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Mar. 2nd, 2012 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Two journalists that the Syrian government declared dead have been been giving "I aintn't dead" interviews, having been smuggled to safety. The heart breaking thing is, that these guys were among the last journalists in Homs. There are no more left, and the footage of the government genocide smuggled out with them may also be the last. the Syrian regime is claiming the surviving journalist who they say are actually dead are lying about the army artillery targeting the building they were in.
* There's been another wave of tornadoes, with no firm figures on dead, injured, and missing. A whole school full of children in one town got trapped and a second tornado hit during the rescue. Surprisingly, the folks in the school are all okay, for which I am glad. I kept thinking of that town in India a while back where the earth opened up and swallowed 300 children in a school. No community should have to go through that. There were still tornado warnings for the South and Midwest as I wrote this. Stay safe, folks.
You may have noticed tornado season started a month early this year and the past few years have been particularly virulent. Don't worry, the Republicans want to reassure you that climate change is imaginary. After all, it still snows in the North in winter and the ice caps aren't all the way melted yet.
* In Georgia they are thinking about outlawing picketing. I bet all those scary southern sheriffs from the '60's are kicking themselves for not thinking of this as a tool to prevent Civil rights. *shudder*
* The Michigan Republican Party is arbitrarily awarding Mitt Romney an extra two delegates. After all randomly violating their own election rules after the fact to favour one candidate doesn't look suspicious at all, right? To no one's surprise but the Michigan Republican Party, the Santorum campaign is protesting. Remember this is the party that claims they need to reform elections because a couple felons vote every decade, not realizing they lost the right to vote, which is a huge threat to democracy, unlike the Republican inability to hold a fair and honest election, which is not a threat at all. Riiiiight.
* Rachel Maddow on Michigan's history of denying African Americans the vote and how that applies to the current Republican policy of denying over half the African Americans in Michigan a say in local government:
* Rachel Maddow explains ho birth control works to Rush Limbaugh, who clearly doesn't know: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#46610339
* Short form: you take the Pill every day whether you plan to fuck later or not. In fact, they only work if you take them every day, whether you are having sex once a month or several times a day. Um.... duh. They are also used for a whole collection of other conditions, like cysts, hormonal imbalances, etc.. Also duh. I think Bill Maher has put his finger on the source of Mr. Limbaugh's confusion: it's not like viagra; you do not pop a pill every time you fuck. I am thinking that people who don't understand how birth control works, be it Limbaugh or Romney oughtn't be involved in the discussion of whether or not women should have access to them. Similarly, until Catholic hospitals, universities etc, cut off men's insurance that covers viagra, cialis, etc. need to shut up. I they are against all recreational sex and believe they have the right to restrict what female employees do in their private life, they better be saying the same about what male employees do on their own time. Similarly, this thing where women and folks with medical expertise are being shut out of the discussion on the congressional level is bullshit. The people who know the least and lack an eigth grade level understanding of reproductive biology should not be in charge of the decisions here.
* For the record, I think saying that because a woman says that you can use the pill to fight ovarian cyst means you are a prostitute makes about as much sense as saying that because a man wears a baseball cap is a flamingo. I don't see any correlation between the two things. There is nothing wrong with baseball caps, sex workers, flamingos, or stating medical facts, but none of these things are particularly connected to each other.
* Anderson Cooper's take on the same, with right wing pundits pointing out that Rush Limbaugh is the real victim here, not the woman he's picking on, after all him bullying and sexualy harassing her several days in a row was just a joke. Eeew: http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/03/03/ac-controception-controversy-limbaugh-comments-criticism.cnn
* So far, two mattress companies, Quicken Loans, and some local advertisers have already dropped Limbaugh's show.
* It's nice to see the President weighing in on the right side of this one.
* Big Wired on the anti-gay Archie protests: http://big-wired.livejournal.com/280361.html
* On the wealth and power viscous circle: http://metaquotes.livejournal.com/7564479.html
* It's turning out that I still need way more rest, likely from the lingering effects of the pathogen or because I suspect I'm cooking a secondary infection I'm noticing symptoms of. I opted for more rest today, as beginning of the month errands are tomorrow. As a result, I got fuck all done outside of reading and watching the first disc of Pushing Daisies. I think my going to the caucus is right out.
* It looks like I've successfully trained Hector not to throw up on the bed. (I have no illusions that training will hold if I'm gone for the weekend, but it's progress). Two down, two to go.
* With all this debate about whether we should ban the pill (Personhood amendments) and whether we should allow employers decide if women who work for them get access to it, this song's been playing through my head: http://youtu.be/u6ODFCMaGT4
* There's been another wave of tornadoes, with no firm figures on dead, injured, and missing. A whole school full of children in one town got trapped and a second tornado hit during the rescue. Surprisingly, the folks in the school are all okay, for which I am glad. I kept thinking of that town in India a while back where the earth opened up and swallowed 300 children in a school. No community should have to go through that. There were still tornado warnings for the South and Midwest as I wrote this. Stay safe, folks.
You may have noticed tornado season started a month early this year and the past few years have been particularly virulent. Don't worry, the Republicans want to reassure you that climate change is imaginary. After all, it still snows in the North in winter and the ice caps aren't all the way melted yet.
* In Georgia they are thinking about outlawing picketing. I bet all those scary southern sheriffs from the '60's are kicking themselves for not thinking of this as a tool to prevent Civil rights. *shudder*
* The Michigan Republican Party is arbitrarily awarding Mitt Romney an extra two delegates. After all randomly violating their own election rules after the fact to favour one candidate doesn't look suspicious at all, right? To no one's surprise but the Michigan Republican Party, the Santorum campaign is protesting. Remember this is the party that claims they need to reform elections because a couple felons vote every decade, not realizing they lost the right to vote, which is a huge threat to democracy, unlike the Republican inability to hold a fair and honest election, which is not a threat at all. Riiiiight.
* Rachel Maddow on Michigan's history of denying African Americans the vote and how that applies to the current Republican policy of denying over half the African Americans in Michigan a say in local government:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* Rachel Maddow explains ho birth control works to Rush Limbaugh, who clearly doesn't know: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#46610339
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* Short form: you take the Pill every day whether you plan to fuck later or not. In fact, they only work if you take them every day, whether you are having sex once a month or several times a day. Um.... duh. They are also used for a whole collection of other conditions, like cysts, hormonal imbalances, etc.. Also duh. I think Bill Maher has put his finger on the source of Mr. Limbaugh's confusion: it's not like viagra; you do not pop a pill every time you fuck. I am thinking that people who don't understand how birth control works, be it Limbaugh or Romney oughtn't be involved in the discussion of whether or not women should have access to them. Similarly, until Catholic hospitals, universities etc, cut off men's insurance that covers viagra, cialis, etc. need to shut up. I they are against all recreational sex and believe they have the right to restrict what female employees do in their private life, they better be saying the same about what male employees do on their own time. Similarly, this thing where women and folks with medical expertise are being shut out of the discussion on the congressional level is bullshit. The people who know the least and lack an eigth grade level understanding of reproductive biology should not be in charge of the decisions here.
* For the record, I think saying that because a woman says that you can use the pill to fight ovarian cyst means you are a prostitute makes about as much sense as saying that because a man wears a baseball cap is a flamingo. I don't see any correlation between the two things. There is nothing wrong with baseball caps, sex workers, flamingos, or stating medical facts, but none of these things are particularly connected to each other.
* Anderson Cooper's take on the same, with right wing pundits pointing out that Rush Limbaugh is the real victim here, not the woman he's picking on, after all him bullying and sexualy harassing her several days in a row was just a joke. Eeew: http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2012/03/03/ac-controception-controversy-limbaugh-comments-criticism.cnn
* So far, two mattress companies, Quicken Loans, and some local advertisers have already dropped Limbaugh's show.
* It's nice to see the President weighing in on the right side of this one.
* Big Wired on the anti-gay Archie protests: http://big-wired.livejournal.com/280361.html
* On the wealth and power viscous circle: http://metaquotes.livejournal.com/7564479.html
* It's turning out that I still need way more rest, likely from the lingering effects of the pathogen or because I suspect I'm cooking a secondary infection I'm noticing symptoms of. I opted for more rest today, as beginning of the month errands are tomorrow. As a result, I got fuck all done outside of reading and watching the first disc of Pushing Daisies. I think my going to the caucus is right out.
* It looks like I've successfully trained Hector not to throw up on the bed. (I have no illusions that training will hold if I'm gone for the weekend, but it's progress). Two down, two to go.
* With all this debate about whether we should ban the pill (Personhood amendments) and whether we should allow employers decide if women who work for them get access to it, this song's been playing through my head: http://youtu.be/u6ODFCMaGT4