Category Archives: The Good The Bad and The Silly

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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I’m off work today and on a library computer (damn AT&T is taking forever to set up at my house), so it’s a short one this week. Feel free to post more in the comments!

The Good:

Kartina Richardson, a great film critic, uses Boardwalk Empire as a great example of how to tackle race in historical art. Mad Men, you’ve run out of excuses. (Ms. Richardson blogs at http://mirrorfilm.org.)

A California judge imposed a ban on “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The Bad:

Oh but Obama didn’t mean it, apparently, when he said he was for ending “don’t ask, don’t tell,” because he’s ok with the Justice Department challenging Judge Philips’ ban.

Glenn Greenwald, bless ‘im, takes on Andrew Sullivan’s absurd defense of widespread, secret, and presidentially approved assassinations. Do people really want to live on the show 24? (Via.)

And of course there has been a lot in the past few weeks about this sudden increase in children and teens committing suicide after being bullied, specifically being bullied for being gay or being perceived as gay. I don’t know that it’s an actual increase so much as people are paying a little more attention, but regardless, we need to be paying attention. We need to have strong anti-bullying policies that actually get enacted. We need to reject this BS notion that teachers can have a “neutral” stance on whether kids can torment one another — there is no neutral stance when kids are in danger. We need to stop teaching kids that hate is ok.

The Silly

Sessily sent me the link to this great flowchart of female tropes in movies/TV. Tell me someone who doesn’t fit on here!

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

At least one person from the Republican Party is saying something along the lines of, “Immigrants aren’t a problem, they’re people.” Although, as Tomas Summers Sandoval explains in this article, Powell’s still framing it as an “us vs. them (the ones who do the dirty work for us real Americans)” kind of question.

Florida points out the obvious: gays can be parents, too.

What a domestic violence PSA should look like. (It is upsetting to watch, btw.)

Supposedly an immigration bill is getting introduced soon, and supposedly it is LGBT inclusive and brings back the DREAM Act (most recently shut down by the despicable DADT repeal shutdown).

The Bad:

So FBI agents are cheating on the test about how to pursue and question terrorists and home and abroad — is it any wonder they’re doing it wrong?

And another government branch, the military, is on trial for performing terrible acts against Afghanis — wonder why this isn’t receiving the same attention Abu Grahib did, if there are images?

No, really, the world as we know it is ending, and it really is our fault.

A clear, terrifying view of why it is not ok to force Internet providers to give the government backdoor access — you will be monitored 24/7, and that is wrong. Think it’s ok as long as you have nothing to hide? That’s not a free society. And anyway, “something worth hiding” changes depending on what government is in charge.

Another study shows that teaching kids to be colorblind instead of to value racial diversity just results in kids not recognizing racism when it’s spitting in their face. A University of Illinois study of college kids showed much the same thing.

The Silly:

The Oatmeal has, among other things, many hilarious, beautifully typeset explanations of basic grammar. Here’s the latest one.

What have you been reading this week?

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

Correct. (And good lord, why is Paglia still getting published?)

I wish I’d seen this published more widely. We need to hear Obama taking more stands like this, especially against Islamophobia. (Via.)

Lifesaving water missions aren’t a crime. No More Deaths (No Más Muertes) does incredibly important humanitarian aid work on the US-Mexico border in Arizona, and they’ve just won a small victory as one of their members won his appeal of a trumped-up littering conviction.

The Bad:

Okay, I know I get a lot of my bad news from Shakesville, but they really do a great job of pointing out and breaking down a lot of what’s going on around the country. Lately, the corporate takeover of America’s vote and the carte blanche on torture given to the CIA have really upset me.

These are an old pair of posts, but mind-boggling in what they reveal about the Republican party. I know and love many Republicans, but every time I see things like this, I wonder how they can vote for a party that officially wants to hurt so many people. I wonder if they still think of the party whose official platform once looked like this?

A major literary magazine in India publishes vile comments from the vice-chancellor of a prestigious university calling women writers whores.  (Via.)

Yep, actually, “redistribution of wealth” sounds about right nowadays.

The Silly:

Hark! a vagrant is a delightful cartoon about history and literature and silliness. In this one, apparently the editor never heard the maxim “show, don’t tell.”

I love, love www.passiveaggressivenotes.com — straightforwardly!

Okay, what have you been reading this week?

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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Some of these are from last week, since I meant to post a GBS on Friday but flew to Boston instead. Like ya do. Enjoy, and as ever, put your own links in comments!

The Good

Daley has decided to step down as mayor of Chicago. I’m joining the 65% of Chicagoans who think this is either a good move or one that won’t make a difference — he’s done some really awful things while in office, but the Chicago political system is so rife with corruption that I can’t see his successor being much of an improvement. [EDIT: Bad word choice. He’s not stepping down, he’s simply not running again come the next election.]

Peter and Paul say hell no to the National Organization for Marriage using the Peter, Paul and Mary version of “This Land is Your Land” at NOM rallies. There’s a long history of political candidates pissing off musicians by using their songs without permission, but my favorites are when the musicians respond not just to copyright violation but to their seeming endorsement of a candidate they find reprehensible — like Springsteen telling Reagan “Born in the U.S.A.” wasn’t exactly a celebratory song, or Heart telling Sarah Palin she ain’t no “Barracuda.”

The Ginsburgs sound like they were a fantastic couple, and Ruth is such a winner. (Via.)

The Bad

This is terrifying news from June that I just read about. As post author Problem Chylde says, “The line between a conscientious dissenter and a terrorist is becoming blurrier, and citizens of all nations are treading a fine line between acting under a moral imperative and obeying the law. What is the use of having freedoms one cannot exercise?”

Traister and Holmes lay it out for us: It’s a disgrace that Sarah Palin is heralded as the face of feminism in politics. Where is that face for the Democrats?

The Silly

“If Historical Events Had Facebook Statuses“… apparently it’d all still be 15-year-old boys. Yikes! But still funny.

Two words: Hipster dinosaurs (thanks to Mlle. O’Leary for the tip)

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

That’s right, Alaska, you use conservatives’ logic (and word choice) against them in the abortion debate! (Too bad it didn’t work and the damn parental notification law got passed anyway, but still. This is a thought for future fights.)

“Step Up. Step Back.” — the way for men to be feminist allies. (And also whites to be anti-racist allies, straights to be LGBT allies, etc.) (Via.)

The Bad:

Farmworkers are denied basic human rights, such as one day off a week, in New York and California. (Via.)

Bloomberg’s staff deliberately misconstrues the Seneca Indian Nation’s protest of his offensive shoot-em-up comments; whether the cigarettes should be taxed or not is not the issue when a high-profile government official states that another US government official should “get a shotgun” and say “the law of the land is this, and we’re going to enforce the law” to a tribe of people who have been at the wrong end of a shotgun courtesy of the US government too many times to count over hundreds of years. (Via.)

The Silly:

Possibly you’ve already seen this, but somebody decided to make a trailer for a fake movie — and I want to see the full-length. Jane Austen’s Fight Club! (Thanks to Sessily for the link.)

What have you seen/heard/read this week?

UPDATE: I just read this excellent piece by Timothy Egan, which breaks apart who is spreading what lies about Obama and why it matters. Wake the hell up, America; you’re better than this.

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

Read this fantastic New Yorker article on Park51. I have yet to hear any arguments against the building of this community center that don’t come down to racism, unwarranted fear, and/or Republican politicking.  Also, c’mon ADL, you’re better than that.

A lot of this piece from Ta-Nehisi Coates resonated with me (but don’t worry, darlings, I’ve only just started, I’m not leaving you yet).

A great look at what global feminism can mean.

The FDA approves ella, the 5-day emergency contraceptive. Now, I agree that EC is only partially effective, because you may be using protection that fails (e.g., a broken condom) and not know about it in time to take the EC. But for those who do know their original protection failed, or for those who weren’t using protection, or for those who were assaulted and had no chance to use protection, this is a crucial drug.

The Bad:

Well, crap. It’s all about the money, still.

A thoughtful, interesting look at racism in the anti-whaling debate in New Zealand and Australia

We’re sexualizing girls at younger and younger ages, yes, but their bodies are also maturing faster than ever before — and that is a problem we can, and should, do something about.

CSI is not ironclad — lab scientists in criminal trials all too often get it wrong, and real people are affected.

Why are people so willfully stupid? (And of course, if he were, so what?)

The Silly:

My dad sent me this link with the message, “Looks like you’ll be fine on your world trip….” Well… true! Thanks, Dad.

A cool gallery of color photos from 1939 to 1943 looking at rural and small town America — check out Chicago’s skyline and the newspaper headlines pasted to the window. A gripe about the presentation: in the captions, the only time race is mentioned is when African-Americans are depicted. Whites are once again the default. (Via my friend Mike.)

What have you been looking at this week?

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

The Feds turn up the heat on Sheriff Joe Arpaio. As article author Seth Freed Wessler points out, Arpaio has been exercising much of the power of terror and deportation based on a federal rule, so it’s a bit hypocritical of the government to just now push the issue. But at least they are actively going after the man who prides himself on making life hell for thousands of people on a daily basis.

Judge Walker’s decision on Prop 8 might not even be allowed to be appealed, since Schwarzenegger and other California government officials aren’t interested in appealing. It’s possible that this case won’t go to the US Supreme Court, which is maybe bad news in that a nationwide decision wouldn’t be made, but maybe good news in that the conservative slant of the court might make a terrible nationwide decision. If appeals aren’t allowed, then gay marriage is legal in California and those who don’t like it don’t have much recourse.

The Bad:

Obama and his Press Secretary think those of us who have high expectations for the administration are whiners and should STFU already. Look, I know a lot of good things have happened in the last year and a half and that is genuinely exciting, but I also know a lot of things haven’t been done or even attempted (Obama could stay DADT with an executive order while waiting for Congress and the DOD to dick around on long-term policy, for example). I know that some Bush-era legacies remain or are even being strengthened (like the extension of powers of the executive branch, which Obama as candidate promised to overturn, or selling off my right to my body in order to pass health insurance reform). Sure, you have to play politics in Washington, but that doesn’t mean you have to play games with people’s rights. What’s the phrase? Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

This is what happens when you make it a matter of national policy to consider immigrants an expendable nuisance rather than human beings: people use that as a cover to treat people as expendable on their own time.

The Silly:

Britain prepares for the Olympics with some real gems of advice on intercultural understanding. My favorites: “Do not be alarmed if South Africans announce that they were held up by robots.” and “When meeting Mexicans it is best not to discuss poverty, illegal aliens, earthquakes or their 1845-6 war with America.” (Via.)

Gay Sex and the City. ‘Nuff said. (Via.) (Okay actually not enough said, please note that this is an explicitly political project and I don’t mean to take away from that by placing it in The Silly; it’s a fun project, though, so here it goes.)

Leave your own links in the comments!

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

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The Good:

Prop 8 was overturned! The California law defining marriage as between a man and a woman only was ruled unconstitutional on August 4. Appeals are expected, and this may go all the way to the Supreme Court, which could be iffy, given its current make-up, but for now, hurrah! Here’s a good refresher on what Prop 8 is and why it matters for the nation, not just California.

On the other hand, it might not be so bad if the appeal goes to the Supreme Court, since Elena Kagan was just confirmed by Congress. She will take Justice Stevens’ place this fall. She’s a bit of an unknown quantity, and a career lawyer who played it safe on a lot of issues she could’ve taken some important stands on, but fingers crossed she follows history and leans more left the longer she sits on the bench.

Obama signed a law repealing a mandatory sentencing period for crack cocaine possession. This helps a lot in closing the gap between crack and powder cocaine, a gap that has seen far more blacks than whites go to prison.

The Bad:

Target, known as an LGBT friendly place to work, is under a lot of scrutiny for giving a lot of money to a vehemently anti-gay candidate in Minnesota.

Here’s an insightful article on the dangerous fundamentalism of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a liberal favorite for her survivor’s tale and anti-Islam stance.

Renee Martin looks at the viral video of Antoine Dodson and asks why no one cares about the sister he saved, Kelly Dodson, and why people are laughing at his delivery rather than listening to what he has to say.

The Silly:

Ever read an article on ebooks? Then this is the drinking game for you! Warning: extreme accuracy and hilarity follow.

And that’s it for this week! I’m off to sit by a lake with my parents, so if you haven’t commented before, your comment might languish in moderation til I can get to it on Tuesday, but don’t let that stop you. Have a great weekend!