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Wednesday Reads: You like chicken. Order that.Posted: August 20, 2014 Filed under: 2016 elections, abortion rights, Affordable Care Act (ACA), Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Discrimination against women, Free Press, immigration, morning reads, racism, Republican politics, Tea Party activists, Women's Rights | Tags: cross burning, Ferguson MO, gun nuts in California, gun nuts in Georgia, gun nuts in Texas, hate crimes 48 Comments
Good Morning
Today's post will focus on discrimination, hate and hate crimes. Whether it is outright racism… unquestionable prejudice…probable intolerance or a hint of bigotry with a touch of "that just ain't right" sexism.
First up however, a quick look at what is going on in Ferguson:
Another Night Of Unrest During Tenth Night Of Protests In Ferguson
After nine nights of unrest met with tear gas, riot gear and a National Guard presence, Tuesday night in Ferguson, Missouri began peacefully. But by midnight central time, tensions began to rise.
Many protesters marched along West Florissant Avenue, chanting "no justice no peace," and "hands up, don't shoot," while others loitered looking on. Police were not enforcing Capt. Ron Johnson's rule forcing protesters to keep moving or risk removal.
While people were relieved at the initial lack of confrontation Tuesday night, everyone recognized how fragile the situation was and that it could turn instantly.
I really don't know what happened overnight, but Holder did make a statement about the situation.
Eric Holder Pens Message to Ferguson Ahead of Wednesday's Visit
Attorney General Eric Holder will visit Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday to get briefed by local authorities on the situation there following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson. But before he arrives, Holder has written a message to the people of Ferguson for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
"At a time when so much may seem uncertain, the people of Ferguson can have confidence that the Justice Department intends to learn — in a fair and thorough manner — exactly what happened," Holder writes.
He says he plans to "meet personally with community leaders, FBI investigators and federal prosecutors from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office to receive detailed briefings on the status of this case" while in Ferguson tomorrow.
Holder urges an "end to the acts of violence in the streets of Ferguson," saying that "they seriously undermine, rather than advance, the cause of justice." He also vows that the Justice Department will "defend the right of protesters to peacefully demonstrate and for the media to cover a story that must be told."
Here's some thoughts regarding Holder's statement and his plans to go to Ferguson:
Wall Street Journal editor: Eric Holder should tell Ferguson protesters to 'pull up their pants'
Yeah, go and read what Wall Street Journal editorial board member Jason Riley had to say…
…Holder was there as part of President Barack Obama's efforts to play "race-healer-in-chief."
"These looters and rioters do not need to hear from the attorney general that criticism of Obama is race-based," Riley told host Bret Bauer. "What they need to hear from this Black man in this position — the nation's leading law enforcement official — is that they need to stay out of trouble with the law. They need to pull up their pants and finish school and take care of their kids. That is the message they need to hear."
Riley is African-American, and he is not the only black man who is making outrageous statements like this. Check this out, – Tea Party Leader: Black 'Thugs' Do Not Deserve Due Process (VIDEO)
Then you have reaction to the statement made by Missouri Gov. Nixon, from John Marshall at TPM: Is That an Editing Error?
I want to be very clear on the point I'm about to make so that I'm not misunderstood. Gov. Nixon of Missouri put out a statement this evening on the situation in Ferguson. Much of it is boilerplate that wouldn't surprise or inspire you. (I'm reprinting it in its entirety at the end of this post.) The gist is that to move forward peace needs to be restored in Ferguson and there needs to be justice in the case of the precipitating event – the death of Michael Brown. (There is a separate controversy over Nixon's decision not to appoint a special prosecutor – which I think is a mistake.) But in the key line – the part two of his statement he says that "a vigorous prosecution must now be pursued."
Now, let me be clear. This is not remotely to suggest that the facts will not show that a prosecution is in order. Based on what we know publicly, it seems very likely that there should be. But let's not let the justified outrage at what's transpired obscure a simple fact. There's a great deal we in the public do not know about what happened. This goes without saying. There will be sworn witness statements, forensic evidence about Brown and Wilson and a lot else. Indeed, it's one of the significant problems in this saga that so little information has been released. But there's a process: a full investigation and then a decision by a prosecutor. That hasn't happened yet.
It's an entirely different matter for members of the public to demand a prosecution. But this is the Governor of the state, the elected official who has ultimate responsibility for carrying out the laws of the state. It's simply crazy for him to be saying there has to be a prosecution. It's so inappropriate that I think it's highly likely that this is actually an editing error – or someone doing the writing who just didn't grasp the significance of the word choice.
But even if that's the case, the principle is so basic and important that it's important to note: the Governor shouldn't be publicly assuming that Wilson must be prosecuted or that a prosecution must happen for justice to be served.
BTW, Getty released a statement as well…regarding their photojournalist who was arrested Monday night. Statement from Pancho Bernasconi, VP, News, on the arrest of Getty Images staff photographer Scott Olson in Ferguson | Getty Images Press Room | Latest company news, media announcements and information
We at Getty Images stand firmly behind our colleague Scott Olson and the right to report from Ferguson. Getty Images is working to secure his release as soon as possible.
We strongly object to his arrest and are committed to ensuring he is able to resume his important work of capturing some of the most iconic images of this news story.
Now we get to the other stories making news that touch on the subject of this post. Hate.
Sunday Reads: What Lurks on Channel X?Posted: June 15, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, A My Pet Goat Moment, American Gun Fetish, Barack Obama, crops, Domestic terrorism, Farming, GM crops, Hillary Clinton, History, immigration, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Monsanto, morning reads, racism, Rape Culture, Real Life Horror, Republican politics, right wing hate grouups, Tea Party activists, the GOP, The Right Wing, toxic waste, U.S. Politics | Tags: Fukashima, King Lear by Sheep 38 Comments
Good Morning
Happy Father's Day
(And that goes out to you especially Ralphie boy!)
I don't know, but from the looks of that
old comic there ————->
…it would be safe to guess that ugly dog face men with cow ears and no bodies lurk on Channel X.
Actually, one of those things looks like Herman Munster.
Okay, seriously. This is going to be a quickie post, my internet is acting up and the service keeps freezing up on me.
Today's post will have images of comic monsters, furry…slimy things. Monsters that are funny looking.
First up a series of news links:
From Voice of America: US Orders USS George H.W. Bush to Gulf
The United States has ordered an aircraft carrier into the Gulf in response to the crisis in Iraq.
The Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, says Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel gave the order that the USS George H.W. Bush move from the North Arabian Sea to the Gulf Saturday.
Kirby says the order provides President Barack Obama "additional flexibility should military options be required to protect American lives, citizens and interests in Iraq."
A guided-missile cruiser and a guided-missile destroyer will accompany the aircraft carrier.
Ugh. I will just let that go for now. Sigh.
In another development Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country is ready to help Iraq if asked, and would consider working with Tehran's longtime foe, the United States, in fighting Sunni extremists if Washington decides to take strong action against the fighters. Iran has developed close ties in recent years with the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday his national security advisers are preparing "a range of options" for U.S. assistance to Iraq's government as it faces an assault by al-Qaida inspired Islamist militants.
The president said the militants who have overrun parts of Iraq are a threat to the Baghdad government and people throughout the country, and pose an active threat to American interests as well. He said division among Iraq's leadership has led to the current crisis.
According to news reports by Reuters, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Washington's assistance would only work if Iraqi leaders "overcame deep divisions." The top U.S. diplomat communicated the information in a Saturday phone call with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
In India: With 4 Hangings in 2 Weeks, India's Women Are Living in Fear | TIME
Recent cases are only the tip of an 'endemic' problem that runs deep in the region's societies, says senior Amnesty researcher Divya Iyer.
Meanwhile here in the States…we have a year to date total on the number of children deported back to Mexico, via Raw Story: More than 6,000 Mexican 'unaccompanied minors' sent back from U.S.
More than 6,000 Mexican children and teens who crossed unaccompanied and illegally into the United States were repatriated in the first four months of this year, Mexican officials said Saturday.
In nearly all cases, the children had already been arrested at least once, and some more than five times, in attempts to cross the US border.
The children make the grueling journey of hundreds of miles (kilometers) through Mexico to escape dire economic conditions and violence in their home countries, and to join relatives in the United States.
"From January 1 to April 30, 2014, the Mexican consular network offered assistance to 6,233 unaccompanied Mexican minors… in the process of their repatriation to Mexico," a statement from the foreign ministry said.
Of them, nearly 77 percent had been detained more than once in attempts to cross the border, and 21 percent had been previously been held more than five times.
On the domestic terrorist front:
Las Vegas gunman's Infowars posts included speculation about killing cops – Salon.com
This article was originally published by The Southern Poverty Law Center.
In the wake of Sunday's deadly attacks in North Las Vegas, at the hands of two antigovernment "Patriot" extremists, Infowars host Alex Jones warned his listeners that the media would soon start claiming that there's a connection between his conspiracist media operation and the killers.
As a matter of fact, Jerad Miller – the 31-year-old Indiana man who led the attack, assisted by his 22-year-old wife, Amanda – liked to post on the Infowars member forum. And he constantly promoted Infowars on his Facebook page.
In one of his Infowars posts, Miller even speculated about whether or not he should kill police officers.
"The emerging narrative in the Las Vegas shooting now includes Alex Jones," the Infowars site complained shortly after news of the shootings broke. In short order, Jones began calling the shootings a "false flag operation" secretly staged by nefarious federal government operatives who set it up to look like it was a crime committed by domestic terrorists.
"The incident is custom-made to demonize the patriot movement," the Infowars site claimed. "The Southern Poverty Law Center has consistently attempted to forge a link between white supremacists and members of the patriot and constitutional movements."
Jones became downright imaginative, explaining to his listeners, in one rant, how he would go about setting up the murders if he were a government agent, and then warning that the shootings mean that "civil war is coming". He also began assigning responsibility for the "false flag operation." In one rant, he accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of being behind the crimes. In another, it was the work of President Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Jones' wild claims must be intended to distract from the fact that, as Media Matters reported, Miller avidly posted Infowars links on his Facebook page and urged his readers to the website – saying, in one such post, to "get informed or get stupid".What those claims fail to explain is why, beginning in May 2012, Jerad Miller became an Infowars forum member and began posting long pieces there. In all, he appears to have published five posts, though one of them titled "A Short Story About Protesting" is no longer available.
If this man was a Muslim…and he used infowars forum to post shit regarding his plan to kill cops…then that website would be shut down. Right?
By far the most striking and disturbing of these posts is the May 28, 2012, post he titled: "The Police (to kill or not to kill?)." Most of it is devoted to him explaining at length that he's mostly a law-abiding citizen who doesn't steal from people, but police oppression over his marijuana business is driving him to think of violence: "I am like a wild coyote," he wrote. "You corner me, I will fight to the death." He continued:
I feel that I have been violated and tread upon. That the so called justice system has done me harm. I do not wish to kill police. I understand that most of them believe they are doing the right thing. Yet, I will not go to jail, because I have not committed a crime! I would rather die than be labeled as a criminal. Let them call me a terrorist. Let them label me as a fanatic, some nut job. I know the truth, and so does God. I'm sure our founding fathers were labeled as such.
It concluded with what appears in hindsight to be a conclusion:
So, do I kill cops and make a stand when they come to get me? I would prefer to die than sit in their jail, when I have done nothing to hurt anyone.
Jones is also in the news for this recent shit story: Alex Jones and gun advocate Larry Pratt: Obama training military to attack the Tea Party
Right Wing Watch reported that Pratt was appearing on Jones' Infowars radio show when the two began to discuss the furor that surrounded a 2009 report by the Department of Homeland Security that warned of a possible rise in far-right extremist violence in the United States.
Jones and Pratt declared that the DHS report was a plot against conservatives and that Pres. Obama is planning on using an obscure law passed in 2010 as justification for the use of military force against members of the Tea Party.
The conservative Washington Timesreported the story as if Obama had invented a provision of federal law that allowed for intervention by the military on domestic soil "in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible." However, the clause is a longstanding one that has been in effect under many presidents.
Jones, however, interprets the law to be official confirmation that the U.S. military is, at this moment, "training with tanks, armored vehicles, drones" to "take on the American people, mainly the Tea Party."
"Well, he's certainly not thinking that Muslims are a threat," Pratt replied, "so he's turning to his political opponents, declaring that they're the enemy and ignoring the fact that Muslims from time to time have a tendency to go 'boom.'"
Geez, these assholes are the real monsters…I'm telling you!
Regarding another domestic terrorist shooting: Oregon school shooter's journal reveals he was devout Mormon out to kill 'sinners'
The diary of the 15-year-old Oregon high schooler who shot and killed a classmate and injured a teacher before turning the gun on himself revealed that the teen was a religious fundamentalist who was out to kill "sinners."
According to the New York Daily News, freshman Jared Padgett was known at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Gresham, OR as being quiet, but was "highly regarded for his spirituality" by church elders.
Padgett walked into Reynolds High School last Tuesday carrying "an AR-15 type rifle, a semi-automatic handgun, ammunition and a large knife," and opened fire, killing freshman Emilio Hoffman. Portland's KGW reported that police found the teenager's journal while searching through the belongings he left behind.
A police source told the TV station that Padgett did not name specific students or teachers in his plans, but was rather on a mission to cleanse the world of "sinners."
But hey, let's not just catch up on the killers. Check out some other classy folks, this one in Florida: Florida Mom Kidnaps Daughter to Avoid Vaccines, Learning Black History
A mother in Sunrise, Florida is now facing a federal criminal charge after disappearing with her two-year-old daughter last month in order to avoid having her vaccinated. (This served the dual purpose of keeping her from being "brainwashed" and keeping her out of school, where she might learn about black history).
According to the Sun-Sentinel, Megan Elizabeth Everett, 22, disappeared on May 6th after Robert Baumann—with whom she shares custody of their daughter, Lilly—dropped Lilly off at her home. Everett was supposed to return Lilly a week later, in compliance with a shared custody agreement, but never showed up. She instead left a note for Baumann, saying:
"You are a great dad. If I let them take her and vaccinate her and brainwash her, I wouldn't be doing what's right. I cannot let a judge tell me how my daughter should be raised. We will miss you. But I had to leave."
A warrant for Everett's arrest was issued on May 19, on charges of kidnapping, interference with custody, and concealing a minor contrary to a court order. The federal charge accused Everett of crossing state lines to avoid prosecution for the state charges.
This is probably going to end up sad…as you can imagine, Everett lived with her mother until she:
…became involved with a man named Carlos Lesters, at which point she severed ties with her family.
The Sun-Sentinel states that court documents describe Lesters as a "Confederate-flag-waving gun enthusiast with family members in Georgia and Kentucky."
Robert Baumann, who had planned to vaccinate his daughter and enroll her in preschool the next time he had custody, said:
"One of the issues we had was, she wanted to home-school my daughter. I didn't want that to happen. She didn't want Lilly to learn about black history. She just wanted her to learn about the Confederacy." … "She found this new idea that vaccines are horrible. I think she wanted to keep her from being vaccinated because that would keep her out of day care."
After Lilly's disappearance, Sunrise police went to her last known address, where they found Lesters. He told them that Everett and her daughter were gone and "not coming back." The federal criminal complaint states:
"Lesters informed detectives that Everett … knew she would have to live her life as a fugitive. However, in her mind, the time that she spent with her daughter 'free' of Baumann would be 'worth it,' regardless of how brief the time was."
Everette and Lilly are still missing…(Updated to include picture of Everette and Lilly.)
More GOP crazy, only with a touch of reason: GOP Candidate Condemns Her Own Husband's 'Inappropriate' Remarks | Mediaite
When was the last time you heard about a politician disavowing or condemning something their own spouse said? Well, Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst did just that this week when she publicly expressed how "appalled" she was by her husband's past outlandish comments about former Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano.
According to The Des Moines Register, Ernst's husband referred to Napolitano as a "traitorous skank" on Facebook last year, and a month before that he made a joke about shooting an ex-wife. And in addition to that, he also once called Hillary Clinton a "hag."
Reached for public comment about her husband's posts, Ernst was unequivocally outraged.
"I'm appalled by my husband's remarks… They are uncalled for and clearly inappropriate. I've addressed this issue with my husband and that's between us."
Meanwhile, Gail Ernst took down those posts in questions and posted an apology to his Facebook page.
Good for her!
Speaking of Hillary: Hillary Clinton's Book Tour Watch: CostCo in Arlington – You Never Know Who You Might Bump Into! | Still4Hill
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor bumped into Hillary Clinton at a Costco in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday.
Someone else was shopping there too…go see who at the link.
Rest of the links will be in dump fashion.
50 years ago, 'Freedom Summer' changed South, US – SFGate
… hundreds of volunteers — mostly Northern white college students — who descended on Mississippi during what came to be known as "Freedom Summer." They came to register blacks to vote, and to establish "Freedom Schools" and community centers to help prepare those long disenfranchised for participation in what they hoped would be a new political order.
Opposition was brutal. Churches were bombed, volunteers were arrested, beaten — even murdered.
The Rabbi Cardinal O'Connor Never Knew: His Grandfather – NYTimes.com
In his 16 years as the Catholic Church's top official in New York, Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor was a staunch friend and defender of the Jewish people.
He spoke often about what he had seen at Dachau as a Navy chaplain. He used his platform as head of the Archdiocese of New York to support Soviet Jewry, and played a role in the Vatican's recognition of the state of Israel. Mayor Edward I. Koch, a Bronx-born Jew who worked closely with the cardinal, proclaimed that he loved him "like a brother."
Yet there was something Cardinal O'Connor apparently never knew: His mother was born a Jew, the daughter of a rabbi.
This is from OpEdNews.com…so not sure of the veracity. Article: Fukushima's Children are Dying | OpEdNews
Some 39 months after the multiple explosions at Fukushima, thyroid cancer rates among nearby children have skyrocketed to more than forty times (40x) normal.
More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people–nearly 200,000 kids–tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. The rate is accelerating.
See what I mean. Read it, because it is alarming….even more so if the reports are true.
From Phys.org: Oregon hopes to be first state to map GMO fields
A couple of links on World Cup 2014:
As World Cup Begins, Refereeing Again Becomes an Issue – NYTimes.com
2014 World Cup ball has better aerodynamics: NASA
This next link is from a magazine called the Best of Sicily. After you read it, take a look around the site…it is awesome! Joan of England, Joanna Plantagenet, Queen of Sicily – Best of Sicily Magazine
Since we start with a medieval history link, let's take a look at a few more…from Medieval.net:
Quiz: Can You Name the Location of These Churches?
A Grave Revisited: On Grave Robbery in Viking Age Iceland
Medieval Images of the Human Body
And sticking with old ass news…but not medieval old ass news:
91-Year-Old Man Returns Library Book after 61 Years
Back in 1953, the world was a different place. We were somewhere between a Truman and an Eisenhower presidency, Dean Martin and Perry Como were leading the charts, and people used these rather crude and uncivilized collections of books called libraries. Egads, how did they live before the internet?
Ron Webster of Derbyshire, England, was working as a research assistant at the social sciences department of the University of Liverpool, and checked out a book from one of these libraries entitled Structure and Function in Primitive Society. But when he left to work in London, he committed the grave crime of forgetting to return his library book.
It wasn't until very recently, 61 years later, that he discovered the book and realized where it came from. So, he did the honest thing and returned the book. Librarian Phil Sykes was pretty amused at the situation. Via University of Liverpool:
They called me and said you've got to come down. There's a gentleman trying to return a book he took out in 1953. He's 91-years-old!
I can only think of one thing:
But check out the fees that were owed…
Webster racked up a sizable late fee of £4,510 (20p per day for 22,550 days), but Sykes was kind and sane enough to waive the fee.
"Of course, I cannot condone the late return of books but I remitted the fine of £4,510 on the condition that Mr Webster agreed, henceforth, to live an exemplary life and return all his books on time."
That is some big money. Dude was lucky they waived the fees.
Well, I will end this post with a tale of a King called Lear: Putting the baa into the Baaard: It's King Lear with sheep
"A friend of mine has just got back from Harvard," it reads, "and is putting on a version of King Lear in which the cast is almost exclusively composed of real sheep in Shakespearian costume."
If you think this is a joke, its not…check out their Facebook page:
DIG presents King Lear with Sheep
A stubborn director is trying to put on a production of King Lear with a cast composed solely of sheep. As expected, his actors are both silent and mutinous. Much chaos ensues. King Lear with Sheep is an experimental re-evaluation of its famous predecessor that overturns theatrical conventions through the startling and revolutionary device of costumed sheep.
Sheep! In tiny costumes!
Capacity is EXTREMELY LIMITED so arrive early if you want a seat! The event is free, but there will be a suggested donation on the door (so I can give my sheep a living wage)
Writer/Director —- Heather Williams
Producer/Assistant Director —- Lucie Elven
Costume Design —- Ava Asaadi, Camille Auclair, Anna Reid
Set Design —- Pippa Scarcliffe
Build Crew —- James Butler
Lighting Design —- Nick Morris
Sound Design —- Cy An
Director —- Alasdair Saksena
King Lear —- Sheep #1
Cordelia —- Sheep #2
Goneril —- Sheep #3
Regan —- Sheep #4
Gloucester —- Sheep #5
Edgar —- Sheep #6
Edmund —- Sheep #7
Kent —- Sheep #8
Some of the sheep will be playing multiple roles. There will be a bar.
I love it!!!!!
Hopefully they post some pictures of the sheep in drag, I mean in costume. If so I will update the thread.
Ah, well…in the words of a famous porker (he's no sheep mind you.) "That's all folks!" Y'all have a great day…what are you up to this Father's Day?
Thursday Reads: Even the genuine rats have feelings…Posted: June 12, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, Affordable Care Act (ACA), Black Agenda Report, Domestic terrorism, Elections, fundamentalist Christians, GLBT Rights, Medicaid, morning reads, racism, Rape Culture, Real Life Horror, Republican politics, right wing hate grouups, Tea Party activists, the GOP, U.S. Politics, Violence against women, Women's Rights | Tags: Dan Savage, Dave Brat, George Will, rats have regrets, Sen. Stacey Campfield 39 Comments
Good Morning
I don't know if we should be so excited about the shocking runoff election results that put Cantor out on his ass. Don't get me wrong…it is exciting to see the shitstorm this unexpected "fall" from the top is causing within the GOP. But this?
Did Cantor's Loss Inspire Extra Crazy Time Today?
Who is today's worst person?
1. Oklahoma state House candidate Scott Esk, for being "OK" with stoning gay people to death.
2. Rep. Louie Gohmert for using a Congressional hearing to speculate about whether non-Christians go to Hell.
3. Pat Robertson for telling kids not to turn their father in to the police when he threatens their mother with a gun.
That was from Eric Loomis at LG&M…he then asked, "What is wrong with this country?"
I say, What is wrong with these fucking people?
By "these" people I mean, people like the tea party ass who beat Cantor in that runoff election. David Brat: Hitler's Rise 'Could All Happen Again' – Little Green Footballs
The Wall Street Journal has some excerpts from a bizarre pseudo-libertarian essay written by Tea Party heartthrob Dave Brat, warning that Hitler's Rise 'Could All Happen Again'.
Raise your hand if you're shocked that a Tea Party religious fundamentalist employs confused Nazi Germany comparisons to market victimhood. But also notice that in this quote, Brat is pretty openly establishing his position as a Christian supremacist.
Go to the link to read the quote…
Makes this image all the more enjoyable. Stanley Kubrick's letter to James Aubrey « Kinoimages.com
Oh, if only we could shove that femur up the ass of all those tea party idiots.
Anyway. Hear are a few other long reads for you that you will find interesting…I think this may run along the lines of heavy-duty kale eaters?
Students outraged that "tranny" used in discussion about word itself
Some transgender students and allies at the University of Chicago are outraged that a word they consider a slur was used in a guest-speaker discussion about the controversy over the word itself.
At the risk of inspiring another petition, the word is "tranny," which is longtime slang for transgender. It's been used both positively and negatively in the past (and present).
The guest speaker was gay writer and activist Dan Savage, who is arguably America's most effective spokesman on gay (and quite possibly trans) civil rights. Savage was one of the masterminds behind the widely-acclaimed "It Gets Better" campaign, and behind last year's boycott of Russian vodka that put the issue of Russia's intolerance towards its gay and trans citizens on the map.
Savage was declared public enemy #1 a few years back by a fringe coterie of vocal activists; mostly for things he allegedly said, but that when you go back to the original sources you find he didn't actually say at all. The same activists have also attacked Savage for being an advocate of marriage equality.
The word "tranny" has been in the news of late, as some trans activists, but certainly not all, find the word offensive. It was a word that has long been used by pro-trans gays and straights alike. (I never used it, though I have younger friends who have and still do, and not with any animus — it's the simply the word they use for trans people.)
Back to the University of Chicago. The pro-trans activists say the discussion that Savage had with moderator Ana Marie Cox about the controversy over the word "tranny" put them "in a state of distress," made them "feel unsafe," and that the discussion "made [a] trans student so distressed that they had to run out of the room in tears."
The basic argument here is that the word "tranny" is "hate speech," and that even in a discussion about the controversy surrounding the word "tranny," the word cannot be used.
Like I said it is a long read…so be sure to finish it.
This is Savage's answer to the student petition and controversy: About That Hate Crime I Committed at University of Chicago | Slog
And one more post from AmericaBlog: The end of gay history
But hey, you know what…things are sometimes a source for musical comedy: "Don't Say Gay" Tennessee Republican to be Lampooned in Musical
You remember state Sen. Stacey Campfield, don't you? He's the Tennessee lawmaker who tried to make it illegal in Tennessee for teachers to discuss anything about sexuality with their students, and then, because that wasn't enough, tried to make it so that if schools found out a student's orientation, the schools would be required to out the student to parents? Yeah, well, that dude is getting his own parody musical.
A Nashville theatre group, Music City Theatre Company, plans to produce an "original political satirical show" around Campfield, which will be a 45-minute, five-player revue, said co-writer/co-director Michael McFadden. The promotional materials for the show depict Campfield in a tuxedo and a large top hat made of Old Glory.
According to McFadden, there are several great moments in Campfield's political history which will be depicted, not just the "don't say gay" legislation. The Tennessee senator has also proposed tying welfare funding to children's grades, and recently made a comparison between the Obama Administration and the Holocaust. Seems like even going by actual commentary, the production could have a very "Springtime for Hitler" vibe to it. And it would be historically accurate to the state senate record!
What is amazing to me….is that this is the "third musical and fifth production" about Campfield.
Next up, The White Right's Impunity | Black Agenda Report
If a thousand armed Blacks had gathered in one place, pointing rifles at federal officers, and two of them later cold-bloodedly assassinated policemen, the federal response would touch every Black neighborhood in America. But the armed white Right gets a pass. Racists are resources to those in power. "The national security state's legitimacy is based on (white) mass fear and loathing of the Other."
Yes…that is the tease paragraph for a BAR article written by Glen Ford. He makes a big point with that opener. Go and check out the rest.
See here: Shooters in Metro ambush that left five dead spoke of white supremacy and a desire to kill police | Las Vegas Review-Journal
And here: Military court probes 'Dark Horse' militia; may be intense, but it's not 'extremist' | Suits & Sentences | McClatchy DC
There are some upsetting items regarding women and the rape culture too:
George Will Says Being A Rape Victim Is A 'Coveted Status' In College
Columnist George Will thinks that being a rape victim is now a "coveted status" on college campuses.
No, really.
The conservative titan wrote about "the supposed campus epidemic of rape, a.k.a. 'sexual assault,'" in a piece on Friday. He put this trend down to increased political correctness on college campuses, which, he said, was proving that when universities "make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate."
Will then used the example of a woman whose experience he recounted would certainly fall under the definition of rape, and continued:
Now the Obama administration is riding to the rescue of "sexual assault" victims. It vows to excavate equities from the ambiguities of the hookup culture, this cocktail of hormones, alcohol and the faux sophistication of today's prolonged adolescence of especially privileged young adults.
Why? Why is this asshole still allowed on the air?
Another rape culture one: She Accused A TV Anchor Of Rape And Got Dragged Through The Tabloids
For the first time, Maria Di Toro speaks publicly about her 2012 allegations against Greg Kelly, morning show host and son of former police commissioner Ray Kelly.
And this: Shakesville: Quote of the Day
"You have to start asking questions: Well, if evolution is true, and it's just all about the male propagating their DNA, we had to ask hard questions, like, well, is rape wrong?"—Creationist Darek Isaacs, "author of 'Dragons or Dinosaurs?'—which argues that ancient myths about dragons were based on human interactions with dinosaurs—and the founder of the Watchman 33 end times blog," during an episode of the "Creation Today" online broadcast.
He said marriage would be "anathema" in an evolutionary worldview because it would limit sexual relations to one man and one woman for life.
"According to the evolutionary worldview, [if] that male is strong enough and he had wonderful genes, he should propagate his DNA as much as possible so that the species can progress," Isaacs said. "So it redefines everything about our society."
Makes me want to get that femur prop again…
Another good read from Shakesville: We Need to Talk About This
a woman who does public advocacy is subjected to this sort of abuse.
And it shouldn't be. Because every single woman I know who does public advocacy is subjected to it.
That's not a criticism of the people who don't know. They don't know, because we don't talk about it. I don't just mean we, the women who are targets, but we, the people. The readers who consume the content produced by those women. The media who refuse to have a loud and ongoing conversation about it. The law enforcement who ignore it. The lawmakers who have refused to create legal avenues of recourse for us. Our ostensible allies, who stay out of it, lest the sights gets trained on them. The harassers who silence us via more harassment.
Every person who tells us, when we, the women who are targets, try to talk about it, that we shouldn't. That we shouldn't give time and energy and fuel to harassers. That we shouldn't give them our attention. That we are empowering them. That we will cause them to escalate.
Every person who tells us that if we talk about it, it makes us look weak. That we are attention-seeking. That we revel in victimhood. That this is just how the internet is. That this is just how the world is. That if we don't like it, we should be silent.
Every person who tells us some reason that we should just shut up about an incessant stream of unrelenting abuse, because they don't want to hear about it; because it makes them uncomfortable to know the real cost of our work, to us; because they don't want to be made to feel obliged to do something about it.
Every person who has some inkling, but chooses not to really know. Every person who pities us, who feels impotent, who finds some reason to justify their indifference, who masks their indifference behind anger at us for talking about it.
All of us. We are all complicit in the silence that allows people to be surprised by what is done to us.
Not every woman who receives this abuse feels safe enough to talk about it. But I do. Or, if I'm going to be perfectly frank, I don't feel any less safe than I already do. Every day.
And because I can talk about it, I'm going to. We need to talk about this. Those of us who can.
Have y'all seen this? From Ireland…
800 Dead Babies Discovered in Septic Tank Of Home for Unwed Mothers
Police are investigating the discovery of 800 long-dead babies found in the septic tank at a home for unwed mothers in western Ireland. The Home (that is its actual name and, yes, it does sound freakishly ominous) housed thousands of pregnant and unwed — "fallen"— women between 1925 and 1961. The women left after they'd paid for their stay in indentured servitude. Their children, reports The Washington Post, may not have been so lucky.
A housing development and playground now stand on the land where The Home once stood. And while many would like to forget the horrible things that went on there, the discovery of the 800 infants (and possibly more, once excavation starts) is dredging up many memories for the locals.
More Appalling Revelations in the Irish Mother-and-Baby-Home Scandal
The Irish radio station Newstalk has acquired records suggesting that children in this type of home were essentially used as pharmaceutical guinea pigs:
Three trials were conducted at homes at Bessborough in Co. Cork, St. Peter's in Westmeath, St. Clare's in Stamullen, and The Good Shepard in Dunboyne – both Co. Meath – as well as six Dublin homes.
The research was carried out between 1960 and 1976.
In one of the trials, 80 children became unwell after they were allegedly given a vaccine intended for cattle as part of an experiment run at five care homes and orphanages in Dublin during the mid 70s.
A nun from one of the participating homes told Newstalk that parents gave consent for their children to participate in the trials. But Susan Lohan, cofounder of the Adoption Rights Alliance, calls B.S.: "The mothers of the children were not consulted on anything regarding their childrens' welfare," adding that, "I find it, frankly, not credible, that the managers of those places would have made an exception when it came to the vaccine trials."
Speaking of drug trials: Orexigen's diet pill may get FDA approval this week
While here in Georgia, Lifting the lid on the debate over Medicaid expansion | Political Insider blog
Now for something funny. The 5 Most Hilarious Actor Meltdowns Behind Famous Movies | Cracked.com
#5. Marlon Brando Demands a Bucket Hat and a Personal Dwarf
Marlon Brando is responsible for some of the most memorable performances in movie history in films like The Godfather, On the Waterfront, and Apocalypse Now, but he's also responsible for testing the patience of pretty much every director he worked with. The man had an ego the size of a Brando. He held so much power that he could wear an ice bucket over his head and it would wind up in the finished film.
We know this because it actually happened.
"That had better be Twinkies you're pouring in there."
That's a real still from The Island of Dr. Moreau, possibly the worst movie in Brando's long career, as well as the careers of people who weren't even in it. It was probably this realization that made Brando decide that, if his name was going to be associated with such a turd, he was at least going to have some fun doing it. And so, when filming began, Brando wore something not in the script: a random ice bucket he found. And he refused to take it off.
Brando also wore a radio earpiece that would feed him his lines, in part because the script was constantly being rewritten and in part because he was beyond giving a shit at this point in his life. The problem was that, according to his co-star David Thewlis, the earpiece would sometimes get interference from police frequencies, so Brando would end up acting out lines like "There's a robbery at Woolworth's!"
That, or Brando was purposely doing that just to fuck with them … which is highly likely.
And that wasn't even the most bizarre thing to happen on the set. At one point, Brando told the director that he would not perform unless a midget whom he had befriended during production appeared next to him in all his scenes, so then that happened — you know the miniature version of Dr. Moreau who accompanies him everywhere? That's not in the book or the script. Brando forced them to add all those scenes. And that, friends, is why this happens in the movie:
The dwarf (who had a successful television career in South America) then inspired "Mini-Me" from Austin Powers, although that isn't an accurate comparison; a mini-me version of Brando would be the size of Edward Norton. Speaking of which, Brando co-starred with Norton and Robert DeNiro in the less crappy film The Score. Did you think Brando looked more in shape in that movie than in Dr. Moreau? Well, that's just because he refused to wear pants, forcing the director to shoot him only from the waist up.
And finally…get this, those GOP ratfinks like that Campbell, Robertson, Esk…etc. have no feelings of regret about those things they say or what their actions (or non-actions) have on people, human beings. Yet rats, the animals, Rats regret their decisions, study finds | The Rundown | PBS NewsHour
New research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience this week finds that regret may not be just a human emotion. It turns out rats also experience regret.
Researcher David Redish at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis set up a "restaurant row" for his lab rats. The "restaurants" consisted of four stops where the rat could receive one option of his favorite flavor foods — banana, cherry, chocolate and a fourth unflavored food. The rat stops at the entrance and presses a button, which made a sound. The pitch indicated how long the rat needed to wait for food, anywhere from one to 45 seconds. If the rat was impatient, it could walk to the next stop and try again. However, each rat had an hour to get through the course, so it needed to be efficient.
To watch how these decisions manifested in the brain, Redish and his colleagues wired electrodes into the rats' brains, so they could monitor the neural activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. Specific neural patterns indicated which foods the rats were thinking about at the time.
The experiment replicates a common human dilemma, Redish said. You go to a restaurant, discover it has a long wait and decide to go somewhere else, only to find your second choice restaurant has an even longer wait.
To the researcher's surprise, when the rat got a "bad deal" it immediately turned around and looked back at its first choice. It's neural pattern changed, and it thought of the first-choice food.
"That's the regret," Redish told National Geographic.
But regret is not just wishfully thinking about the past. Redish found that the regretful rats were more likely to wait longer for a "bad deal" than they would normally. They also ate their less-desirable treat more quickly. A few of the rats learned from their mistake and their neural activity showed them planning their next food stop.
Have a good day. What are you reading today? See ya around the comments…
Wednesday Reads: Lysol Disinfectant…Still "the girl he married"Posted: May 14, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, 2016 elections, Barack Obama, court rulings, Crime, Domestic terrorism, History, morning reads, racism, Republican politics, Republican Tax Fetishists, right wing hate grouups, science, seniors, Tea Party activists, the GOP, The Right Wing, U.S. Politics, Vagina, We are so F'd, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: militia groups, Operation American Spring, Tea Party Nuts 75 Comments
Good Morning
Oh, I am really trying to stay awake here, but just not making it work at all! This sinus crap has its grip on me dammit. So…this is going to be a link dump…with a huge image gallery to boot!
It looks like there is some wingnut asshole planning a revolution? I guess you can call it that, I don't know what else to call this shit: Operation American Spring promises to drive Obama from office this Friday
Self-styled revolutionary patriots plan to converge on Washington, D.C., this week to drive President Barack Obama and disloyal lawmakers out of office.
"We are calling for the removal of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, and Eric Holder as a start toward constitutional restoration," said retired Army Col. Harry Riley, leader of the Operation American Spring protest group. "They have all abandoned the US Constitution, are unworthy to be retained in a position that calls for servant status."
Operation American Spring aims to pressure those lawmakers who remain – or are replaced by officials of their own choosing – "to sponsor and pass very Constitutionally crafted State legislation to dissolve the size, powers, scope and spending of the U.S. Government by 2/3rds."
Yes, that is no mere coincidence that my first link of this morning's news reads is about a douchebag… and all the images you will see on the thread today deal with douches. I am very literal when I feel like shit.
The activists say they expect 10 million to 30 million like-minded Americans to join them Friday in the nation's capital for a rally patterned after Occupy Wall Street and "Arab Spring" protests.
They also plan a sister event the same day in Bunkerville, Nevada, where militia groups have gathered to support scofflaw rancher Cliven Bundy in his dispute with the federal government.
Organizers also anticipate "incremental nullification" by state legislatures of "all withholding taxes, employment taxes, employer taxes, and income taxes."
"This will effectively DOUBLE the size of ALL American Middle Class family weekly paychecks and cause our local city and town economies to boom," the group promises on its Facebook page.
Tea Party Nation promoted Operation American Spring last month in an email to its members from founder Judson Phillips, who hinted at a violent response from the federal government, and sent invitations in January to the protest.
"There is no way a militia with small arms can defeat the kind of arms the U.S. government can bring to bear on such a battle, but one has to admire the courage of those people who showed up to confront them," Phillips said, comparing the protest to the American Revolution. "That's quintessentially American!"
Gawd, can't these assholes be arrested for treason or something? (I know that they can't.) You really need to read the rest of that Raw Story article, it is beyond belief…well, no it is not. We all know what these batshit crazy bastards are capable of…Case in point: Ron Paul fanboys think those Sandy Hook truthers are on to something, so hmmm…
After the post went about about the dick who stole the sign from Grace McDonnell playground and then called the girl's mother to tell her her daughter never existed, I was alerted to a little somethin' somethin' at The Daily Paul.
What is the Daily Paul, you might rightly ask? It's just a hub for Ron Paul lovin' and also 'Peace … Gold …Love,' just like Jesus and Ron Paul preached when they were talkin' 'bout rEVOLution. Over at the Daily Paul you can get your fill of guvmint being wrong stuff, sovereign citizen updates, and some truly sweet Ron Paul swag, ownership of which will come in handy if you wear it to your interview for an ambassadorship in Rand Paul Administration.
Providing, of course, President Rand doesn't cut off wasteful communication with foreigners because they are not Americans.
And you can also find out that the whole Sandy Hook massacre thing that left 27 people dead seems a little hinky and is probably not true and here is just the guy to 'splain it all to you from this man-castle in Florida.
Meet Wolfgang W. Halbig.
This dude is not your average douche of the truthers…he has credentials. The former law enforcement kind…and he has been "inside" the public school system…as the Raw Story article continues,
He's worked in public education as a teacher, dean, assistant principal, principal of an alternative school and as the Director for School Safety and Security for the Seminole County Public Schools, a school district of approximately 65,000 students."
He has also been a Florida State Trooper, which gives him law enforcement cred, because Florida is the crazy crime center of the universe.
What set Wolfgang's conspiracy gears ratcheting up into overdrive was a couple of Florida homicide detectives stopping by his home and telling him to quit sending harassing letters to Connecticut officials and school board members and even the Sandy Hook nurse who hid in a closet with some kids. You can read a few of his increasingly shrill letters here.
My favorite is to Sandy Hook Elementary nurse
To: Sally Cox <email@example.com>
Subject: SHS Parent Contact
I am a trainer for the US Justice Department COPS IN SCHOOL PROGRAM.
Are you a registered Nurse?
Why in the closet for four hours?
Why close your eyes when you have seen blood before you are a nurse?
Wolfgang W halbig
Seems like a reasonable request of a woman who was on-site when a crazy person strolled around and murdered twenty elementary children and six of her friends and colleagues. WHY SO QUIET LADY! WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!??!
And lest you think that Halbig is just a lone crank in the wilderness, he set up an account at gofundme to raise money to complete his 'investigation,' because he needs the money to hire lawyers to depose employees of the school and the officials who investigated the massacre and, hey, maybe a few of those fake grieving parents.
Who wouldn't want to relive those days to satisfy the curiosity of some guy who lives a thousand miles away?
Total raised so far: $20,370.00, with the page shared 1.5K times on Facebook.
What the fuck is it with these people?
They are so willing to donate money to the cause of shit like this, but will not consider a slight tax for assistance to feed hungry kids in their own states?
Go and read the whole article, I picked through it, there is more audacity to shake your head at…also Alex Jones.
Since I am on the douchebag crazy kick now: Tea Party Scores Wins in Tuesday primaries | Washington Watch | McClatchy DC
That should make you cringe.
What about this for a turn: Not Crazy Enough | BobCesca.com | News and Politics Blog and Podcast | We Cover the World
Why did Charleston Republicans censure South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham? Was he caught wearing diapers with a hooker?
No, of course not. Republicans don't censure for that anyway. Lindsey Graham was censured for not being crazy enough.
The censure document against Graham included more than two dozen points, such as Graham supporting President Barack Obama's nominees for the Supreme Court and also working with Democrats, according to the Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina.
The vote to censure Graham was 39-32. It was conducted by secret ballot.
Graham is charged with committing the most unholy of sins; working with Democrats for a very brief moment before going back to bleating about Benghazi.
Seriously, I feel like we beat a dead horse here. It just amazes me, these right wingers are like the EverReady bunny…they never quit.
Now that it is prom season, Teen Girl Kicked Out Of Prom So Her Dress Wouldn't Lead Boys To 'Think Impure Thoughts' | ThinkProgress
The dress was not bad either, I have seen way worse:
A 17-year-old high schooler from Virginia says she was kicked out of her prom because the parental chaperones were worried she was inspiring "impure thoughts" among the boys in attendance. Even though her dress adhered to the "fingertip length" dress code requirement, she was asked to leave.
Clare recounts her experience in a guest post on her sister's blog. After Clare and her boyfriend bought tickets to the Richmond Homeschool Prom, she bought a new dress that she made sure was long enough according to the event's "fingertip length" rule. But Clare is 5'9″, and even though the hem of her dress was within the guidelines, she says her long legs led some chaperones to assume she was breaking the dress code.
After Clare and her friends hung out a little bit on the dance floor — she writes that they weren't even dancing, just "swaying with the music and talking and enjoying ourselves" — Clare was pulled away by one of the dance's organizers, who told her that some of the fathers chaperoning the event had complained about her. They reportedly said that her dancing was too "provocative" and she was going to "cause the young men at the prom to think impure thoughts."
When Clare protested that she wasn't even doing anything, she was told that her dress was too short and she needed to leave. She says she demanded to speak with the woman who was in charge of the prom, but the other chaperones refused to let her.
"I was told that the way I dressed and moved my body was causing men to think inappropriately about me, implying that it is my responsibility to control other people's thoughts and drives," Clare writes in her blog post. "I'm not responsible for some perverted 45 year old dad lusting after me because I have a sparkly dress on and a big ass for a teenager. And if you think I am, then maybe you're part of the problem."
The so-called "fingertip rule" is a common dress code requirement in public schools to monitor girls' hemlines. But Clare isn't the first student to complain that it doesn't accurately reflect different body types. Last week, an eighth grader in California wrote a letter to the editor of the Merced Sun-Star arguing that it's a bad way for schools to regulate shorts. "Some girls have longer arms, almost to their knees, and others have arms that end about quarter of the way down their thighs. How is enforcing this rule equal and fair if fingertip-length varies?" she pointed out.
I love what she wrote about her ass…and about the men being part of the problem. Kudos to you Clare!
And one thing honey, your ass is nowhere near big babe!
In a surprising ruling: Texas judges halt execution over mental health appeal | Al Jazeera America
Go figure, I was certain that execution was a go for launch.
The US is on a special list, according to the UN: GENEVA: U.S. alone among Western countries on lack of paid maternity leave, UN finds | Now that, is not a surprise.
So, big news in underwater archeology:Exclusive: Found after 500 years, the wreck of Christopher Columbus's flagship the Santa Maria – Archaeology – Science – The Independent
"All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus' famous flagship, the Santa Maria," said the leader of a recent reconnaissance expedition to the site, one of America's top underwater archaeological investigators, Barry Clifford.
"The Haitian government has been extremely helpful – and we now need to continue working with them to carry out a detailed archaeological excavation of the wreck," he said.
If that does not tickle your fancy, perhaps this will? Video: Dumbo octopus | Earth | EarthSky
If you have never thought of an octopus as being cute, here's your chance.
This dumbo octopus was spotted during the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer Gulf of Mexico 2014 expedition and identified as the highlight of the cruise by many of the scientists and viewers alike.
Scientists say it displays a body posture that has never before been observed in a cirrate octopod (Cirrata is one of the two main divisions of octopuses.) And non-scientists say it displays a cuteness never before observed in an octopus!
And, if a dumbo swimming octopus doesn't do it for ya, maybe this? Most detailed view yet of Milky Way's magnetic fields | Science Wire | EarthSky
A new map of the entire sky offers a remarkably detailed picture of the magnetic fields that shape the Milky Way, including field lines that run parallel to the plane of the galaxy and great loops and whorls associated with nearby clouds of gas and dust.
Researchers created the map using data from the Planck Space Telescope, which since 2009 has charted the light from the universe shortly after the Big Bang known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
But Planck also observes light from much closer than the farthest reaches of time and space. With an instrument called the high frequency instrument (HFI), Planck detects light from microscopic dust particles within our galaxy. The density of the dust is incredibly low; a volume of space equal to a large sports stadium or arena would contain one grain.
But then, you may be the sentimental type, so something like twins being born holding hands is syrupy enough for you: These Rare Newborn "Mono Mono" Twins Held Hands Just After Birth
Identical twins are rare, but monoamniotic identical twins, who share the same amniotic sac and placenta, are even more so—they make up just 1% of all twin pregnancies. That's why everyone is so excited that a lucky Ohio mom gave birth Friday to a pair of "mono mono" twins who clutched each other's hands as doctors held them up.
"They're already best friends," said Akron, Ohio, mom Sarah Thistlethwaite, 32.
Then again, nothing makes me feel feisty like reading about old people in wheelchairs and walkers kicking ass and taking names.
Silver Patrol: Crime-fighting seniors on the beat look out for one another | Al Jazeera America
ean Smoak, a 70-year-old great-grandmother, made her way across the parking lot of her senior housing complex on a recent Friday night with her cane in hand, looking out for drug dealers and prostitutes.
The dealers, she said, cruise down Black Rock Avenue from Park Avenue in their "fancy sports cars" and stop by the lot's entrance, where they reach out their car windows and exchange drugs for cash.
Smoak, a retired health care worker, said she's fed up. She's been jotting down license plate numbers, which the leader of her senior crime watch group plans to pass along to police.
"When they come and do that, other dangerous things can happen," she said of the dealers. "The person that is waiting for it can come and steal money from people coming into the building."
Smoak has also been taking notes on the dates and times she sees prostitutes on the corner, suspecting that some stray from a nearby homeless shelter.
"They come out with their Daisy Dukes and short skirts and tights," she said, "and they're standing there like they're talking to themselves and they wait for a car to drive by."
Smoak is one of 10 members on the Silver Crime Patrol at the Eleanor, a 63-unit, low-income senior housing complex on Park Avenue on Bridgeport's west end.
See, birth and old age…a cycle of life…if you will. Pictures at the link, you won't be disappointed.
On another fight, this one for life too: Henna Crowns Help Cancer Patients Bring Beauty to a Difficult Time
Henna Heals, which boasts 150 henna artists around the world, offers a substitute to the traditional hats, scarves, and wigs that many use (my mother swore by the entire line of Raquel Welch wigs when she lost her hair) to cover their heads. Artists create intricate temporary crowns on the bare head with homemade henna paste. The designs last for about two weeks and, according to the organization's founder, Frances Darwin, are both empowering and healing:
"This is all about them reclaiming a part of themselves that would normally be perceived as ill or damaged or not nice to look at and making it more feminine and beautiful."
And finally, an explanation of the douche advertisements: Early contraceptive ads, for your viewing pleasure
.…Lysol advertising in the 1920s and 30s – specifically, on the use of Lysol as a contraceptive douching agent. Needless to say, it didn't work so well, and lots of women ended up with vaginal burns and lots of other medical problems from applying Lysol to their lady bits.
ETA: these are 4 of the 8 ads I looked at personally, from 1926-1934, but Lysol contraceptive advertising continued through the 1950s.
More vintage advertisements I found myself below, hope you enjoy them.
If you have any links you want to share please do, and….
Y'all have a "Lysol" clean day!
Sunday Reads: Yellow is the Color of my Sister SunPosted: May 11, 2014 Filed under: Art, child sexual abuse, Cuba, Discrimination against women, Domestic terrorism, Environment, Environmental Protection, GLBT Rights, Hillary Clinton, History, homophobia, income inequality, misogyny, morning reads, Republican politics, right wing hate grouups, science, SCOTUS, Second Amendment, Spain, Tea Party activists, the GOP, The Right Wing | Tags: Bundy Militia, Sun 18 Comments
Good Morning and
Happy Mother's Day
This is that special Sunday in May when we celebrate the mothers…so for all of those baby's mamas out there who read the blog, let me wish you a happy day.
So take a few minutes and watch this Mother's Day short…..Foghorn Leghorn: ▶ Mother was a Rooster – Video Dailymotion
Foghorn Leghorn is sound asleep when the barnyard dog places an ostrich egg beside him for a gag. When Foghorn awakes and sees the egg, he thinks he's its mother! The egg hatches to reveal an easily embarrassed baby ostrich that Foghorn regards as his son. The dog insults the ostrich repeatedly, causing him to bury his head in the ground. So, to protect his son's honor, Foghorn challenges the dog to a boxing match.
Okay….Let us start the post out with news that our Sister Sun has been found…and in honor of that bit of astrological news, all the images today will feature the color yellow.
From The Atlantic: Our Sun Has a Sister
The ancient Egyptians called it Ra. The ancient Greeks called it Helios. The ancient Mayans called it Kinich Ahau. The ancient Germans called it Sól.
Our longest-standing and most deeply held myths have so often revolved around the sun in large part because we humans have revolved around the sun. That distant sphere of glowing gas has been, to us fragile creatures, warmth and light and life itself. It has, we now know, been the center of everything we've known. No wonder we've assumed it was divine.
Which makes news just coming out of the University of Texas at Austin—soon to be reported in The Astrophysical Journal—particularly monumental. Our familiar star, it turns out, is not unique. Our sun has a sibling—a sister-star that almost certainly originated from the same cloud of gas and dust as our own shining orb.
Sounds amazing doesn't it?
That sibling? A star with the deceptively dull name of HD 162826. Said star is 15 percent more massive than our sun, and located 110 light-years away from us (in the constellation Hercules, which is, appropriately, un-dully named). We can't see the sun's sister unaided, but even a set of low-power binoculars reveals HD 162826 to human eyes. It's situated near (well, relatively near) the bright star of Vega.
The discovery was made by team of researchers led by the UT astronomer Ivan Ramirez, with help from several groups around the world. Using a combination of chemical analysis (high-resolution spectroscopy) and information about the stars' orbits (their "dynamics"), the team created a list of solar-sibling candidates that included 30 stars. Using information provided by telescopes at both the McDonald Observatory in Texas and the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, they narrowed the field. In the end, there was one that matched our sun.
More from Science Daily: Astronomers find sun's 'long-lost brother,' pave way for family reunion
"We want to know where we were born," Ramirez said. "If we can figure out in what part of the galaxy the Sun formed, we can constrain conditions on the early solar system. That could help us understand why we are here."
Additionally, there is a chance, "small, but not zero," Ramirez said, that these solar sibling stars could host planets that harbor life. In their earliest days within their birth cluster, he explains, collisions could have knocked chunks off of planets, and these fragments could have travelled between solar systems, and perhaps even may have been responsible for bringing primitive life to Earth. Or, fragments from Earth could have transported life to planets orbiting solar siblings. "So it could be argued that solar siblings are key candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life," Ramirez said.
While the finding of a single solar sibling is intriguing, Ramirez points out that the project has a larger purpose: to create a road map for how to identify solar siblings, in preparation for the flood of data expected soon from surveys like Gaia.
"The idea is that the Sun was born in a cluster with a thousand or a hundred thousand stars. This cluster, which formed more than 4.5 billion years ago, has since broken up," he says. "A lot of things can happen in that amount of time." The member stars have broken off into their own orbits around the galactic center, taking them to different parts of the Milky Way today. A few, like HD 162826, are still nearby. Others are much farther afield.
You can read more involved details about how they came about figuring this whole thing out at the links above. The Science Daily is more technical. Funny how that blog highlights the find as a "brother sun" and the Atlantic article, written by a woman, dubs it a "sister sun."
I have some distressing linkage up next, stories that deal with assholes of varying degrees…so if you are in a joyous mood, you should skip the next few paragraphs. At least until you see a few stars in the left margin.
Many of you may have already heard of the ridiculous shit the Bundy militia was up to yesterday:
Saturday's Illegal Cliven Bundy-Endorsed ATV Rally Runs Through Sacred American Indian Sites | ThinkProgress
An illegal all-terrain vehicle (ATV) ride planned this weekend through Recapture Canyon in Utah is the latest flashpoint between anti-government activists and federal land managers. The illegal ride is already drawing criticism from the Navajo Nation, putting American Indian burial sites and cultural resources at risk, and has even forced the cancellation of a traditional Navajo Warrior welcome home ceremony for veterans.
Yet San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman (R-UT) and his supporters appear determined to defy federal law by riding their ATVs through Recapture Canyon, an area of southeast Utah known as a "mini-Mesa Verde" because it contains one of the highest densities of archaeological sites in the country.
According to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a network of right-wing elected officials, organizations, and prominent commentators share Mr. Bundy's anti-government views and are advancing proposals to seize or sell-off federal public lands in eight Western states.
This network of so-called 'Bundy's Buddies' includes the Koch-funded organization Americans for Prosperity, U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul (R-KY), Utah Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Utah State Representative Ken Ivory. Ivory leads the American Lands Council — a group dedicated to advocating for the seizure of federal lands.
A new website from the Center for Western Priorities, BundysBuddies.org, identifies additional elected officials who share the anti-government views of Bundy and Lyman.
Bundy son leads 300 activists in armed protest for right to ATV in Utah's sacred 'Recapture Canyon'
Hundreds of activists seeking to directly challenge federal control of swathes of territory in the U.S. West on Saturday drove dozens of all-terrain vehicles into protected land in Utah that is home to Native American artifacts and where such journeys are banned.
The ride into Recapture Canyon, which comes amid heightened political tensions, is a protest against indecision by federal land managers on whether to reopen canyon trails to recreational vehicle use after more than seven years of study.
About 300 people rallied at a nearby park before dozens of people, some of them armed with guns, set off in about 60 ATVs down a closed-off trail, which winds through red rock desert. The local sheriff had armed officers on horseback monitoring the protest.
The dispute is the latest squabble between conservative states' rights advocates in Utah and across the West, who want to take back millions of acres of public land over which federal agencies have authority. More than 60 percent of Utah's land is under federal control.
The canyon in the Four Corners region of Utah is home to the ruins of ancient dwellings and other cultural resources of Ancestral Puebloans. The Bureau of Land Management closed the area in 2007 after an illegally constructed trail was found and some artifact sites were damaged.
Geez these assholes are a threat to society. As Tommy Christopher reports for The Daily Banter, the townspeople are still waiting for support from their sheriff…because the militia is still harassing the towns residents. Nevada Sheriff 'Currently Looking Into' Reports Of Bundy Ranch Militia Harassing Townfolk | The Daily Banter
In other asshole news here is one that is somehow surprising: Former George Zimmerman defender now says he was guilty, racially profiled black men
A former friend and neighbor of George Zimmerman, who had previously defended the man accused of stalking and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, has had a change of heart, stating that he believes that Zimmerman got away with murder.
Frank Taafe, who served on the neighborhood watch with Zimmerman, told News13 he believes Martin was racially profiled by Zimmerman and would not have been followed if he "had been a white kid on a cell phone."
"What I know of George and his tendencies and also my opinion is that he racially profiled Trayvon Martin that night because if that had been a white kid on a cell phone, walking through our neighborhood, he wouldn't have stayed on him the way he did and that's a fact and I believe that in my heart," said Taaffe.
Go figure. And what could have made Frank change his mind?
According to Taafe, recent tragedies in his own life made him reconsider his opinion and feel the need to apologize for his earlier stalwart defense of Zimmerman .
"I can only ask for the country to forgive me and today I believe that he racially profiled him based on the color of his skin. Reporter: Some people may wonder what does Frank Taaffe have to gain by doing this?" Taffe explained. "Are you working on a book? No book. A TV show? No. I'm just working on me right now and getting right with God."
Taafe also expressed his condolences to Trayvon Martin's parents, saying, "I'm sorry that you lost your son, I know what that's like and I wish things had been different."
Alright, here is the real disgusting parts…we will go through them quickly:
Texas man arrested for suspected premarital sex with 16-year-old wife | Reuters
Oh yeah, but get this shit:
The marriage may be legal but the suspected premarital sex was not, authorities said on Saturday after arresting a 41-year-old Houston-area drama teacher for the alleged sexual assault of a child, his 16-year-old wife.
Ilich Guardiola, who also works as a voice actor in Japanese animations, was pulled over in a traffic stop in the Houston suburb of Spring Valley last month and later questioned about his relationship with the teen riding with him, police said.
Shortly after the incident, Guardiola married the teenager, who has not been identified, in Las Vegas with the approval of her mother, who witnessed the wedding.
Police said there is circumstantial evidence that the two engaged in a sexual relationship prior to legal marriage.
"The marriage is absolutely legal. We received a copy of the marriage certificate," said Gary Finkelman of the Spring Valley Police Department.
Guardiola was arrested on Thursday at his Houston-area apartment for violating a Texas law that forbids sex with a child, regardless of the child's consent. A child is defined as a person under 17 years of age.
Any state where the marriage of a 41 year old man to a 16-year-old is "legal" has to be fucked up to begin with, the other part of that article (the alleged sexual assault) goes without saying.
In another Texas fuck up: 'Friday Night Lights' school in Texas embroiled in sex scandals | Reuters
The school behind the book, movie and TV series "Friday Night Lights" has become mired in scandal with five staff members investigated for suspected sexual relations with students, including a teacher who died this week, a likely suicide.
Mark Lampman, 47, resigned as a government teacher on Tuesday from Permian High School in Odessa after the school in western Texas received an anonymous tip about an improper relationship between him and a student, school officials said.
"When they questioned him, that's when he turned in his resignation and left," district spokesman Mike Adkins said.
He was found dead on Wednesday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, the Ector County Sheriff's Office said.
Lampman is the fifth staff member to be accused in the last year of having an inappropriate relationship with a student. One of those employees was later cleared of wrongdoing, school officials said.
In April 2013, a Permian swim coach and a trainer resigned and were later indicted on charges of improper relations between educator and student. Last month, a Permian employee also resigned amid claims made by parents to school district police of an inappropriate relationship with a student.
The staff members were not immediately available for comment.
It is disgusting. Yeah, the school district says they are "looking into it" but it seems like things are just getting looked over to me. (You can read the rest of the article yourself and make your own decision.)
Oh, and not to shit all over Texas, but if it fits: Houston Authorities Searching For 'Serial Defecator'
Deputies with the Harris County Precinct One Constable's Office say a man has been terrorizing a neighborhood in the Woodland Heights area of Houston by going to the bathroom in several yards at night.
"We've had reports from six to eight neighbors out there that someone is actually coming into their yard and defecating — generally on their driveways," said Sgt. J.C. Mosier.
Authorities believe the unknown man is committing the act between 1:00 and 4:00 a.m., but a motive for crimes has not yet been established.
"I think the neighbors are laughing about it, but that's because it's only happened to two houses in the neighborhood. If it starts happening more, I think people might become enraged," says Amy, who lives in the Heights. "How much poop can one man make though?"
She says one person's house has even been hit as many as six times.
"I'm thinking revenge poop is definitely a possibility. We're all wondering, what did this person who's having the creep-crapper hit their house repeatedly do?"
Sgt. Mosier agrees that revenge could be the motive, as he recalls a similar event many years ago in the Houston area.
Ha…you can laugh all you want at that…but the stock image they have for the story is a cop pulling a gun. Go check it out.
Now we move on to this shit: Rape allegations against Oregon basketball players roil campus – Los Angeles Times
A few key points,
- 3 players named as suspects in sexual assault dismissed from Oregon basketball team, though never charged
- Prosecutors decline to file sexual assault charges, but Oregon kicks three players off basketball team
- 1 freshman, 2 sophomores booted from @OregonMBB. University cites 'profoundly disturbing' police report
It looks like the US Executive Branch is not the only one who pays women less than men, via The Independent: Foreign Office pays female staff less than men
The Government is also missing its target on recruiting women into the department and in UK missions abroad, the research shows.
The figures follow the announcement by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond last week that women should be allowed to serve on the front line. Yet despite the attempts to achieve greater equality at the Ministry of Defence, it seems across Whitehall, however, the Foreign Office is struggling in the battle for parity between the sexes.
Nice to know that kind of sexism is seen equally on both sides of the pond./snark
Okay, now I am going to give you some links to news on the LBGT front. The most exciting of which is this:
Michael Sam picked by St. Louis Rams, set to be first open gay NFL player | Al Jazeera America
Michael Sam was picked by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the NFL draft Saturday, becoming the first openly gay player drafted by a pro football team.
"Thank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. I'm using every ounce of this to achieve greatness!!" Sam tweeted moments after he was picked, with a picture of himself wearing a Rams cap and a pink polo shirt.
The impact of Sam's selection goes far beyond football. At a time when gay marriage is gaining acceptance among Americans, Sam's entry into the NFL is a huge step toward the integration of gay men into professional team sports. Pro sports have in many ways lagged behind the rest of society in acceptance.
Isn't that a fucking good bit of news. This was neat trivia too:
More on Michael Sam here: This video of Michael Sam finding out he was drafted will *actually* restore your faith in humanity – Salon.com
Michael Sam made history on Saturday by become the first openly gay athlete ever to be drafted by an NFL team. There had been some doubt as to whether or not Sam would be drafted at all, but with the eighth-to-last pick in the 2014 NFL Draft's seventh and final round, the St. Louis Rams selected the University of Missouri star. It was an historic moment made even more so by the remarkable video footage of Sam finding out he'd made the cut, which you can view below.
Two links on transgender up next. One about Cuba…New Photobook Documents the Travails of Transgender Cubans | Mother Jones
Of all the allies in the global fight for LGBT equality, Cuba may be the most unlikely. For decades, the island was notorious for its crackdown on "social deviants"—an underclass that included homosexuals, transgender people, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and anyone critical of the Castro regime. The 1960s were especially bleak. Deemed unfit for the revolution, gay Cubans were banned from joining the military or becoming teachers. Thousands were confined to isolated labor camps. Conditions deteriorated further in the '80s and '90s as Cuba quarantined HIV-positive citizens, many of whom were gay.
Mariette Pathy Allen's new photobook, TransCuba (Daylight Books), captures a country slowly outgrowing its history of persecution. Shot in 2012 and 2013, the book is haunted by the trauma inflicted by Fidel Castro's government. But it is optimistic about life under his brother, Raúl, who assumed the presidency in 2008. Since the change in power, Cuba's Ministry of Public Health has approved state-funded sex reassignment surgery, and the government has relaxed many discriminatory policies targeting sexual orientation and gender. In 2012, Adela Hernández became the country's first openly transgender person elected to public office. Perhaps most shockingly, in a 2010 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Fidel Castro called his decision to imprison homosexuals in the 1960's "a great injustice…I'm not going to place the blame on others," Castro said, "We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death."
Despite its progressive reforms, Cuba continues to have serious problems, particularly with transgender rights. "I see transgender Cubans as a metaphor for Cuba itself: people living between genders in a country moving between doctrines," Allen writes. The women she documents are grateful for the increasing tolerance, but they still suffer from entrenched stigmas.
And one about the new singing sensation out of Europe: A Bearded Drag Queen Just Won The Eurovision Song Contest
Austrian bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst won the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday with a James Bond-inspired entry that had unleashed a wave of protests in eastern Europe before the competition.
The power ballad, "Rise Like a Phoenix," helped Wurst — the alter ego of 25-year-old Thomas Neuwirth — secure Austria's second victory in the competition with 290 points. The country also won in 1966.
"This is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom," a tearful Wurst said as she accepted the trophy from Denmark's Emmelie de Forrest, who won the contest last year. "We are unity."
You can listens to her performance here:
Amid growing tensions over the Ukraine crisis, some in Eastern Europe have blasted Wurst as an example of the West's decadence. Activists in Belarus had even urged the country's state television network to bypass the live broadcasting rules by the organizers and edit the Austrian entry out of its Eurovision transmission.
After her victory, Wurst told reporters she hopes gay, lesbian, bi and transgender people around the world are getting stronger in their fight for human rights.
Asked if she had anything to say to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who introduced a law last year prohibiting so-called gay "propaganda," Wurst said, "I don't know if he is watching this now, but if so, I'll say it: 'We're unstoppable.'"
In Vienna, the Austrian capital, fans who had gathered at one of the public viewing parties chanted "Conchita" ecstatically after the victory. Some had painted on fake beards in support.
I love it! Good for her!
And now a few links in dump fashion…
Unidentified remains arrive at 9/11 museum amid controversy | Al Jazeera America
Scientists Still Working to ID Victims From 9/11 – ABC News
I don't think we will ever get to identify all those remains. The ghost from that day will haunt us forever. Well, they haunt me, that is for sure.
This next audio story and picture gallery is about people who hunt ghost for a living: Looking for Gauteng's Ghosts
Men and women don uniforms and carry their high technology to abandoned houses, hospitals and bars in search of the lost souls of the dead.
And when we think about something from the past haunting us…I am sure this man had that feeling for most of his life: Secret service agent in iconic LBJ photos dies – The Washington Post
Thomas "Lem" Johns, a former secret service agent present during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and swearing in of Lyndon Johnson, has died. He was 88.
Lem Johns is pictured in iconic photos from Nov. 22, 1963 aboard the presidential plane where Johnson was sworn in. One photo shows Johns standing behind former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy as Johnson consoles her following the oath of office.
Johns was assigned to Johnson's security detail at the time of the shooting and was riding in the motorcade when the shots were fired.
Those are some heavy duty images to see in a photograph, imagine having them imprinted in your memories…
So, here is something to think about: A Hard Sell to Tame a Name in Spain
CASTRILLO MATAJUDÍOS, Spain — To outsiders, it might seem obvious that the time has come, or long passed, to change the name of a village that evokes one of the darkest chapters of Spain's history.
But the mayor of Castrillo Matajudíos — roughly, Little Hill Fort of Jew Killers — is having a tough time persuading the 56 registered inhabitants of this sleepy village to vote on May 25 to adopt a different name and finally eradicate a link to the persecution of Jews during the Spanish Inquisition.
Read about the fascinating history of how this town got its name at the link, you may be surprised.
As with everything else, things get bigger with age: Super-Sizing Movie Monsters, Ctd « The Dish
You can read about that graphic at the link too.
And a heads up! Hobson's Choice: Get it right, people! | Suits & Sentences | McClatchy DC
Hey lawyers: Stop misusing the phrase "Hobson's choice." Please, Suits & Sentences begs this of you.
On Thursday, during health-care law arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, attorney Robert Joseph Muise several times employed the phrase. Each time, he used it to mean an impossibly tough choice; specifically, that facing religious employers who must either provide contraceptive coverage to workers or pay a fee.
"That is a Hobson's choice," Muise told the three-judge panel.
No, it's not.
A Hobson's choice, unless its meaning has been totally remade by constant misuse, refers to something that's not a choice at all. As explained here:
" Thomas Hobson (1545–1631) ran a thriving carrier and horse rental business in Cambridge, England, around the turn of the 17th century. Hobson rented out horses, mainly to Cambridge University students, but refused to hire them out other than in the order he chose. The choice his customers were given was 'this or none;' quite literally, not their choice but Hobson's choice."
Or, in the alternative, it's a movie, a San Francisco bar or a Williamstown, Mass. steak restaurant. But it is not, not, not simply a choice between unpleasant alternatives.
So…on May 22nd, at 11pm, TCM will be playing Hobson's Choice. It really is a delightful movie, directed by David Lean. Watch it, you will love it! There is a good article about the film here: Hobson's Choice (1954) – Articles – TCM.com
Ah, a bit of history for you: Did the Vikings reach Madeira?
New research about mice on Madeira suggests that the Vikings may have visited the Atlantic island 400 years before it was colonized.
In an article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research team from the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (Imedea) in Majorca and the University of La Laguna analyzed the bones of two mice skeletons found in dunes on the eastern edge of the island. Radiocarbon tests on the second skeleton revealed that the mouse lived from 903–1036 AD.
And some science: From duck vaginas to bumblebee sex: The amazing, overlooked science of genitals – Salon.com
Reproductive organs throughout the animal kingdom are just about the craziest thing that's ever been described in scientific literature. Did you know, for example, that female ducks have complex vaginas that coil in the opposite direction of males' equally complex penises, allowing them to thwart attempts at forced copulation? Or that the penises of particularly lucky species of crane fly function as vibrators? Or, for that matter, that the human female clitoris is about the size of a medium zucchini — and sports more nerve endings than the penis?
Something for the film buffs, behind the scene pictures of: William Friedkin on set of "The Exorcist" « Kinoimages.com
Artsy fartsy link now: Over 300 Years Ago, An Artist Created And Documented Every Color You Can Think Of
Thanks to Pantone, the contemporary authority on all things color, we have a way of documenting the chromatic flow — all 2,100 hues it's gleaned from the visible ends of the rainbow. But artists have been recording the depths of color for much longer than Pantone's lifespan, mixing and melding pigments to create the violets, turquoises and ambers we ogle in art history books.
One such artist was A. Boogert, a man who created a massive manual on color nearly three centuries before Pantone ever came into being. Back in 1692, he crafted around 800 pages of handwritten and hand-painted pages under the title "Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l'eau." Written in Dutch, the treatise was a painstaking trek through the tints and shades of every color you can think of. It was, as This Is Colossal speculates, probably the most informative color guide of its time.
You can see the entire book online here.
Oh and fabulous Hillary news: Congratulations to Dr. Chelsea Clinton and Happy Mothers' Day to Hillary Clinton | Still4Hill
Couldn't be prouder of @ChelseaClinton today. Congrats on your doctorate. http://t.co/M4PiBFqUej—
Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 10, 2014
And we will end this post with a Mother's Day link video: Watch 100-Year-Old Moms Share Advice on Motherhood
For these moms, all 100 years or older, motherhood has a lot of meanings. The women talk about everything—from how it felt to find out they were going to be moms to the heartbreak of sending their children off to war.
The video, courtesy of Mashable in honor of the 100th anniversary of Mother's Day, asks what it means to be a mother. "Strength," says Sadie Adler, triumphantly. "Listen to your children and treat them as a grown up," she advises. Connie Isaacs has another great idea about how to parent. "Let your kids do what they want to do," she says, laughing.
Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy your special day!
Sunday: V-J Day, Goodbye Kisses, Working Women and Warning SignsPosted: March 16, 2014 Filed under: Accommodation and Compromise, Affordable Care Act (ACA), Baby Boomers, China, Foreign Affairs, History, Medicaid, Medicare, morning reads, Real Life Horror, Religious Conscience, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Russia, Russian elections, science, Tea Party activists, the GOP, The Right Wing, Ukraine, Ukraine, Vagina, War on Women, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Alfred Eisenstaedt, Glenn McDuffie, Koch Brothers, penis pumps paid for with medicare dollars, philanthropists, the brain initiative, WWII 33 Comments
Good Morning
I think it will be safe to say that today's post is retro, super retro. And I really do not have all the space I need to post all the historic pictures I would like to post…so there will be links to other pages/galleries, and you must spend some time looking through the fascinating images.
Like the one to the right ———–>
Look at the expression on that woman's face, if she could slam that thermos up-side the guy's stupid head she would…but she appears too damn tired of hearing the kind of shit he is saying to even bother replying to the asshole.
At least the tag line on the bottom of the poster got it right:
America's Women Have Met the Test!
Too bad that opinion did not last when the boys came back home.
I often wonder what would have happened if the Republican push to get women and their views on politics back in the kitchen was not as successful as it was during the 5o's…can you imagine?
Anyway, this may seem a little familiar to my post from Wednesday, but there is a reason for this opening thought:
You must have heard that the sailor in one of the most iconic pictures of World War II died last week…V-J Day, 1945: A Nation Lets Loose | LIFE.com
Glenn McDuffie, a Navy veteran who long claimed to be the sailor photographed kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J day — and whose claim was reportedly backed up by a police forensic artist — has died. He was 86 years old. (LIFE magazine — in which the now-iconic Alfred Eisenstaedt photo first appeared — never officially identified either the sailor or the nurse.)
Made almost 70 years ago, it remains one of the most famous photographs — perhaps the most famous photograph — of the 20th century: a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square on V-J Day in August 1945.
That simple, straightforward description of the scene, however, hardly begins to capture not only the spontaneity, energy and sheer exuberance shining from Alfred Eisentaedt's photograph, but the significance of the picture as a kind of cultural — indeed a totemic — artifact.
"V-J Day in Times Square" is not merely the one image that captures what it felt like in America when it was finally announced, after a half-decade of global conflict, that Japan had surrendered and that the War in the Pacific — and thus the Second World War itself — was effectively ended. Instead, for countless people, Eisentaedt's photograph captures at least part of what the people of a nation at war experience when war, any war, is over.
Glenn Edward McDuffie, who long claimed to be sailor in iconic Times Square 'kiss' photo at end of WWII, dies – NY Daily News
McDuffie, who passed away Sunday in Texas, had said he was motivated to randomly kiss the pretty nurse on the day Japan surrendered because it meant his brother would be getting released from a Japanese prison camp
The Texas man who made headlines for his repeated claims to being the sailor who randomly kissed a woman in Times Square, leading to one of the most iconic photographic images of World War II, has died.
Glenn Edward McDuffie passed away at age 86 on Sunday in Texas after suffering a heart attack at a casino earlier in the day, his daughter told the Daily News.
McDuffie claimed for years he was the strapping sailor who planted one on the lips of the swooning woman on August 14, 1945. He said it was a spontaneous act of unbridled euphoria sparked by the announcement of Japan's surrender.
The Life magazine photographer who took the famed shot, Alfred Eisenstaedt, did not record the names of the subjects, and many people have claimed to be the mysterious sailor. In 2007 noted forensic artist Lois Gibson, who works for the Houston Police Department, said she positively identified McDuffie as the sailor. Her technique was to take numerous pictures of the older McDuffie and overlay them over the original. By doing so she said she compared the sailor's muscles, ears and other features to McDuffie's, and found them to be a match.
Take a look at the rest of that NY Daily News piece, it has later pictures of McDuffie along with some photos of him when he was young…and other older interview quotes as well.
But back to the Life Magazine link for a little more:
…two small but significant pieces of information related to Eisenstaedt's rightfully famous "Kiss in Times Square" might come — especially when taken together — as a real surprise to fans of both photography and of LIFE magazine in general.
First, contrary to what countless people have long believed, the photo of the sailor kissing the nurse did not appear on the cover of LIFE. It did warrant a full page of its own inside the magazine (page 27 of the August 27, 1945, issue, to be exact) but was part of a larger, multi-page feature titled, simply, "Victory Celebrations."
Closely tied to that first point is the fact that while the conclusion of the Second World War might be something LIFE magazine, of all publications, could be expected to feature on its cover for weeks on end, the magazine's editors clearly had other ideas. In fact, not only did Eisensteadt's Times Square photo not make the cover of the August 27th issue; no image related to the war, or the peace, graced the cover. Instead the magazine carried a striking photograph of a ballet dancer.
An underwater ballet dancer.
War is over! that cover seems to say.
After years of brutal, global slaughter, our lives — in all their frivolous, mysterious beauty — can finally begin again.
Amen to that.
Some of the pictures in that Life Magazine's gallery are beautiful, they have published pictures that were not published in the original 1945 piece. Like this one below, of the V-J Day reaction in Hollywood:
I love that woman's shoes! This article also is connected to another WWII era gallery at Life, Fighting Words: World War II Battlefield Signs | LIFE.com
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms," the American poet Muriel Rukeyser once wrote, and more and more, as time goes by, that sounds about right.
But what if paying strict heed to every written word that one saw every single day meant the difference between survival and annihilation? What if the misreading of a sign on an unfamiliar road, for example, meant not the inconvenience of a missed turn, but a sudden, violent death?
Here, LIFE.com takes a look at some of the countless signs that troops encountered during the course of World War II, from the islands of the Pacific to the deserts of North Africa to the ruined cities of Europe. Official warnings; adamant instructions; wry, handwritten inside jokes — all of them silent reminders of a conflict that, until the very end, dished out one paramount, universal command: Pay attention!
So again, check that link out along with the following:
Alfred Eisenstaedt Life Photographer on Pinterest
On the Job in WWII – Rosie and Friends. on Pinterest
This last board has some posters from WWI as well:
Vintage Ads, Billboards, Signs, Posters on Pinterest
Here are your newsy links for today, after the jump.
Wednesday Reads: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle but not Master to HerselfPosted: March 12, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, abortion rights, Accommodation and Compromise, Afghanistan, birth control, court rulings, Democratic Politics, Discrimination against women, Domestic Policy, fetus fetishists, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Iraq, legislation, misogyny, morning reads, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Political Affective Disorder, Psychopaths in charge, Real Life Horror, Religious Conscience, religious extremists, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, science, Tea Party activists, the GOP, U.S. Politics, Vagina, Violence against women, War on Women, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Brenda Starr Reporter, Firehair Queen of the Sagebrush Frontier, Lady Luck, Sally O'Neil, Sally the Sleuth, the dames in Gangsters and Gun Molls, Underworld, women in comics 1940's and 1950's 70 Comments
Morning Afternoon
I am a coward. A big fat coward. I've spent the last countless days avoiding the computer so that I could have an excuse not to go online.
Why? Because one of my oldest childhood friends from Florida…whom I've lost touch with over the years, but is someone who is connected deeply to my memories of growing up that I could not even comprehend a world without her…this person who shared life dreams with me…is currently getting treatment for third-stage breast cancer.
The chemo is making her sick as hell. Her long natural curly hair is all gone, she's bald, and the things that seem to keep her going now are the three kids (20, 15 and 6) and her crazy family and her close friends, which are more like family to her then the one she and her sister survived from.
Honestly, I cannot tell you how many adversities she has fought through. My one repeated memory of her locking her bedroom door when we were little, and sleeping with a kitchen knife under the bed should give you a hint. The fact that the mother did not "believe" the stories…or divorce the father until years later. Oh…it is amazing that the family has even worked through it, albeit understandably with tensions still intact.
It was something I could not face. To read her email telling me how her treatment was going, what it was doing to her physically, financially and emotionally. Shit.
I finally sent her a message yesterday and told her what a coward I was…and why I had not responded to her the past couple of days. I am so pissed at myself.
It really makes me want to check out even more, especially with so much crap going on, and so many good people like my friend…struggling to get through the day. As if she did not have all the shitty obstacles of her life to get across, then to have additional road blocks put up by rich ass dickwad politicians and hypocritical assholes. The hoops she has jump to get her treatments covered in Gov. Rick Scott aka Voldemort's State of Florida is ridiculous. It just adds to an already stressful situation. I hate it.
The reason for that longer than usual opening is to give you the sense of my mood. My frustrations.
Now, on to a few items of fancy this morning…you see these old comic clips?
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
She was the first woman "heroine" main character to have a comic book all to herself. Years before Wonder Woman!
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is a fictional, American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House. She was the first female comic-book character with her own title, with her 1937 (in Great Britain; 1938 in the United States) premiere preceding Wonder Woman #1 (cover-dated Dec. 1941). Sheena inspired a wealth of similar comic-book jungle queens. She was predated in literature by Rima, the Jungle Girl, introduced in the 1904 William Henry Hudson novel Green Mansions. Sheena was ranked 59th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.
An orphan who grew up in the jungle, learning how to survive and thrive there, she possessed the ability to communicate with wild animals and was proficient in fighting with knives, spears, bows, and makeshift weapons.
This woman kicks ass…as you can see if you take a look at her archive of comics:
Here…at this link (which is a site Boston Boomer sent to me a little while ago The Digital Comic Museum and it is fantastic.) The Digital Comic Museum > Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
Or…here: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (Fiction House)
Both are good sites with lots of downloadable comics that have become part of the public domain.
One thing you will notice is the change in Sheena as she transitions into the 1950's woman.
Take a look at this gallery of covers and see the way she is represented, in both the artwork and situations on the covers and the various titles and headlines.
Sheena went from a cover where she is alone kicking a guy's ass in a crocodile suit and, "She rules a world of killer beast and savage men!" to an ape grabbing her suggestively around the waist, and a dudebro saving her by shooting another ape with, "Trek the jungle trails of killer beast and savage men with Sheena wild beauty of the Congo."
Well, that was just my observation.
The Digital Comic Museum has some wonderful comics to look through. Luckily they have more Women in Red comics, so maybe another installment of our shero is in the future?
Other strong woman characters from the late 30's and 40's included Brenda Starr Reporter, Sally O'Neil Cop,
Sally the Sleuth in Crime Smashers (Check out the first Sally the Sleuth story here… Love the lipstick gun!), Firehair Queen of the Sagebrush Frontier, Lady Luck (who was later replaced by Wendy the Waitress) and the dames in Gangsters and Gun Molls and Underworld.
I think if you spend some time, and bookmark some of those pages, you will have an enjoyable few hours wasted away…and forget reality of what is going on in the real world…where those women in the comic books from the 40's seemed to be given more credit for being an individual "thinking" human being (flawed or not) than what the assholes give women of today. I mean I am not blind to the advances that have been made, but seriously? Links below the jump will connect to this point.