The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on November 12, 2010 by lisafindley

The Good

Okay, it’s not good that these wanted posters for abortion providers are making a comeback. But it is good that Flip Benham is being found guilty in a court of law for posting these dangerous, vile things.

Michelle and Barack get down in Indonesia! Love it.

I know I read in some Forster novel (I think it was Howards End) an argument among hoity-toities about the foolishness of just giving money to poor people, instead of attaching strings to tell them how to spend it. But those characters may have been on to something — apparently giving people even a dollar a day that they can spend any way they like is more effective than any other program at getting more poor kids in school, for example. Sure, some people will spend that money on drugs or drink, but so will some people who work in an office, and you don’t see us stipulating how salaries are spent. Most of the time, though, people just want money to feed, shelter, and clothe their families, and this is one way to help them do that.

The Bad

Damn it, government officials who knowingly destroy evidence of government wrongdoing should be prosecuted for their crimes, not given a free pass. But the Obama administration disagrees.

This is a month late, but it’s still worth seeing this compilation of hateful, untrue, and dangerous things that Tea Partiers have said. You know they’ll be back in 2012. Know your enemy, etc.

Oh don’t worry, John Shikmus (R-IL), who hopes to chair the House Energy Committee, reassures us, “The earth will end only when God declares its time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood.” I’m so very comforted.

The organization that Thurgood Marshall called the “uptown Klan” is funding some schools in Mississippi. Take action to ask the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools why it accredits those schools and encourage the corporations that donate to the MAIS to make sure their donations aren’t being funneled to white supremacist, anti-gay schools.

Ask the Obama administration to change its policy on not sending condolence letters to the families of servicemembers who died by suicide. (I especially like Melissa’s point that there are many deaths in the military that are called suicide that may be anything but.)

The Silly

Here’s a cool interview with Brian Eno, a man more equipped than most to coax new and interesting sounds out of any machine on hand. I like what he says about how different forms of listening to music affect how we listen to music and also the music itself, and how he’s getting more and more interested in studio sessions that don’t sound quite so perfect.

Leave your interesting links in the comments, as usual, and have a great weekend!

VOTE

Posted on November 2, 2010 by lisafindley

I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here, but on the off chance I’m not: If you’re a registered voter in these United States and you don’t want Tea Partiers running our country, please vote today. Here’s a way to look up your polling place. Or just Google “where to vote.”

Even in traditionally blue states -- so get at it!

Digby has a great piece up on why it’s important to vote Democrat this election, even though the Democrats are doing their damnedest to lose all the goodwill and progressive legislation they’ve actually gained in the last two years. Even though the Obama Administration is blocking measures to repeal DADT and carrying on with torture-as-usual established during the Bush Administration. Even though the health care bill fell far short of what it should have been. Even though we remain mired in war. Even though the White House is turning on its lefty allies in a gross misunderstanding of its base and a depressing unwillingness to see how we could all move toward the same goal (it is instead trying to get the nonpartisan vote from the Republicans that it ain’t ever gonna get).

Despite all that, the fact remains that it will be SO MUCH WORSE if the Republicans regain control. With the exception of a very few, they are eagerly pandering to racist, violent Tea Partiers who are literally up in arms about economic reform despite the fact that they are funded almost entirely by corporations with their own interests at play. People have been far too willing to dismiss the Tea Party as a bunch of nutcases, but they are getting the media coverage, they are getting their lies spread, and they are going to get possibly a frightening percentage of the vote.

But even if the Tea Party’s people don’t get all the seats they’re going for, rank and file Republicans aren’t looking much better. They’ve vowed to make “no compromise” in getting rid of the health care bill — which, flawed though it is, is still far better than anything we had before. They will block every progressive measure they can, and essentially they plan to wait til they can take the White House and Senate in 2012 and then seriously screw us over. They are anti-choice, anti-women, anti-people of color, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-working class, anti-middle class, and frankly, anti-all Americans who don’t fit a very specific picture. But they’ve scared enough people who would suffer under more of their policies into thinking they’re going to suffer more under Democratic policies.

The Democrats passed the health care bill. The Democrats passed a stimulus bill that is slowly making a real difference in regaining jobs lost in the recession. The Democrats at least half-assedly went after the banks who got us into this mess. The Democrats have let science back into the FDA’s decision making, resulting in things like the 5-day emergency contraceptive being approved. The Democrats have (not as often as they should, but fairly often) stood up against Islamophobia in places like Florida and New York. The Democrats are doggedly pursuing the DREAM Act, to open up citizenship to children of immigrants. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made huge gains in worldwide goodwill, and she has presented tough speeches and policies on the importance of women in the global economy, the autonomy of people in every culture, and the primacy of human rights on her watch.

In short, they aren’t perfect, but they are worlds better. Remove the Tea Party element and think of how the rest of the election season is being portrayed and perceived, even from Jon Stewart (damn it): That there isn’t much difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. There is, of course, a huge and dangerous difference. Remember the last time the main theme of the election season was “there isn’t much difference, just vote for whoever”? That’s right, it was the presidential race of 2000. And we all know how well that turned out.

Don't let history repeat itself

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on October 29, 2010 by lisafindley

The Good

Several friends on Facebook posted this (author self-acknowledged) rant about how atheists have every right to be angry. I don’t identify as atheist, but I sure could agree with every single point she brought up (it’s kind of long but has pictures and is well worth a read).

No wonder so many Episcopalian bishops didn’t want to confirm Gene Robinson — the man has important, church-shaking things to say, like “It’s time for ‘tolerant’ religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people.” I’m happy to see a higher-up from the church of my youth speak up so strongly. (Of course, presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has had some great fighting words and controversial stances as well.) (Via.)

Things one straight, cis, white man doesn’t have to think about today. Glad he is!

The Bad

Here’s a great breakdown of some of the many reasons women find themselves seeking abortions very late in the pregnancy — and how laws like Nebraska’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks will be devastating to so many.

Clarence Thomas’s wife has the cruel audacity to ask Anita Hill to apologize for all the pain she caused the Thomases. Ms. Hill demurs. By the way, a mid-Michigan group called Second Opinion sang “The Ballad of Anita Hill” (which may have been their song or a cover, I’m not sure) with a fiery passion. It included the lyrics “It wasn’t that she didn’t feel pressure. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel spite. It wasn’t that she stood to gain a damn thing, she just did what she knew was right.”

This week a woman was mobbed by Tea Partiers at a Rand Paul rally, and one of them stomped on her head — and Paul didn’t even condemn them. The Awl notes also the completely nonsensical position the Tea Partiers are taking; Lauren Valle doesn’t want big corporations running the government (or, you know, funding the supposedly grassroots Tea Party) but even though that seems to be exactly in line with the Tea Party’s half-baked positions, they hate her and she deserves to be stomped on.

And of course the latest, which is a story from NPR on just how intricately for-profit prison companies work with legislators and lobbyists to pass things like SB 1070. Guess who wins in this bleak situation? (Past posts on this topic here, here, and here.)

The Silly

This is a funny little flowchart on explaining the Internet to a street urchin in 19th century London. Hint: You often end up stabbed.

The Good, The Bad, and The Silly

Posted on October 22, 2010 by lisafindley

The Good

Good for Sheriff Dart here in Chicago — he’s suspended enforcing foreclosures (as he did two years ago) until banks can prove they actually have everything in order. Some banks admitted they approved foreclosures without even reading the documents in question. How can you sleep at night knowing you’re making people homeless — and you didn’t even take the time to check if you had the legal right to do so? (Never mind the moral right.)

The Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the highest rates of rape and sexual violence in the world, and this past week, thousands of women there marched against sexual terrorism. Kudos to them for taking a bold stand in a terrifying environment.

I am 100% for finding a cure for breast cancer, just like everyone else. But this Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let’s all be a little more aware of just how dangerously corporate and anti-research the whole pink products campaign is. All that stuff you buy that’s colored pink “for breast cancer”? Half of it may be part of the environmental causes of breast cancer that aren’t getting researched, lest corporate research funders get upset. The fantastic Barbara Ehrenreich was all over this back in 2001 (it’s a really good read).

The Bad

Since when do bodyguards get to handcuff people, let alone reporters entering a public event on public property? The Anchorage DA had sure as hell better prosecute. This is your Tea Party, America.

“We’re becoming a plutocracy” — and no one in America believes it. (Via Shakesville, but I can’t find the exact link, sorry)

The FBI spied on an Arab American student for months (by GPS tracking his car without a warrant, which is now somehow legal), but they didn’t find anything. Too bad he did! He found the GPS tracker and now the FBI wants it back because it’s so pricey.

The Silly

The best blind job application ever, from Mr. Hunter S. Thompson. This is how I’m applying to all jobs from now on.

A girl wrote Johnny Depp and asked him to teach her and her fellow students how to be pirates so they could mutiny against their teachers, and he showed up to do just that.