A Woman of Myth and Bullshit.

As it turns out...

2009-11-09T15:27:48Z

Tairrie B. and My Ruin are a great way to wake up in the morning.

Breaking News

2009-11-05T21:05:39Z

Shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas.

Keep an eye on the news folks, especially if you have loved ones there.

This is why I like the French...

2009-11-05T16:45:14Z

Someone mentioned this clip to me last night while we were talking about what i would have done had I been involved in the Bouncy Car Collision of DOOM. I had a bottle of wine (unopened) in the car with me and had I been smooshed by that bouncing car I suspect I would have needed a drink but alas, I had no corkscrew with me. In this vid, a drunk but resourceful French man shows us what to do when caught in just such a situation:

"Yes, Mr/Ms Paramedic, I realize you want to make sure I'm ok but I need a fucking drink because a car just bounced off my car's roof. Now stand aside!"

Is that a ferret in your pocket or...

2009-10-29T19:15:36Z

Are you just glad to see me?

Found on sf_drama...because we all need a good comedy break once in a while. Best quote of the story?

That confrontation makes the ferret a "special weapon" under Florida law. So Bolton also faces battery charges for dangerously wielding the animal.

OFFICER! Arrest that man! He dangerously wielded a ferret at me!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAH! *falls off chair laughing*

And the hits keep on coming

2009-10-29T17:20:54Z

in the case of the young woman who was raped in Richmond...

Richmond High gang rape, lack of action from onlookers outrages community
The victim left the dance by herself about 9:30 p.m. to get a ride home, Greco said. She walked up 23rd Street toward Emeric, intending to phone her father for her ride.

But before she did, a classmate called to her from behind a cyclone fence separating a campus courtyard from the street. He hopped the fence, and together they returned to the shadowy, hidden spot, where a group of people were drinking and hanging out.

The victim drank a large amount of brandy quickly, police say, and was soon incapacitated. While semiconscious, she was raped. As many as seven people assaulted her as she lay on a bench, while others jeered, beat her, robbed her and took photos with their cell phones. Police say they don't know how many people watched during the course of the attack, but some reports have said as many 20.

At this point have few words other than incoherent rage. I do not understand that mind of a person who would do this to another human being and perhaps that is a good thing. Like a lot of people out there, a part of me is bloodthirsty upon reading this story and I fully understand people's calls for all manner of horrid punishments for the rapists and onlookers. I feel that but I am also capable of listening to the better part of myself that knows that violence only begets more violence and we cannot change anything by spilling more blood.

That said, the next person who attempts to tell me that a women who got drunk is a stupid victim for thinking that someone would not savagely attack her, beat her, rape her, film it and take pictures in front of an audience had better not be surprised when I call them out for being a rotten human being. No one deserves to be raped and beaten for the entertainment of other men (and possibly women. I don't care if that person is a sex worker who had 100 customers today, a crack addict, a welfare mom, a trans woman, a gay woman. No one deserves that and if you believe that then you need to get the fuck out of my journal right now because I will not associate with morally bankrupt people like you. If you can read this story and your only response is "Oh well she shouldn't have drunk anything or hung out with those guys" then you fail at humanity and I don't want to know you.

Everyone who reads this, especially if you claim to love any women,young or old, should be outraged because you know what? This could have been any one of us. Her only mistake was she trusted those people and wanted to be liked and who among us hasn't felt that way at some point in our lives?

I am seriously, seriously disturbed by this incident, especially when it is added to the mountain of ugliness and bullshit already out there about why women deserve to be abused and mistreated. This is why I'm a feminist and why I fight, just in case you had any doubts about that.

For the enlightenment of all...

2009-10-28T18:32:12Z

Because I see it done so often and I'm gettin' kinda tired of posting this link over and over again...

Derailing for Dummies

You know how it is. You’re enjoying yourself, kicking back and relaxing at the pub or maybe at the library; or maybe you’re in class or just casually surfing the internet, indulging in a little conversation. The topic of the conversation is about a pertinent contemporary issue, probably something to do with a group of people who fall outside your realm of experience and identity. They’re also probably fairly heavily discriminated against - or so they claim.
The thing is, you’re having a good time, sharing your knowledge about these people and their issues. This knowledge is incontrovertible - it’s been backed up in media representation, books, research and lots and lots of historical events, also your own unassailable sense of being right.

Yet all of a sudden something happens to put a dampener on your sharing of your enviable intellect and incomparable capacity to fully perceive and understand All Things. It’s someone who belongs to the group of people you’re discussing and they’re Not Very Happy with you. Apparently, they claim, you’ve got it all wrong and they’re offended about that. They might be a person of colour, or a queer person. Maybe they’re a woman, or a person with disability. They could even be a trans person or a sex worker. The point is they’re trying to tell you they know better than you about their issues and you know that’s just plain wrong. How could you be wrong?

Don’t worry though! There IS something you can do to nip this potentially awkward and embarrassing situation in the bud. By simply derailing the conversation, dismissing their opinion as false and ridiculing their experience you can be sure that they continue to be marginalised and unheard and you can continue to look like the expert you know you really are, deep down inside!

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE PRIVILEGE!

Just follow this step-by-step guide to Conversing with Marginalised People™ and in no time at all you will have a fool-proof method of derailing every challenging conversation you may get into, thus reaping the full benefits of every privilege that you have.

Read it. Learn it. Own it.

Oh and for the record, in case y'all haven't noticed, I do get very impassioned about things I believe in. This means that I will not always be nice when discussing say...rape or racism or other of the various evils we humans visit upon each other and the world around us. I know it may seem silly for me to say this because anyone who has read this LJ for a while knows I am given to frothing at the mouth over injustice and stupidity. Apparently though, there are still a few delicate flowers out there who get all "OMG! SCARY ANGRY CHICK! STOP BEING MEAN!" and then complain that I am not debating them with cold, calculating logic and reason. To those folks I say "Too bad." This is me. This is how I am. Others are very good at remaining cool and calculating when debating issues that mean a lot to them but I am not and if you don't like it, this is not the LJ you're looking for. Move along.

It is also important to note that just because you happen to express yourself in a different way does not make your way Right. It just means that your way is different from mine and don't think that you can convince me to change with your disapproval and pretenses to higher moral ground.

Found via Twitter...

2009-10-27T15:55:05Z

This is an entry from Daily Kos that someone on my Twitter feed posted today and I am glad she did. Too often sexual assaults is presented as a woman's problem. So much of what is out there about rape prevention is aimed at women and is defensive. It's all about us watching our backs, not going certain places alone, how to get away from an attacker, etc. There are too few programs/interventions aimed at the majority of those committing the sexual assaults: men. If we're going to change the stats regarding sexual assaults committed against women then something needs to change because what we're doing now isn't working.

For the record, the actual entry itself is potentially triggering, so be careful.

Daily Kos: On Rape and Men (Brace Yourself)

I am a male. I am a feminist. This diary is for 1) fellow feminists and 2) anyone who underestimates how pervasive the patriarchal sense of entitlement to a woman's body is in our culture. What does that mean? It means it's for everybody: honestly, I think you're one or the other. Black and white? Probably.

...

If you're a man reading this, this is what you have to do: you have to make your male friends uncomfortable. You have to bring up this subject out of the blue and tell them everything I just told you. You should especially quiz them on some of the recommendations on the rape prevention list. I don't give a shit if they look at you funny for it, especially if you believe them to truly be your friends. Addressing and preventing rape requires the audacity of reason, with an emphasis on "audacity." And if you encounter a man who consistently refuses to accept some of the arguments outlined in this diary, you should be watching him closely from now on.

Also for the record, this entry is talking about cis women. I suspect the incidence of rape committed against trans women is far higher but the stats are even harder to collect/estimate correctly.

The Ignorance! IT BURNS!

2009-10-26T17:31:16Z

Hotel owner tells Hispanic workers to change names - Yahoo! News

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.

Whitten's management style had worked for him as he's turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country.

The 63-year-old Texan, however, wasn't prepared for what followed.

His rules and his firing of several Hispanic employees angered his employees and many in this liberal enclave of 5,000 residents at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, where the most alternative of lifestyles can find a home and where Spanish language, culture and traditions have a long and revered history.

"I came into this landmine of Anglos versus Spanish versus Mexicans versus Indians versus everybody up here. I'm just doing what I've always done," he says.

Whitten, I hate to tell you this but what you've always done ain't workin' anymore. The times they are achangin' and if you can't change with them, you are an obolete dinosaur who needs to retire and go hang out with the teabaggers and GOP, most of whom are in the same boat.

Hey Bigotry!

2009-10-24T01:03:40Z

Tomorrow we can drive around this town and let the cops chase us around, the past is gone but something might be found take its place....

Dallas Police Gave 38 Improper No-English Tickets | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth

Police officers have improperly cited Dallas drivers for not being able to speak English 38 times in the past three years, Chief David Kunkle said Friday.

The discovery came after a woman was pulled over earlier this month for making an illegal U-turn and was given a ticket for being a "non-English speaking driver."

Kunkle said his department's computer system for citations has a pull-down menu that includes a law requiring drivers of commercial vehicles to speak English.

The chief said it was a federal law that was misapplied to local drivers of private vehicles.

Sadly, I am not the least bit surprised other than that I would have expected this from Farmer's Branch or Irving first but yanno, whatever. We brown people are all the same anywhere you go right?

What If Henry Gates Jr. Had Been a Working-Class Black Teenager?

2009-10-19T16:53:41Z

What If Henry Gates Jr. Had Been a Working-Class Black Teenager?

Two black males are seen attempting to enter a house and a concerned neighbor calls the police. When officers arrive on the scene a confrontation occurs and the resulting press coverage results in a debate over whether the alleged burglars should have simply been quiet and obedient. For anyone familiar with the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in July, 2009, this story not only became front page news but part of the conversation at the dinnertable across the nation. Even President Obama stepped into the conversation. There was substantial debate about what happened, as well as what should have happened, but Gates' voice was heard and charges against him eventually dropped.

But what if instead of a nationally known academic, the individuals involved were working-class Black teenagers? That was exactly the case in Champaign, Illinois, where two Black, teen-aged males were seen trying to enter a house on October 9, 2009. A concerned neighbor called the police and the resulting press coverage has resulted in a debate over whether the officers acted appropriately or if the alleged burglars should have simply remained quiet and obeyed. Letters to the local newspaper the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette have both expressed outrage at the officers and the suspects in the case. Yet, there is a significant difference between what happened to Professor Gates and what happened to young Kiwane Carrington. Gates suffered a loss of dignity and experienced what happens to many black men in society today, but Carrington wound up paying with his life. This did not happen in a well-to-do neighborhood, and these teenagers did not have the type of social capital and academic clout that Professor Gates had at his disposal.

As you can imagine, it did not end nearly so well for the teenagers involved.

Poor President Obama...Look at how he suffers

2009-10-15T21:29:47Z

The Associated Press: Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.

(AP) – 1 hour ago

HAMMOND, La. — A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.

"I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house," Bardwell said. "My main concern is for the children."

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves," Bardwell said. "In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer."

You gotta love it when racists try to pretend that they're only doing it for "teh children". Just when I think we're getting somewhere in this country, some jackass reminds me how utterly full of fail we are.

To all the DFW ladies out there who like ladies...

2009-10-15T19:16:05Z

The So Delicious Bachelorette Auction is looking for YOU!

Saturday, November 7, 2009
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Jack’s Backyard
2303 Pittman S
Dallas, TX

Join us for fun, cocktails and great dates!

The proceeds of the auction will directly benefit the Creating Change Conference sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Taskforce.

The primary goal of the Creating Change Conference is to build our movement’s political power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full equality, social justice and dignity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States.

If you are interested in being a bachelorette, go here!

Because it's a Saturday Night

2009-10-11T01:12:36Z

And I'm bored and apparently have no life :D

Click the eggs and help me hatch baby dragons.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

2009-09-16T16:46:30Z

Lolcat Happy Birthday to MOM!

Today is a very special day. It's the birthday of the woman who gave birth to me and helped me become the person you all know and love (and sometimes shake your heads at in confusion). She is truly an amazing human being and I am grateful every day of my life for her love, support and strength. Please leave her any wishes here that you care to and I will send her this link so she can see the well wishes.

Thank you Mom. I love you.

OMG SAVE TEH PENISES!

2009-08-25T22:46:47Z

Rush Limbaugh hits an all time low by saying that "if we need to save our penises from anybody it's Obama." For the record, I am not for routine infant circumcision but claiming that a CDC recommendation will become a mandate is just stupid.

MUST...HAVE...NAO!!!!

2009-08-20T17:41:15Z

Yes I know it's pink and sparkly and is named "The Vamp" because it sparkles like RPattz on the beach at noon but OMG! PINK SPARKLY DILDO FTW!!!!!!

OK, so no I probably wouldn't use it but I would display it proudly in my living room because, yanno, that's what you do with fabulously kitschy sex toys. crista ? Back me up on this one!

This is SO going on my wishlist!

This is too fucking BEAUTIFUL!

2009-08-19T18:00:15Z

I read something about this earlier today but benchilada actually posted the vid. If only more Dems had the balls/ovaries to talk to these idiots in in the same way. Anyone who knows me knows that I can mediate/mitigate with the best of them. I've calmed down raging drunks and gentled angry, unmedicated Schizophrenics but the people spewing this Nazi bullshit about Obama make me want to slap a bitch. No really. My hands itch to smack something really really hard every time I see them say this shit. I get even more irate when these jackasses spew this stupidity at people who know from Nazis. I really hope more of them say this shit in front of Jewish Americans and Israelis because they will eventually say it to the wrong person and they will be summarily slapped and I will cheer. I might also consider smacking them myself on behalf of my grandfather who was a WWII vet and Purple Heart recipient thanks to some shrapnel that the real Nazi bastards shot at him.

syringe exchange ban moves to Senate

2009-08-19T14:01:04Z

Needle ban fight moves to Senate

We are too close to lifting the federal syringe exchange funding ban to allow it to fail. Attempts to put it back in after it was removed in House committee were defeated, but by a very close margin. What did stick, unfortunately, was an amendment to deny federal funds to any SEP within 1000 feet of a school, rec center, daycare center, playground, video arcade, or anywhere groups of children may go on even an occasional basis. For almost every existing syringe exchange project, and in most cities overall, this would present a huge barrier.

So, we have 2 important tasks - to get the overall ban removed & to get that amendment removed. The decision will most likely be made in a closed conference between Senate and House Appropriators in early September, and we
need those legislators to walk in there knowing what they have to do. If your program would be ineligible to receive federal funds if this 1000 foot buffer zone is enacted, or if you care about the issue at all, this is a KEY TIME for you to act.

Send a letter directly to your Senator from our Online Action Center and ask that they resist any restrictive amendments from both the Financial Services and Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bills, and to leave the decision of how and where to offer services to the local public health and public safety communities. Feel free to use the pre-written one provided or write your own.

Exactly!!!

2009-08-17T18:52:43Z

Daily Kos: Racism, Right-Wing Rage and the Politics of White Nostalgia

"You know full well that no one is talking about wanting to go back to the days of segregation."

Well, no, I don't know it. I don't know that at all, seeing as how so many of the tea-bag set and anti-health care folks make "taking their country back" one of the most prominent lines of their vocalized outrage. What does that mean, coming from people in their 60s and 70s, for whom the America of their youth was indeed a white supremacist place? A place where white hegemony could be taken as a given, something that could be presumed in perpetuity? What does it mean when someone says that they want to go back to the country the way the founders envisioned it, as many have also explained at these rallies? After all, they envisioned a white republic. They envisioned and sought out the extirpation of indigenous peoples, most believed in the enslavement of African peoples, and none truly believed that blacks should be treated as equals.

Tim Wise has done an excellent job expressing very clearly the unease I feel when listening to this debate. I know the phrases are coded, people of color know the words are coded and not a few white folks know they're coded. It's only the people spouting this bullshit who are in denial about it and quite frankly, I'm tired of it. One should at least have the balls to call it what it is: Racism.

Also for the record...

2009-08-14T00:18:39Z

I am all in favor of microbicides. Anything that will help stop the spread of HIV is fine by me (with ethical considerations a given here of course), however, I would really love it if these people writing about them would stop acting like African women are the only women in the world who are not empowered to require condom use by their partners! I have met far too many American women with the same issue AND I have met African women who were quite self efficacious and required condom use from their partners. Let's try fighting HIV AND racism, KTHNXBAI!

This moment of fail brought to you by the alertness of Bianca Laureano.

Because I may as well save the world while spun on caffeine and sugar

2009-08-11T21:44:42Z

Ahhhh coffee...sweet elixir of life, make me strong so that I may smite my enemies as their screams echo in my ears. Or at the very least help me to annoy the dictators and assholes of the world mightily so they will go home and leave people the hell alone.

In other words, go to the AIUSA site and send an email to the military junta in Myanmar telling them that this shit is unacceptable.

May they choke on the irony...

2009-08-10T20:56:44Z

jblaque gives us all something to laugh at. I sometimes wonder if these people understand just how foolish they really look?

Because I really am this much of a dork

2009-08-10T19:46:19Z

And I think I've had too much Caf-Pow. If you all don't hear from me the rest of the day, I am most likely clinging to the ceiling.

A reason for hope?

2009-08-06T16:47:05Z

Researchers Decode HIV Genome

Thursday, August 6, 2009
"Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have decoded the entire HIV genome, opening the door to understanding how viruses infect humans – knowledge that could lead to new antiviral drugs," the Triangle Business Journal reports. The building block of HIV is a single stranded RNA, not a double stranded DNA (Gallagher, 8/6). In the Nature study, published Thursday, the team of researchers describe how their newly developed "chemical method called SHAPE ... make[s] an image not only of the RNA's nucleotides, but of the shapes and folds of the RNA strands," Reuters writes (Fox, 8/5). The approach allowed researchers to capture a more complete picture of the HIV RNA genome than previously identified, revealing "that the RNA structures influence multiple steps in HIV's infection cycle," HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report writes (8/5). According to the team of researchers, the technique could lead to new treatments for HIV as well as "for other viruses such as influenza and the bugs that cause the common cold," Reuters writes (8/5).

I would love to think that this will aid researchers in finding a vaccine or a cure. Only time will tell.

Because people suck

2009-07-20T18:17:03Z

And mean people suck even harder...

I give you Cute Overload.

Sometimes you need a good dose of cute animals to make it through your day. And yes, that's a pigeon nestling a bunny.