What Passes for Normal

Hilary, sexism and all that

2008-03-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

I think that Anna Quindlen has it right. I'm also wondering about the personal characteristics of those women supporting Clinton. One thing, that I think you can't erase is personal history.

The women that I know who I see supporting Hilary are professional or academic women my age or older who have been self-sufficient their entire adult lives. They usually have been either the first or one of a handful of women in their particular career. And they just can't believe that they are hearing the same old "chicks can't do that" line over and over.

Certainly, that's been my own experience. I was one of three women on the cross-country team with a very sexist coach. I had to use the weight room over the grumblings of the football players. In college, there were only a handful of women in the math classes and graduate economic classes that I took. I was the highest-ranking woman at the consulting company I worked at who had children and was married. And, while it wasn't easy, I think it was necessary and once you had a woman in the position the situation changed *very quickly*.

I also notice a real difference between women of my age (mid-forties) and the women who were the real pathbreakers following Title IX (~8 years older) or even older. I admired and respected their doggedness on my behalf and really felt like I would be letting them down if I didn't step up to the place at the table that someone else had set for me. In my case, my feminist foremother was my actual mom, one of the only two women in her college in India, a nationally-ranked athlete, a Peace Corps teacher and a woman could not get a job due to discrimination.

The so-called "third wavers" in the US, however, I think, feel no such loyalty for the sacrifices of past generations. I don't if that's because they've experienced this misogyny on such a day-in-day-out basis or because, rather than seeing these women as mentors or role models, these were the women who might have been the cranky boss, the petty tyrant, the face of the establishment.

Today, I look in dismay at the things some younger adult "feminist" women are willing to give up (self-sufficiency, last name, time) or the things they will let people say in order to differentiate themselves from the female feminist geezers. I think "hey, that's not okay". But, in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, so it goes.

Personally, I think that in most women's lives, their husband will disappoint them at some point, their looks will fade, they will get either ignored or castigated as a "ball-buster", etc. at work. And I think you have two choices: keep fighting to achieve your goals or let other people define you and your agenda.

One bright note are my children. Both of them are feminists and don't feel that there is anything they can't do or a role that the sole domain of single gender.

The Lonely Life of a Hillary Clinton Supporter

2008-02-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I as out shopping. A white woman in her 50s with maroon spiky/dirty hair glared at me as I walked from the Baby Gap to the parking lot. She yelled "FUCK Hilary. Fuck her". And then said to me "Yeah, keep walking, keep walking". Un-real. All because I had a little "Hillary Clinton" button next to the peace sign on my coat. I wanted to say "Hey, the 80s just called and want their hairdo back".

But that's the lot for we Hillary supporters. I didn't start out one -- I was was very pro John Edwards. I felt his "two Americas" resonated with what I felt was a big problem in this country. And I thought he could win. But he dropped out before my primary, so I chose Hilary. And I was leaning that way from a while because I was getting pretty disgusted by the rampant sexism, lookism, ageism that I felt Clinton was subject to, unlike the other candidates.

More and more, I agreed with my 73 year old mom, one of only two girls at her college in a city in India. She told me she was supporting Hilary (and I should too) because these men have tried to bring her down for two decades and she's never let them. I felt my mom was speaking for herself and that she admired Hilary's grit.

My high-school age daughter was also a Hillary supporter because as she said "The boys at school talk about how they'd never vote for a chick. It makes me so mad!". Believe me, it makes me mad, too.

And then I read Gloria Steinem's piece about how Barack Obama would be judged differently were he a different gender. And it's true. People would look askance at a woman with young children and a husband who worked as a lawyer running for president. Because that's not what society thinks woman should do. Women should be attractive, thin, support their men, raise their children and then disappear....

I'm not disappearing and I don't think Hillary is either. I voted for Hillary because she seems to care about healthcare and poor children. Not many politicians today do. Is she perfect? No. But none of us are -- we just don't have all our mistakes failures broadcast on cable TV and litigated by Ken Starr.

Scales fell from my eyes

2005-11-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

I grew up with the Vietnam war and watched the Watergate hearings with my mom. I remember thinking "I want to be a journalist" when Nixon resigned -- the press had the power to expose a corrupt administration and expose it for what it was. This was why we had freedom of the press -- to help the average man and woman.

When I wrote for the school newspapers as a teen, I'd usually write non-investigative stuff: profiles of people, movie reviews, reports of public meetings, the school humor column. I liked it but didn't really work hard -- I like the awards and the attention as much as the writing.

After seeing the movie version of "All the President's Men", I realized that my reasons to go into journalism were flawed. I didn't just want to expose injustice, I wanted to be famous for it. Which were two very different things.

I didn't begrudge Woodward or Bernstein, my childhood heroes, their fame. But, I did notice that Woodward's books became increasingly bizarre and less journalistic and more novelistic. Especially the one where he writes down what the dying Casey is thinking. Weird, yeah but I guess a guy's got to make a living. And he's not covering up, right?

Wrong. Dead wrong. He kept Mark Felt a secret only because he wanted to get a juicy book deal out of it. I thought that was a bad move and showed he cared more about making a buck than decency to an old guy who helped him out when he needed a break.

Okay, so he wasn't perfect. Who is. And when he became a public commentator and dismissive of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation, I thought that these were the ramblings of a middle aged man who held up his glories while diminishing those of younger men. Oh, well, he's a vain, ageing inside-the-Beltway sort. He's not evil.

Now it turns out he knew all about the smear campaign by the administration of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson but chose not to write about it, tell the writers involved, or tell his boss. He felt no loyalty to the truth. He was forced to tell it and still insists on silence.

So let me say this, you morally bankrupt journalists. Your audience is the public. The non-connected non-elites. The people you cover are not your friend. Stop f*cking over the non-connected people. No fabulous party is worth dying knowing you've made the lives of most people in the world WORSE due to your uncritical, unthinking work.

ps. Bob Garfield has a great takedown of Judith Miller, pal of Lewis "I LOVE Bears" Libby.

2005-08-26T06:29:00.000-07:00

We used to care about women's rights then we realized -- Hey, we're guys!!

2005-08-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is actually the transcript from the end of "Meet The Press" this Sunday, August 20th. Not, surprisingly, the participants included three white men, including David "I Heart Hilary Duff" Gregory. And here's what they had to say (bold added by me for emphasis):

MR. GREGORY: Fast forward to this morning. Gentlemen, we put this on the screen from The New York Times. "[American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay] Khalilzad had backed language [in the constitution] that would have given clerics sole authority in settling marriage and family disputes. That gave rise to concerns that women's rights, as they are annunciated in Iraq's existing laws, could be curtailed. ... [The[ arrangement, coupled with the expansive language for Islam, prompted accusations from [a Kurdish leader] that the Americans were helping in the formation of an Islamic state."

Mr. Diamond, is that a change of position?

MR. DIAMOND: It would be, I think, a substantial change if it's true. We need to wait and see what exactly is true. All of these are just reports. Let me say, I don't think we have--and I think Reuel would agree with this--we don't have the power anymore to foreclose this, to veto this. We're not a veto player there anymore. But neither do I think the United States should be endorsing it. And I think our clear stand should be in favor of individual rights and freedoms, including religious freedom, as vigorously as possible. So I hope the ambassador on the ground is standing up for that principle.

MR. GREGORY: Mr. Gerecht, the consequences of this?

MR. GERECHT: Actually, I'm not terribly worried about this. I mean, one hopes that the Iraqis protect women's social rights as much as possible. It certainly seems clear that in protecting the political rights, there's no discussion of women not having the right to vote. I think it's important to remember that in the year 1900, for example, in the United States, it was a democracy then. In 1900, women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we'd all be thrilled. I mean, women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there. I think they will be there. But I think we need to put this into perspective.

MR. GREGORY: All right. We're going to have to leave it there. Gentlemen, thank you. Reuel Marc Gerecht and Larry Diamond, we're going to leave it there. Thanks to you both.

And we will be right back.

(Announcements)

MR. GREGORY: That is all for today. Tim Russert will be back right here next week, because if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS.

Okay, so after I picked up my jaw from the floor after the bone-headed comment that "we'd be pretty happen with a democracy that resembled America in the 1900's", I wondered what exactly "we'd" be happy with? The virulent racism, anti-Catholicism and anti-Jewish sentiment of the KKK? The lynchings? Segregation? The soon-to-be enacted anti-Asian laws? Child Labor? God, such a virtual smorgasboard of bad not to mention subjugation of women.

And, I don't know if this is too obvious but the right to not have your father or brother murder you, the right to marry, escape an abusive relationship, protect your children or attend school is not a freaking "social right". And mullahs shouldn't have a say in these matters at all.

And the other two bozos were worse because they did not call him on it at all. One merely expressed "the hope" that America would do anything. David Gregory, just smiled. Such a nice smile for such ugly words. Maybe he was humming "So Yesterday" in his mind. It's so important to be friendly and be value free, right?

Because these three fellows do have the same values -- guys rule!! And, like John Roberts, would no doubt prefer an Islamic state like Saudi Arabia, the home the 9/11 bombers to Iraq, a country where women did have the right to vote, did not cover their hair, and went to school.

Or at least that's how I see it. Because in a society where merit was more important than gender, these guys would be unemployed.

How are Americans different than Nazis?

2005-06-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

In a heartwretching New York Times essay, Arlie Hochschild writes about the detention of eight year olds. In Guantanamo and in Abu Ghraib. Policies which are sick and illegal. She writes:

Under international law, the line between childhood and maturity is 18. In communications with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the Pentagon has lowered the cutoff to 16. For this reason among others, we don't know exactly how many Iraqi children are in American custody. But before the transfer of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority to an Iraqi interim government a year ago, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported registering 107 detainees under 18 during visits to six prisons controlled by coalition troops. Some detainees were as young as 8.

Since that time, Human Rights Watch reports that the number has risen. The figures from Afghanistan are still more alarming: the journalist Seymour Hersh wrote last month in the British newspaper The Guardian that a memo addressed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld shortly after the 2001 invasion reported "800-900 Pakistani boys 13-15 years of age in custody."

Also, the children received the same torture, degradation and humiliation as the adult prisoners:

According to Amnesty International, 13-year-old Mohammed Ismail Agha was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2002 and detained without charge or trial for over a year, first at Bagram and then at Guantánamo Bay. He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to sleep deprivation. "Whenever I started to fall asleep, they would kick at my door and yell at me to wake up," he told an Amnesty researcher. "They made me stand partway, with my knees bent, for one or two hours."

A Canadian, Omar Khadr, was 15 in 2002 when he was captured in Afghanistan and interned at Guantánamo. For 2½ years, he was allowed no contact with a lawyer or with his family. Seventeen-year-old Akhtar Mohammed told Amnesty that he was kept in solitary confinement in a shipping container for eight days in Afghanistan in January 2002.

A Pentagon investigation last year by Maj. Gen. George Fay reported that in January 2004, a leashed but unmuzzled military guard dog was allowed into a cell holding two children. The intention was for the dog to " 'go nuts on the kids,' barking and scaring them." The children were screaming and the smaller one tried to hide behind the larger, the report said, as a soldier allowed the dog to get within about one foot of them. A girl named Juda Hafez Ahmad told Amnesty International that when she was held in Abu Ghraib she "saw one of the guards allow his dog to bite a 14-year-old boy on the leg."

And this, just made me cry:

Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, formerly in charge of Abu Ghraib, told Maj. General Fay about visiting a weeping 11-year-old detainee in the prison's notorious Cellblock 1B, which housed prisoners designated high risk. "He told me he was almost 12," General Karpinski recalled, and that "he really wanted to see his mother, could he please call his mother."

I must do more to stop this horror and help these groups. I can't turn my eyes away -- this is my country doing this.

W Mark Felt, Deep Throat

2005-05-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this Vanity Fair article on the man who saved America from Nixon.

Although, I kind of miss Nixon. He gave us the EPA and food stamps. The people in power now just don't care.

Don't let the door slam you on your way out...

2005-04-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ted, Koppel, loser. Synchopant. "Hard-hitting" when talking to people who don't really have powerful friends. Showed the terrorists how to get on TV. I'm so glad that guy is gone. Not that I'm at all happy about his replacement.

What a Piece of Work is This Man

2005-02-18T20:02:00.000-08:00

Y'know, "Two Trucks" Summers . Here is the full transcript of his remarks at the NBER conference. His remarks are even worse than I thought.

The speech itself is repetitive and dull and convoluted. And yet he manages to insult not only women, but Catholics, investment bankers, Jews, farmers, whites, African-Americans, NBA players, cardiac surgery residents, immigrants and the children of immigrants. It's like fruitcake, in prose form.

My favorite part is the Q/A which got rather testy with actual scientists who did the actual research disagreeing with his "hypothesis". Here is my favorite exchange:

Two Trucks: ".....I'm going to run out of time. But, let me take-if people ask very short questions, I will give very short answers."

Smarter Person: "What about the rest of the world. Are we keeping up? Physics, France, very high powered women in science in top positions. Same nature, same hormones, same ambitions we have to assume. Different cultural, given."

Two Trucks: Good question. Good question. I don't know much about it.....

But you don't have to just take my word for it. Here's what a female professor with a husband and a kid thinks about Larry Summers.. Hint: She's not happy and she is Bitch, PhD, my new hero.

Sexist Pigs

2005-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

Larry Summers

Good, well written and venemous take-down of Larry Summers comments on women. And let's not even talk about his past idea of shipping toxic waste to third world countries since life is less valuable there.

Steven Pinker
I guess Steven Pinker claims there has been no gender research based on garbage evidence. Instead of "Blank Slate" it should have been called "My Beautiful Head of Hair filled with Preconceived Notions".

FWIW, one time I saw the Pinkster running in shorty-shorts while wearing those giant headphones from the 80s. He was also singing and shaking his head to the music. What made him behave like such a clown? Nature? Nurture? Regardless, my children laughed at the sight of him as did I.

Funny, sick and the truth

2005-01-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

You know, I’d like to see someone throw a telethon to benefit the women and children we haven’t killed yet in Iraq. THAT would take some balls. I wonder how it would go....

From Neal Pollack. Go read the whole thing.

Piss the Republicans Off

2005-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Laugh in Their Faces

Lend no credence to their crackpot theories by debating them. Instead treat the right wing as the mad hatters they are. Just laugh when they say something, followed by "you are really funny".

This is serious fun. Refuse to move to the right ("I can see where you are coming from") and refuse to let them define the message. Doing either makes them stronger. Laugh them away. Stop watching debate programs. Write approving letters to the editor. ("I think George Will's hilarious commentary is a good replacement for the retiring Dave Barry").

Make 'Em Pay for Abortions

From Femisting.com.

Are you wondering how to protest Inauguration Day (January 20)? Here's a way to make a powerful political point and also help women in need: "honor" George Bush, the most anti-choice President since Roe v Wade, by making a donation to the National Network of Abortion Funds. You know how pro-choice groups sometimes counter anti-choice demonstrations by asking people to Pledge a Picketer (give a small sum per demonstrator)? Think of this as Pledge a President!

NNAF, an umbrella for 102 local abortion funds around the country, helps poor girls and women with unwanted pregnancies pay for their abortions. Last year the member funds of NNAF donated $2 million to help nearly 20,000 poor women across the country—but the need is so much greater. By making a contribution to this important work you not only help women, you send a message to anti-choice Republicans—and their Democratic friends—that safe, legal and AFFORDABLE abortion matters to you and that you are not willing to have women's wombs turned into a political football to placate religious extremists.

To donate by credit card, go to http://www.nnaf.org and click the “Donate Now” button. Checks made out to NNAF can be mailed to NNAF, c/o Hampshire College, 893 West Street, Amherst MA 01002-3359. So that we can keep track of special Inaugural donations, please be sure to write "abortions—Inaugural protest" in the designation box or memo line. Bonus for on-line donors: If you dedicate your contribution to George W. Bush, you can send an e-card from the donation page (address it president@whitehouse.gov) and let the White House know that you celebrated the inauguration by supporting access to safe abortion.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could raise enough money so that no woman in our rich country had to continue a crisis pregnancy for lack of a few hundred dollars? Small donations quickly add up, so whatever you would like to give, NNAF will be thrilled and grateful to receive it.

Please forward this e-mail to your friends and post it in your lists!

Katha Pollitt and Jennifer Baumgardner

Martin Luther King, Jr.

2005-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

Let's not forget the eloquent man who inspired a nation. It's not just another day off. It's a day of social justice.

Some of his speeches make me weep, even to this day, because of their power. Like this excerpt from "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (April 16, 1963).

For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never."

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a 5-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.

!!!!! Ohio Electoral Votes Challenged !!!!!!

2005-01-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

Thank you, thank you Barbara Boxer. Unlike in 2000 Barbara Boxer and a Congresswoman from Ohio did join together and sign an objection which automatically launches an investigation.

Because every vote should count. That is what democracy is.

The End of the World As We Know It

2005-01-03T10:14:00.000-08:00

Another interesting new book by Jared Diamond (Guns, Germs and Steel) on why societies fail. He points to a disregard for the environment, strict values and failure to note and change behavior. I found this excerpt from the NYTimes Op-Ed particularly chilling:

History also teaches us two deeper lessons about what separates successful societies from those heading toward failure. A society contains a built-in blueprint for failure if the elite insulates itself from the consequences of its actions. That's why Maya kings, Norse Greenlanders and Easter Island chiefs made choices that eventually undermined their societies. They themselves did not begin to feel deprived until they had irreversibly destroyed their landscape.

Could this happen in the United States? It's a thought that often occurs to me here in Los Angeles, when I drive by gated communities, guarded by private security patrols, and filled with people who drink bottled water, depend on private pensions, and send their children to private schools. By doing these things, they lose the motivation to support the police force, the municipal water supply, Social Security and public schools. If conditions deteriorate too much for poorer people, gates will not keep the rioters out. Rioters eventually burned the palaces of Maya kings and tore down the statues of Easter Island chiefs; they have also already threatened wealthy districts in Los Angeles twice in recent decades.

Of course, another sign that the elite are out of touch (and are sick bastards) could be noted by the fact that the "Land of Liberty" is building permanant prisons at Guantanamo to hold people without trial indefinitely.

Happy New Year

2005-01-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Go Left!
A sensible platform with popular support that the left should adopt. Unless you're against food, health care, work, education and rewarding excellence.

Real Life Indian Lassie.
How great is this heartwarming tale about a dog who saved the little boy from the Tsunami?

Sangeeta grabbed her youngest two and ran -- figuring the oldest, 7-year-old Dinakaran, had the best chance of outrunning the tsunami churning toward their home.

But Dinakaran headed for the safest place he knew, the small family hut just 40 yards from the seashore.

Sangeeta thought she would never see him again, but the family dog saw to it that she did.

While water lapped at Sangeeta's heels as she rushed up the hill, the scruffy, yellow dog named Selvakumar ducked into the hut. Nipping and nudging, he harried the boy up the hill.

Over 100,000 Dead from the Tsunami

2004-12-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

More than half children. Open up your pocketbook. The people on NPR say donate to US charities so you can write the deduction off on your taxes. I think that's pretty cold. Donate to the place where the money will do the most good and thank your lucky stars to still be alive.

Like, Chennai (formerly Madras) which is in the Tamil Nadu Province, Sri Lanka or anywhere in Indonesia. I'll try and contact some relatives and get some names of charities that do a good job that are on the ground now.

I'm very concerned about the fact that NO ONE thought to warn anyone about 9.5 reading on the Richter scale. Jeez, if it's some rich guy's house on the Outer Banks, it's a tragedy. OTOH, if it's little children swept to their deaths while they are sleeping its really no big deal, I guess.

Whose Democracy?

2004-12-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

This map of Cuyohoga County precincts by minority percentage shows the bleak reality of voter suppression in Ohio and in the nation. The correlation between a precinct having a high precentage of spoiled ballots and being majority minority precinct is not coincidental, but rather the result of people in power doing everything, including breaking the law, to keep it.

The poloar ice caps will melt before Social Security goes away.

2004-12-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

Just my 2 cents.

December 14, 2004

2004-12-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

It's become somewhat of an article of faith that every mom who works feels pangs of guilt whenever she steps away from her child and into the working world.

Not me, man. The first day I was back at work after three months maternity leave, I was so happy. If I had some problem or something came up, I could just think about it or discuss it with another adult over a cup of coffee. All I had to remember was my purse. And it didn't need changing, feeding or enrichment activities (aside from a quick trip to the ATM).

Plus, I got to provide my kid with all the "extras" -- food, shelter, clothes, healthcare, loving caregivers, a stimulating environment. And my kids got to see how adults manage to make room for work, kids, home, hobbies and relationships.

December 12, 2004

2004-12-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

So Long Democrats!!

I got a really nice note from the DNC soliciting my input one day after I got the kick-ass email from Moveon.org . Funny that the DNC hasn't asked me anything until then, no?

Of course, as is the case with these fat-cats, they just wanted me to donate more money so they could give it to their good friends, the Inside-the-Beltway crowd. You know, the ones who thought a pro-gun anti-woman religious zealot was the best choice for Senate Minority leader.

Things I do care about:

The environment.
Making gun-related deaths rare, possibly by making guns really hard to own.
Choice. I don't care how many abortions a woman has. It's her choice, her uterus, her genes.
Gay rights. I glad my state has gay marriage.
Equality of access, whether to school, to the job market, or to the boardroom.
Universal healthcare regardless of ability to pay.
No more people without a place to live or food to eat.
Social justice.
Progressive tax code.

Things I do not like:

Racism and sexism. It exists and the 50s were 'great' for white men only.
Religion. Really can't stand it and don't want to hear about it.
The rising number of people in jail.
The fact that the 'minimum wage' can't support a family of four.

My list of values don't really seem to be "Democratic Party" values, so they can forget about any help from me. It's on to the Greens. Because most Democrats in DC today, except in rare cases (Ted Kennedy), most seem to care less about policies to help the needy and more about their own jobs.

October 4, 2004

2004-10-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the light/no posting but I've been crazy busy. Still am. But the election is soooo close.

Two Americas
Digby writes the best post ever summarizing why the contrast between GWs public/private persona really *is* a big deal and is illustrative of how he has destroyed the unity of this country.

He also has a great picture of the weird lump under GW's coat some speculate was connected to an earpiece.

July 30, 2004

2004-07-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Bad Hair Day

My husband could not stop laughing when Kerry mentioned the negative effect of "hair pollution". Substitute Wonkette cracks wise about this grave danger and what we can do about it. Get thee behind me behind me, FinalNet!!

Stepfirst Lady

George Bush speaking about why he shouldn't be fired said "perhaps the most important reason of all is so that Laura will be First Lady for four more years.. ". Hah Hah! Oooh, that's going *burn* John Kerry that he has smart, independent and opinionated Teresa Heinz for a wife. Imagine a women with an accent speaking for a nation of immigrants!

It's also very much like he's saying "Vote for me because my woman knows her place". (via funny feminist Lizz Winstead on "Unfiltered" on Air America).

Convention Wrap Up

Excellent, persuasive speech by John Kerry. Also great speeches by one of the men on his swift boat, John Edwards, Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Bill Clinton (of course!).

Just looking at the fabulous national delegates which seem to mirror America with many, many young people, minorities and women made me proud of my party. I tell you, it's a change from the state Democratic convention which seems to be comprised of aging white men wearing chinos and polo shirts.

Also, light traffic on most Hub area roads and near empty restaurants gave the town the very welcome 'ghost town' appearance of late August, when the entire city decamps for Cape Cod, Maine, or New Hampshire.

Bob Casey Myth

My neighbor repeated the factoid that "Bob Casey couldn't speak in 1992 Democratic convention because he was anti-choice". Despite claims to that effect by "Crazy Casey", it's just not true.

Media Matters debunks this claim with actual facts:

According to those who actually doled out the 1992 convention speaking slots, Casey was denied a turn for one simple reason: his refusal to endorse the Clinton-Gore ticket. "It's [Casey's claim that he was denied a convention speech because of his pro-life views] just not factual!" stammers James Carville, apoplectic over Casey's claims. "You'd have to be idiotic to give a speaking role to a person who hadn't even endorsed you." "Why are you doing this to me?" moans Paul Begala, who, with Carville, managed two Casey campaigns before joining Clinton's team in 1992. "I love Bob Casey, but my understanding was that the dispute was not about his right-to-life views, it was about the Clinton-Gore ticket."

[...]

Furthermore, a slew of pro-life Democrats, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley Jr., Senators John Breaux and Howell Heflin, and five governors, did address the delegates in 1992. Though the speakers didn't dwell on abortion, party officials say they weren't barred from mentioning the issue.

Listen, I wish the Democratic national party would come down even more strongly on the side of women. To me, being anti-choice is like being racist or a homophobe. These are odious beliefs and do not have any room in civil society.

July 22, 2004

2004-07-22T07:24:00.000-07:00

Greedy, greedy, greedy, greedy, greedy, greedy

Ted from Crooked Timber shows us just our Republican "public servants" in the Legislature and the Executive Branch are far more venal than you and I can even fathom.


This is just great

If you like hilarious political satire in the form of a funny film, check out Jibjab

DNC update

While I'm not one of the excellent lefty bloggers with press rights for the DNC convention, I will be posting about people I see and people I think I see around "the Hub".  This morning I saw a tall woman with a hardened face, a hair-don't and some sort of large print dress. Plus, she had big feet. So, I assumed I must be Karen Hughes, in town for a little spy mission.

July 13, 2004

2004-07-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

Why The Media Elite Hate Fahrenheit 9/11

It's all about class. Of course, The Daily Howler has the definitive takedown. Read the entire critique of the bizarre media reaction to a MOVIE but this line stands out and rings really true to me:

Might we suggest a more obvious thought about why these pundits were landing on Moore? Here it is: Members of your High Pundit Class don’t really care about people in Flint! Nor do they care about people in Baghdad. And when a shambling man suggests that they should, they begin to find themselves getting offended. They start feeling sorry for poor abused Bush. They complain about kids in a theater.