-minute meeting on House Republicans on Monday night, according to several lawmakers who attended the session."
New York Times—Budget Stances Harden as Deadline Nears for Shutdown:
President Obama on Tuesday flatly dismissed a short-term Republican plan to keep the federal government operating past Friday as Speaker John A. Boehner sought deeper spending cuts, putting Congress and the White House on a course toward a government shutdown.Also see:
..."As I've said before, we have now matched the number that the speaker originally sought," the president said. "The only question is whether politics or ideology are going to get in the way of preventing a government shutdown."
The Hill—Obama, Boehner jostle for edge in spending-plan fight as deadline nears.
Wall Street Journal—Budget Talks Head to Brink.
This fight is the Democrats' to lose. The GOP is publicly expressing fears that they'll suffer a backlash if the government shuts down; Congressional Dems and the President just need to have a goddamn spine. At this point, they should be telling the GOP to stuff their budget cuts because AUSTERITY DOESN'T WORK and proposing instead a raft of economy-stimulating infrastructure initiatives, but that would make way too much sense for the Dems. Still. They at least oughtn't cave on anything to a party running scared and bluffing with empty bravado.
Question of the Day
What song is the purple sparkle dragon playing?
I think it's playing "Hip To Be Square."
Your New DNC Chair
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida).
I am thrilled to have a pro-choice woman heading the DNC, especially since the outgoing chair, Tim Kaine, was one of those delightful "pro-life Democrats."
However, I share the reservations elucidated by scatx here:
Sarah Jaffe pointed out to me on Twitter today that, as Jaffe wrote about in early February, Wasserman Schultz stumped for Heath Shuler, a Democratic congressman who co-sponsored HR3... As Jaffe wrote then:One gets the impression that it's not possible to have a DNC Chair who considers abortion rights a non-negotiable plank anymore. Terrible.
What does someone have to do to get thrown out of the party? The answer you get from Democrats is usually "Well, it's better to have an antichoice Democrat than an antichoice Republican." Better for whom?So, I just shrug my shoulders. Is this good? Yes. A woman, a pro-choice woman, is head of the DNC. Always good. But we know that she has openly [supported] anti-choice colleagues. Sigh.
Still: Wasserman Schultz, who is extremely charismatic and is decidedly more progressive than Kaine, is an improvement.
[H/T to @scatx. Related Reading: What a Trainwreck; Woman's Work.]
Daily Dose of Cute
Matilda, age 8
Olivia, age 6
Sophie, age 2
Dudley, age 2
Shock is a privilege.
[Trigger warning for sexual violence.]
Actress Ashley Judd has written a memoir, All That Is Bitter & Sweet, which was released today and contains, among other things, Judd's recollections of sexual abuse as a child and young woman.
I've seen a bunch of stories about the book, or about Judd's appearance on The Today Show this morning, during which she was promoting the book, and most of them included, sometimes right in their headlines, a description of Judd's history as "shocking," or some variation thereof: attention-grabbing, headline-grabbing, surprising.
I'm not sure why, exactly, the fact that Ashley Judd is a survivor of sexual trauma is "shocking." It can only be truly "shocking" to someone who's never heard (or doesn't believe) the statistic that one out of every six women is a survivor, or to someone who expects a survivor to behave a certain way: Why, I never would have pegged her as a survivor; she seems so positively unbroken!
It's quite reasonable to feel sad, or disturbed, or angry that Judd was assaulted, but to be shocked, given what is true of the world, is a privilege.
-----------------------
On a related note: I've also noted some curious language being used in regard to Judd sharing her personal history. She "claims" abuse. (Possibly a liar.) She "admits" abuse. (It's so shameful.) She "finally reveals" abuse. (Doesn't she know we are entitled to know everything about celebrities' lives?) It's amazing how much of the rape culture is embedded in the choice of language used to discuss sexual violence.
This is so the worst thing you're going to read all day.
[Trigger warning for misogyny and gender essentialism.]
When a woman should act like a man. Uh-huh.
There are good points buried within this article about, for instance, the impossible task working women face in striking precisely the right tone—not too passive, not too aggressive. (Spoiler Alert: The Sweet Spot is actually the Nonexistent Spot!) But the entire framing, which assigns certain attributes to men and certain attributes to women, without sufficient discussion of gendered socialization, renders the whole thing problematic, to put it politely.
Hold Onto Your Wizard Hats, Nerdz!
"Flight of the Conchords" star Bret McKenzie will play Lindir, an Elf of Rivendell, in "The Hobbit."
As anyone who's anyone already knows: "New Zealand-based McKenzie made brief appearances as an extra in the first and third Lord of the Rings pics in which he achieved fan fame on the Internet with the fan-created nickname 'Figwit'."
No doy, Variety!
Last weekend, Kenny Blogginz brought over the DVD of the 1977 Rankin-Bass animated The Hobbit, which Iain had never seen. (!!!) He loved it OF COURSE. And he finally understood why I was terrified of Gollum well into my adulthood.
It made us all VERY EXCITED about the Peter Jackson version. Or, I guess should say, EVEN MORE EXCITED. It was, however, certainly not a level of excitement that could be sustained until December 2012, so we chilled out afterwards with a Dungeons & Dragons marathon. Because nerdz.
[Nerd Alert: KBlogz actually owns a wizard's hat, which he brought over one night and he, Iain, and I took turns wearing it while watching some shitty totes awesome old film like Beastmaster. I tell you this so that you may trust you're getting your Nerd News from a highly-credentialed professional nerd.]
Open Thread & News Round-Up: Budgetfuck
As I mentioned below, you can read Republican Representative and Chair of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan's "The GOP Path to Prosperity," which lays out the GOP's garbage austerity plan, here. Other stuff I've been reading today...
New York Times—Shutdown Looms as Talks on Stopgap Budget Fail:
Congress and the White House veered toward a fiscal collision on Tuesday as the Obama administration rejected a short-term House Republican demand to cut $12 billion now in exchange for keeping the government open for one more week. At the same time, the Republicans' budget chairman set forth a longer-range blueprint defining a new era of profoundly smaller government and steep tax cuts for corporations and individuals.Yes, and that cause is called Social Darwinism.
"We are changing the dynamic here," said Representative Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, as Republicans made clear they had no intention of backing down on more cuts in current year spending and would frame the fight over next year's budget in similar terms. Their long-term proposal also included changes in mandatory entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which they derided as "autopilot" programs.
...At a news conference Tuesday on Capitol Hill, [Representative Paul D. Ryan], surrounded by his fellow Republicans from the budget committee, alluded to the power of the large freshman class and its Tea Party contingent who have helped to propel the fiscal fight forward. "The new people did not come here for a political career," he said. "They came here for a cause. This isn't a budget. This a cause."
Matt Yglesias makes a good point here: "[Medicaid] is mostly a program for the elderly and the disabled. It's the main way we finance long-term care in this country. If you don't directly benefit from it, you very likely have a parent or grandparent who does and whose financial needs will simply tend to fall on you if the program is cut." Tax cuts don't trickle down, but financial responsibility when the government fucks off sure do.
Josh Marshall, on the Democratic response to this nightmare: "Why on earth did the Democrat speaking for the Democrats just now on Hardball say it was 'courageous' but 'politically stupid' for Paul Ryan to put up a plan to abolish Medicare and other federal social programs? That's the best he can do? 'Courageous'? That's simply amazing. If ordinary people who look forward to being able to rely on Medicare once they retire can't even get advocates who don't think it's 'courageous' to try to abolish Medicare, why are Democrats even in this game?"
Meanwhile, there are reports that some Republicans are (wisely) concerned about overreach. Shutting down the government is not popular with voters, and making deep cuts to popular programs that serve elderly voters, on whose votes conservatives depend, isn't exactly a great reelection strategy. For more on that angle, see Digby.
In other news: Budget Deal Would Give Pentagon Extra Funds in Exchange for Social Program Cuts. Of course it would.
This whole thing is a nightmare. And it really underscores that there is not a functional political party in the US who advocates for the poor and working classes anymore. We're really in the shit. And I don't see that getting rectified anytime soon, because we can't buy our way back in.
Quote of the Day
"But while I am assailing his ideas, let me put in a good word about [Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)] himself: He is, from my limited experience, a charming man who truly believes what he believes. I salute him for laying out the actual conservative agenda. Here’s hoping he is transparent in the coming weeks about whom he is taking benefits from and toward whom he wants to be more generous. If he thinks we need an even more unequal society to prosper in the future, may he have the courage to say so."—E.J. Dionne Jr., in a must-read column wondering if the GOP will be honest about the embedded class warfare in their budget and whether the President and his party will stand up to them.
Btw, you can read Rep. Ryan's "The GOP Path to Prosperity" in today's Wall Street Journal. Very cool. Completely changed my mind about the GOP's fiscal policy being garbage. Now I think it's rancid garbage.
I Found Deeky's Birthday Present
Majestic, is it not?
The great thing is, this is like two gifts in one. As Melissa noted to me via email, she should be receiving it in her mail about a month after Deeky's birthday. Happy Birthday, Melissa!
(via.)
Jesse: On Inclusion, Humanity, and Grace
by Marianne Leone, an actress, writer, and advocate living in Massachusetts.
Jesse Cooper was an honor roll student who loved to windsurf and write poetry. He also had severe cerebral palsy and was quadriplegic, unable to speak, and wracked by seizures. He died suddenly at age seventeen. In Jesse, A Mother's Story, I wrote about the transformation a teacher like Jesse can bring to the lives of those around him. His father, Chris Cooper, and I became advocates for inclusion during Jesse's life and fought to get Jess his basic civil right: a free and appropriate public education. We won, after a two year battle, and Jesse went to his local public school, despite a special ed director who wondered "why should we spend money on these kids—they don't give anything back to society." The director no longer has a job at Jesse's school; there's now a scholarship in Jesse's name—the Jesse Cooper Give Back to Society Scholarship—given every year to a disabled student at his former high school, and the Jesse Advocacy Fund at the MA Federation for Children with Special Needs now trains parents to be their own advocates.
Jesse, A Mother's Story is a memoir that celebrates Jesse's life and grieves his passing. This is a memoir that strives to illuminate the humanity in all of us. This is a memoir that I hope everyone reads, to read Jesse's words in addition to my own. This is a memoir about inclusion that Barnes & Noble is shelving in the "special needs" section, without a trace of irony.
Below is an excerpt from Jesse, A Mother's Story which I have chosen for Shakesville.
I knew Jesse was intelligent. I didn't need words to know that. I knew it when he was eight months old, when he burst out laughing the first time he heard the squeaky voices of the Chipmunks singing a Christmas song. He laughed at other silly jokes, too, things that would make any baby giggle uproariously, fishy faces and fart sounds. He became entranced with his own voice and we would laugh with delight to hear him respond to a question with a full-force yell, like a baby marine. He wore a smirk the whole time our yelling game went on, letting us know he was in on the prank. He understood us, even when he couldn't form the words to reply.
We had even heard him attempt "I love you" and other words. I told this to his pediatric neurologist when Jesse was around four, after he gave Jess an exam on our first (and last) visit to him. The neurologist looked at me with distaste. I was being deliberately obtuse, wasting his time with wishful thinking. I was obviously "in denial." From his Olympian neurological heights, the doctor pronounced his solemn verdict: Jesse would never be "intellectually normal." He said this to Chris and me, in front of Jesse. Then he asked, with what his lizard brain no doubt thought was kindness, if we planned to have more children. Chris wept on the way home as Jesse slept in my arms, and asked me what the neurologist meant by that, about having more children. "Get a good one," I said. "A different one." I looked down at Jesse's tufted teddy-bear hair. I wanted this one.
The very next week, Jesse worked with his occupational therapist on his shapes puzzle. Chris had glued wooden knobs to the shapes so Jess could grasp them easily. The therapist asked for the rectangle, then the square. It took Jess a full minute to tame his wavering arm to grasp each piece, but he delivered each shape correctly. Then she asked for the octagon. Instead of reaching for the shape, Jesse said, with great intensity: "Oct…..eight." I heard him say it, and thanked all the fates that the therapist heard it, too, so I wouldn't get any more "in denial" looks when I reported this feat to other medical doubting Thomases. I told Chris that I knew teenagers who didn't know an octagon had eight sides. As far as I was concerned, our son was brilliant and we would raise him that way.
"Screw the itsy bitsy spider," I said. "Let's give him Yeats."
Years later, when his intelligence was finally tested correctly, using an adapted computer, Jesse scored in the ninety-ninth percentile. I wrote to the neurologist, that ice-cold genius who didn't know the basics of human compassion. I told him that I knew how hard it must be for him not to confuse himself with God, since he had acolyte interns hanging on his every word and parents praying to him for answers, but that he was most definitely not God. In fact, he was a murderer. He murdered the futures of brain-damaged children every day by making absurd hubristic pronouncements even though nobody really understands how the brain works, especially a child's injured brain.
If we had believed him and stopped trying to teach Jesse new things, the neurologist's dire prophecy would have been fulfilled. But the neurologist was right about one thing: Jesse wasn't "intellectually normal." He was intellectually superior. Take that, Doctor God. Of course, I never heard from him again. But I like to think he hesitated before asking parents in code if they planned to get a good one the next time.
My dealings with neurologists in the course of Jesse's medical life were frequently fraught with social dysfunction. On their side. I'm not the picture of mental health and admit that the towering grizzly mother part of my persona was always in the room with every member of the medical community that treated my son. But the mortal fear Chris and I felt about Jesse's seizures and their possible effect on his body and mental capacities was made worse by what felt like interspecies communication. Occasionally a neurologist would rise to the level of cyborg, if we were lucky, speaking in English instead of words we would have to look up later. Those were the ones who spoke only to Chris and me. But even when that happened, I stopped listening. While they droned on about "brain insults" and pushed wonder drugs that didn't work, I was having a shouted one-way conversation with them in my head.
"Can you see my son? He's sitting right here, in my lap."
"He is a sentient being, a member of the human race. Are you?"
"His brain isn't just a meat computer that crashed with a fatal error."
"He is alive, conscious. Can you tell me where the seat of consciousness is? Is it in the brain?"
The conversation never went beyond the voices in my head. We just listened to their drug suggestions and brain insult descriptions and then moved on, insulted in our own way by the snubbing of Jesse's soul. Another office, another neurologist. We weren't shopping for a better prognosis. We knew Jesse had brain damage and a seizure disorder. We were looking for grace.
If we couldn't find a neurologist who could regenerate Jesse's damaged brain cells, could we at least find one who could show us some mercy and who had the moral strength to see Jesse as human?
We found three, all women.
I don't remember how I found the first, Dr. Catherine Spears, when Jesse was not yet two and in the throes of horrific teething pain. She was in her early seventies then and, unfortunately for us, about to retire. I remember thinking that at the time Dr. Spears went to medical school, she must have been the only woman specializing in the male-dominated field of neurology and that it took a strong temperament to withstand that particular trial by fire. Her steely strength was tempered by gentleness and wisdom, and she met my first criteria: she related to Jesse as a baby first, a baby with a seizure disorder second. And Dr. Spears was unafraid to try alternative treatments. One of the first things she did was magically erase Jesse's teething pain by placing acupressure balls in his tiny ears. However, she, like everybody else, was unable to do anything about the seizure disorder. Her retirement returned us to the generic offices of the generic neurologists who didn't seem to see our son.
When we moved to Massachusetts we again found grace, this time at Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Sandy Helmers was a young, slim, woman with hair the same color as her name. By then, our opening family act was unvarying; I picture us advancing into the random neurologist's office like a Roman phalanx, shields raised, with Jesse at the protected center. I would watch for any sign of empathy from each new doctor during our long recitation of Jesse's medical struggles and cognitive triumphs. If even a glimmer of warmth appeared, the shields went down and Jesse was revealed to the neurologist, Chris and I still hovering close by. Dr. Helmers looked directly at Jesse, asked him questions, reassured him.
She left for a position in Atlanta after only a couple of years. Her replacement was Dr. Elizabeth Thiele. By then we had become less wary that a neurologist would not see Jesse as sentient. Jesse was communicating well with his computer and was undeniably present in the world. He was enjoying school and doing well.
But some neurologists did not think about what the drugs they proposed would do to Jesse's alertness, his ability to think, to learn. They did not consider how blunting Jesse's learning would take away his greatest pride and pleasure. And so they proposed what was new on the market—wantonly, it felt to me. Each new course of drugs meant waiting and watching for the ever-present side effects, a full-court internet study by me, and the usual outcome—no change. So the new shields went up, this time about drugs.
When I met Dr. Thiele, I asked her what new drug she would be pushing. She was my age, with a warm, open face. She laughed merrily and told me she was "much more granola than that." Then she concentrated on Jesse, cracking wise with him and making him grin. When she heard he wrote poetry, she asked Jesse if he would like to include one of his poems in an exhibition she was putting together of works by kids with epilepsy. I put down my shield and accepted grace when it fell upon all of us.
On the inside, I walk
On the outside, I give
On the outside, I am mute
On the outside, I give
On the inside, I speak
On the inside, I walk
— Jesse's first poem, age 10
* * *
Note from Liss: Marianne was kind enough to send me a copy of her book when it was first published, and I was very moved by it. A long time ago, Marianne and I were corresponding about something unrelated to the book, a project Marianne was working on in which she was getting resistance and meeting it with her usual tenacity, and I wrote to her, "You're a Worst Nightmare broad. I love Worst Nightmare broads."
This book is the story of an amazing boy and his mother, who was the worst nightmare of anyone who couldn't see past their disablism and/or privilege to respect his humanity. It is a book about teaspoons, and a book about love. Funny how often those two things go together.
Jesse, A Mother's Story comes out in paperback today.
Today in Rape Culture
[Trigger warning for "rape jokes" and police misconduct.]
In Ireland, gardaí (police officers) who had two female protesters in their custody were caught on video "joking" about raping the women:
One garda can be heard on the tape saying that one of the women "sounds like a Yank or Canadian". Another garda said: "Well, whoever, we'll get immigration f***ing on her."Dr Bríd Connolly, lecturer at NUI Maynooth, a college at which one of the women was a student, wondered: "How can women who have been assaulted have any confidence in the Garda if this is the sort of attitude that prevails?" Good question.
A more senior garda picked up the conversation, saying "she refused to give her name and address and [was] told she would be arrested".
"And deported," his colleague continued. "And raped," the more senior garda said.
The conversation continued in jocular fashion, with the more senior garda saying: "Give me your name and address or I'll rape you."
Amid some laughter, another garda said: "Hold it there, give me your name and address there, I'll rape you."
"Or I'll definitely rape you," the more senior garda responded.
That, of course, is one of the most pervasive challenges of dismantling the rape culture: As long as the rape culture permeates the institutions ostensibly tasked with securing justice for survivors, justice will be elusive. Victims will be discouraged from reporting crimes against them; rapists will continue to create more victims. And on and on it goes.
Naturally, the officers are being well defended by rape apologists desperate to point out they were ONLY JOKING.
As if that even matters. Oh, you mean the police were only JOKING about raping women in their custody? Well, that's all right then!
And, you know, even if they were, those who are objecting are right to do so, even aside from the legitimate criticism that the police "joking" about raping women in custody undermines public trust and breaks faith with survivors, because rape jokes abet rapists and because there is no neutral in the rape culture.
[H/Ts to Shakers Insomniax and Sarah.]
Obama/SCOTUS/Jesus Newz
AP:
A Supreme Court divided along ideological lines said Monday that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge government programs that use tax breaks to direct money to religious activities.
The court ruled 5-4 in favor of an Arizona scholarship program for private schools that has mainly benefited religious schools in offering a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the income tax bill of people who participate.
The Obama administration argued aggressively for the outcome the court reached Monday; it also took the view that the challengers had no standing to sue. [emphasis mine]
:Yawn:
P. S.: Smash
Autism Acceptance for Autism Awareness Month
by Shaker LydiaEncyclopedia
Well, Shakers and public, it is April, and that can only mean one thing to this autistic blogger: Autism Awareness Month is here for another 30 days, and without a time machine, there's no escaping it.
Autism Awareness Month has been a thorn in my side for as long as I've been an adult. I am at heart an attention-seeker, so you would think having an entire month devoted to people like me would be a joy to behold. But that's the problem behind Autism Awareness Month. It isn't about me. It's not about me—the autistic person. The entire conception of Autism Awareness Month doesn't even revolve around autism, not the kind I have or the kind that anyone I know lives with. The ‘autism' of Autism Awareness Month is a mysterious, esoteric, silent force, which magically swoops into the homes of unsuspecting families, and replaces regular, darling children with empty husks, ala the Changelings of ancient myths.
It's not even entirely about the children who are these so-called "empty shells." The entire focus of Autism Awareness Month seems to be divided between what sad, pathetic existences they must lead, and the potential for a real, neurotypical, normal child that lies just around the corner in the next type of chelation, cure, or therapy. Rather than shedding light on what autism is, Autism Awareness Month has served to cloud autism further in lies, half-truths, pity, and the tyranny of low expectations.
I've watched as a series of Autism Awareness Months have gone by, and nothing seems to have changed in the public eye. I've seen promoted and have attended various Autism Awareness Events over the years, and the funny thing is, they almost universally don't bother to think of how autistic people might function at these events. There is usually loud music, so loud that those with sensory processing disorder may be forced to not attend. The crowds are often suffocating, whether the event takes place at a conference hall, hotel, or outdoors, with no regard given to how someone who functions poorly in large crowds may feel about being squeezed in with so many people. There are usually no rules restricting the use of perfume, and I can remember coughing through clouds of it once and deciding I'd rather leave than have my sense of smell continuously assaulted.
There's something deeply problematic about an event centered around autism which doesn't consider the needs of autistic people in order for them to equally participate.
That's not even getting to the genuine content of the events. Typically, they will consist of speakers, usually doctors, or parents, or on a vanishingly rare occasion, an actual autistic person. But usually this autistic person is verbal, articulate, and, even while promoting themselves as an autistic person worth listening to, they sometimes fail include all autistic people under their umbrella of acceptance. Often, they will promote the notion that those with special gifts and talents, who can more or less live independently, like themselves, should be given the option of living with their autism. But they will often promote, in a swirl of cognitive dissonance, the idea that those not like them, without these special gifts and large vocabularies, well, who cares, cure them. The doctor speakers usually only consider autism within the confines of the medical model of disability, and usually don't speak about autistic people as individuals, but singular entities with a shared host of problems which we need to research, and usually don't talk about the experience of autism as a teenager or adult.
Parents will usually be a bit more personal and intimate, but their speeches can range from "I love my son/daughter dearly and want to do everything I can to make sure they're happy and successful" to "My child was stolen away from me and replaced with this screaming, in-affectionate demon!"
These alienating incidents aren't necessarily always the case, but they are frequent enough for me to not be surprised when I feel like an unwelcome stranger at an event about my own disability—which certainly isn't (or shouldn't be) the goal.
It doesn't have to be this way, though. The only thing standing between the truth and the current situation is the concept of Autism Awareness itself. It's time for a new idea, one that seems to be heresy to the people pushing Autism Awareness, but has been the crowning point of the disability community at large for 20+ years now: "Nothing About Us Without Us." Or, to put it more succinctly, it's time to throw away Autism Awareness, and replace it with Autism Acceptance.
The fundamental difference I see between the two is that Autism Acceptance is being spearheaded by autistic people themselves. People from all walks of life and in all corners on the spectrum are coming forth and working to tear down these myths established by the Autism Awareness contingent and the Medical Model of Disability. It's a collaborative effort meant to showcase that, during this month, which is ostensibly all about our disability, we have a right to talk about what our disability means to us, and what public attitudes towards it mean for us.
Plus, Autism Acceptance isn't confined to April. For me, Autism Acceptance is every day. It took me years to understand the harm disablist rhetoric did to my self-esteem, my perception of my own talents and passions, and how I handled my limitations. It's a powerful thing for an autistic person to learn how to love themselves. It will also be powerful for non-autistic folk to take a moment to see past the puzzle ribbons and the grim statistics meant to show how autism affects more people than diabetes, cancer, and HIV.
Look past all that garbage foisted onto you by those who neither know nor truly respect autism and autistic people, and you will see that what we need from you most is not a month set aside for the purposes of degrading and pitying our existences and experiences, but constant, unwavering support, the patience to listen to our side of the story, and the power for you to put aside your own ideas about who should be listened to, based on what credentials, and to give those of us with the disability as a constant presence in our lives a chance to speak. Just because someone can't talk (in your language of words and verbal dialogue) doesn't mean they have nothing to say.
If you want to look for the signs of an Autism Acceptance/Neurodiverse-friendly event, then I recommend looking to the example of Autreat, which pledges to make it a sensory-friendly environment for autistic people, respects our personal space, allows flexible scheduling for those who feel overwhelmed, and is run by autistic people for autistic people. Autreat strives to be the pinnacle of an autism-friendly event.
If you are interested in improving a local event, try to think about what sensory issues I listed above, and think, "How can I address this?"
Look for autistic speakers to book, from all ends on the spectrum. The autism blogosphere is a great place to start, or you could find a local person with autism who may want to share their story. Sometimes, the best way to make your event autism-friendly is to just engage with autistic people to see what they would like to see at their local autism event. Since it's about their disability, they're best qualified to tell you what will attract those with autism to participate in these events. And really, isn't that the best thing you could hope for at your own Autism event?
You can find more information on Autism Acceptance events here.
Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime
The International Sweethearts Of Rhythm: "Jump Children"
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were the first integrated all women's band in the United States. They have been labeled "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the Big Band era."
The group made two national tours. As a racially mixed band, their performances defied the Jim Crow laws of the South. Despite being stars, when the band traveled in the South they ate and slept on their bus because segregation laws prevented them from using restaurants and hotels.
Sadly, most of their recordings are now lost. Some surviving tracks are available here.
Happy Birthday, Space Cowboy!!!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
Happy Birthday Space Cowwwwwwboyyyyyyyy!
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
And many moooooooooooooore...
Question of the Day
What is your favorite movie score and/or soundtrack?
Michael Nyman's score to The Piano is probably my all-time favorite. Favorite soundtrack is Yusuf Islam's (nee Cat Stevens) soundtrack to Harold and Maude.
Weiner Time!
Rep. Anthony Weiner schools the GOP. Again.
[Transcript below.]
Acting Speaker: The gentleman from South Carolina is recognized.
Rep. James Clyburn: Thank you, Madame Speaker. Madame Speaker, I please yield two minutes to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Weiner.
Acting Speaker: The gentleman from New York is recognized for two minutes.
Rep. Anthony Weiner: My friends, one of the—I think it was truly an edifying experience that we had in the opening days of Congress that we, um, we read the Constitution. And I think one of us had the great good fortune to read Article One, Section Seven: "Every bill shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate and shall, before it became law, be presented to the President of the United States. That's how a bill becomes a law.
[gestures to sign with quote from Eric Cantor emblazoned on it] Now, this is how Eric Cantor, on 3/30/2011 said a bill becomes a law: "The Senate's gotta"—this is just the transcription; I didn't do that; I just assume it's the southern thing—"The Senate's gotta act prior to the expiration of the CR. If it does not act"—meaning if the Senate does not do something—"HR 1 becomes the law of the land."
That's not true. That's not constitutional. That's not fitting of this body.
Now, it is, however, consistent with how the majority party has been governing around here. They passed rules that they have ignored; for example, on January 5th, they had members of their caucus take the oath in front of a television set; on February 9th, they failed to provide constitutional authority for a bill despite the fact that it was one of their rules; on March 13th, they failed to get a three-fifths majority for the passage of a bill that raised tax rates, despite the fact that it was part of the rules; on March 17th, they failed to make a bill available within 72 hours, despite the fact that's part of the rules; and just March 30th, they failed to include an offset for a new government program. The rules are not a big thing for them to follow. [holds up huge rule book] This is why it's hard; it's a big book.
So I brought you this. [holds up children's book] "House Mouse, Senate Mouse," which is sold in the gift shop to teach children how to understand the constitution—and permit me to read: "It's the floor of each chamber of the Senate and House / Where each Senator and each Congress Mouse / Gets to vote on the bill / And if enough do—IF ENOUGH DO—this president signs it / If he likes to!"
Well, the Senate mice, the Senate mices, haven't passed this yet. [holds up book] Perhaps if this were the rules that the Republicans had to follow—it's a much thinner book and it rhymes—maybe you'd get it right.
But this [points at quote] is not the constitution.
Acting Speaker: The gentleman's time is expired.
Deeky's Garbage Treasures
As you may recall, Deeky is a closet hoarder who sends me his garbage treasures. Basically, the way this works is that Deeky saves useless garbage like a rat who's fixing to make the Rat Taj Mahal out of useless garbage. Then, instead of throwing it away, he throws pieces of his collection of strange bits of paper and other detritus into an envelope and pays money to ship it to me—priority mail, so he can track his garbage treasure's path across the country—where it sits in my mailbox until he harangues me to collect it. Then, I empty the garbage contents of the garbage envelope, laugh at it with him until tears are rolling out of our eyes, and throw it away. I mean, put it a special garbage treasure reservoir for safe-keeping!
But not before taking a picture of it so that I can post it, obvs.
[Click to embiggen.]
Some of the contents of the latest package of Deeky's Garbage Treasures: A menu for "Sweet Sin: A Gluten Free Café," an expired Go Pass for the MTA, an Amtrak Customer Safely Instructions pamphlet labeled "Please do not remove this card from the train," a City of Baltimore parking citation, a class picture of Mrs. Barbour's first grade class at the Frances E. Willard School in Pasadena taken April 5, 1962, a book titled Facing the Nuclear Age: Parents and Children Together, a deli ticket stub #20, the title page from The Overton Window, three free passes to the circus at the Frederick Fairgrounds on February 25, a drink coaster from the Annabel Lee Tavern, his old library card from Missouri, a tag from a shirt he bought at Banana Republic ($49.99!), and some unidentified piece of black plastic in a tiny zip-loc bag.
