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May. 12th, 2012 04:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* I do not understand why it's getting no coverage, but House Republicans are going back on the Super Committee deal and demanding the Democrats take all the cuts to social safety net instead of half coming from the social safety net and half from the military. After all, even though the Star Wars missile shield never worked, doesn't work, and is unlikely to work any time in the near future, we totally need to build another one on the east coast right now even though it will piss off the Russians and is vastly less useful than things like the Meals on Wheels program, food Stamps, and all that stuff they insist we get rid of so they ca polish their big useless weapons. I mean look how well letting people literally starve to pay for a military budget they can't afford worked for North Korea! Let's do that! Sigh.
* If I wasn't clear about the Romney gay bashing thing, my point was that all the other bullies involved were haunted by the horrible things they did for forty five or so years and are genuinely contrite because they are human enough to know their behavior was appalling. Mitt Romney has zero empathy for the people he hurt and still thinks this stuff is hilarious and harmless. He's not sorry he hurt people, he's sorry people are offended. That's not an apology. I do that that speaks to his character, especially as part of a pattern of doing deliberate harm to those with less privilege than himself that continues without change over the course of his adult life simply because he can and occasionally because it's funny to him. He has the power to get away with doing damage, so that makes it okay. He just does it on a larger scale today.
* Meanwhile, this week a top Romney aide deliberately outed a trans lawmaker for the purpose of wrecking her career.
* Speaking of Romney, he's out telling lies about the President. He's claiming the President has made an "unprecedented number of new regulations." This is despite the fact that W had close to double the number of new regulations at this point of his presidency. I mean, you don't have to go back further that the last president to prove Romney is lying. Sigh. This doesn't even get into the argument about whether or not regulations are the problem. After all, I want financial regulations. I like having clean air and potable water. I think regulations stopping companies dumping toxic waste willy nilly are a good thing. I'm really in favour of food and drug safety as well as work place safety regulations. Are there bad regulations out there? Sure, but tht doesn't mean all or even most are bad.
* Long time readers have likely read my "history of marriage rant." Lawrence O'Donnell has one without reference to the dramatic change from secular to church weddings in the early Modern Era in the West. He's going with the world history approach. for the record, polyandry wasn't just in Tibet, though it's best documented there. http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-last-word/47381597#47381597
* Remember that financial crisis that crashed the world economy? Well J.P. Morgan chase just lost a couple billion doing the same thing. After all regulation would have cost them a fraction of that, but don't worry, the House Republicans are working hard to water down the Volcker Rule and get rid of what little regulation we still have, because as we know, they believe Wall street knows best even when it's obvious they don't. Luckily, economic facts are no bar to disastrous Republican law making, so expect more news items like this in the future.
* Rachel Maddow spots something really corrupt in Michigan: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47395558
* I hope this kid's family and community are proud of him, because I sure would be. Someone raised him right: http://browngurlwfro.tumblr.com/post/22620029881/positive-press-daily-leland-camara-5-year-old
* Every time LBJ comes up, as it did on last night's Daily Show, I think of something a Professor at my second college once said about him. For context, the Proff in question was drafted. They ended up not sending him overseas, though all his friends went, basically because he was a terrible soldiers and the veterans training him believed he and any men unfortunate enough to be under him would be killed right off seeing how bad he was in the jungle training. He was one of those guys who would go to peace marches in his uniform. He hated the war, the stupid, pointless waste of it. He hated what happened to his friends who went. I can not give exact quotes after nearly twenty years, but it went something like this: "I was so angry about the war back then, and I put so much energy into hating LBJ over it, that couldn't see the real achievements like Civil Rights, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Financial Aid System to send the middle class to college." He did is best to teach it fair, to put in the serious positive legacy while at the same time teaching the chain reaction of bad decisions about Vietnam and the real costs, including having veterans in to talk about. I think it's important to keep the contradictions in his character in mind. I think last night's interview caught that in both his doing the right thing for Jackie Kennedy after the assassination and the mind boggling cruelty to Robert Kennedy right after. Of course I think something similar about John Adams (great man; terrible president), or Jefferson, or so many other presidents and other public figures. It's easy to get so anger that one forgets the other things that matter. I was still thinking of it watching the Richard Clarke interview this evening. Back when he was in office, I lumped him in with Rove, Cheney, Rumsfield and the rest of the truly horrible people working for W.. Here he was being honest about mistakes and deliberately bad decisions they made. It made me think he was a better person than I could give him credit for at the time. It's important to remind myself that things can be more complex than they look.
* rm has something important to say about body image: http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/22609428945/thank-you-for-writing-about-body-image-im-16-and
* Greenwick on hat doesn't and doesn't make a good ally and what the president said: http://greenwick.livejournal.com/107495.html?style=mine#comments
* WTF tea party (I haven't independently verified this one): http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/07/fox-news-contributor-laments-mistake-of-letting-women-vote/
* Hector needed coaxing, but he did come sleep with us. He spent the early evening sleeping on my shoulder again, but then was comfortable enough to nap on my work table.
* It looks like time again to remind people it's okay to disagree in this space (politely) with me and each other. If I'm wrong or said things too simplified, please do speak up.
* It also looks like time to mention again that I don't do "reblog if you agree with X" stuff. If you read my stuff you know what side I'm on.
* Glee S:2
1. Watching the "Born This Way" episode, I was startled by how incandescently beautiful Kurt was, but I couldn't put my finger on what was different, so I watched it again and and spotted the exact moment he changed. It's during his long solo ballad. He gets this glint in his eyes, and raises his hands while singing, like in "Don't Cry For Me," only this time, there is no one gesturing for him to tone it down The whole rest of the episode, he sings with holds hands and his whole body. e's free to be all of himself again, ad there's joy in every hip wiggle and guest. Back when Blaine was singing him good bye, he makes gesture like he's releasing a bird. I keep thinking, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly." When they all hug him good bye, they are both affirming his value, but letting him go, out of the cage, and the whole rest of the episode, he's flying again. What a beautiful and generous thing for Blaine to do, to have understood how much Kurt needed this in "Night of Neglect" and to set up the little good bye ceremony that said, "I/we love you, now go fly!" That's very generous and grown up thing to do, to be happy for Kurt even though free means not together every day, even though it means being alone in the cage and catching time together where they can in the evening.
2. I'm not sure it's always clear how fond I am of Blaine and how much empathy and admiration I have for him. How can I not, knowing what the costs are and just what it takes to survive.
3. I love that Puck chose the "I'm With Stupid" Arrow pointing to his crotch shirt.
4. Have I mentioned how much happier I am with Lauren than I expected to be? I thought she was going to be a one note joke, but they fleshed her out to be a whole person good and bad like everyone else.
5. Every time Rachel's Barbra thing comes up, I think of my Mother, who felt that way about her too. We weren't Jewish, but my Mom was never conventionally beautiful and she found Barbra Streisand inspirational, her bravery and confidence, her making the world see her as beautiful just the way she was instead of changing herself to fit someone else's idea of who she should be. (And yes, that's something that's cool about Lea Michelle and Padgett Brewster too).
6. Every time I get to disliking Quinn, she breaks my heart a little ad I end up on her side again.
7. I think the Santana/Brittany/Artie stuff hurts so much because it feels so real and everyone is wrong and everyone is right.
8. In "Rumors," I really wanted to smack Finchel. I guessed immediately what the deal with Sam was. Maybe it helped that it's so common here. I kept thinking how selfish and self involved you would have to be to see the evidence and assume it was all about you instead of Kurt and Quinn being tactful and generous.
9. However, Rachel is not wrong that you shouldn't be with someone you don't trust.
* Cleolinda on the Avengers FTW: http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/1021966.html?style=mine#cutid1
I completely endorse her comments about Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlet Johannsen/Black Widow. (And this from me who generally doesn't enjoy Ms. Johannsen's acting).
This has spoilers but puts into words something that made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't figure out how to phrase properly under a mild spoilers tag, and my response Black widow in the scene was really complex. She captures the complexity and ambiguity and why a certain of the lines is not okay: http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/1022287.html?style=mine#cutid1
* Imagine the fun I could have with these: http://revelations-of-a-hermit.tumblr.com/post/22640522708/takesawayourfears-ruineshumaines-the-500
* I love these, but even if I could afford them the Butt would have broken them all the first week: http://snakewife.tumblr.com/post/22655346883/staceythinx-the-medusae-collection-of-lamps
* If I wasn't clear about the Romney gay bashing thing, my point was that all the other bullies involved were haunted by the horrible things they did for forty five or so years and are genuinely contrite because they are human enough to know their behavior was appalling. Mitt Romney has zero empathy for the people he hurt and still thinks this stuff is hilarious and harmless. He's not sorry he hurt people, he's sorry people are offended. That's not an apology. I do that that speaks to his character, especially as part of a pattern of doing deliberate harm to those with less privilege than himself that continues without change over the course of his adult life simply because he can and occasionally because it's funny to him. He has the power to get away with doing damage, so that makes it okay. He just does it on a larger scale today.
* Meanwhile, this week a top Romney aide deliberately outed a trans lawmaker for the purpose of wrecking her career.
* Speaking of Romney, he's out telling lies about the President. He's claiming the President has made an "unprecedented number of new regulations." This is despite the fact that W had close to double the number of new regulations at this point of his presidency. I mean, you don't have to go back further that the last president to prove Romney is lying. Sigh. This doesn't even get into the argument about whether or not regulations are the problem. After all, I want financial regulations. I like having clean air and potable water. I think regulations stopping companies dumping toxic waste willy nilly are a good thing. I'm really in favour of food and drug safety as well as work place safety regulations. Are there bad regulations out there? Sure, but tht doesn't mean all or even most are bad.
* Long time readers have likely read my "history of marriage rant." Lawrence O'Donnell has one without reference to the dramatic change from secular to church weddings in the early Modern Era in the West. He's going with the world history approach. for the record, polyandry wasn't just in Tibet, though it's best documented there. http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-last-word/47381597#47381597
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* Remember that financial crisis that crashed the world economy? Well J.P. Morgan chase just lost a couple billion doing the same thing. After all regulation would have cost them a fraction of that, but don't worry, the House Republicans are working hard to water down the Volcker Rule and get rid of what little regulation we still have, because as we know, they believe Wall street knows best even when it's obvious they don't. Luckily, economic facts are no bar to disastrous Republican law making, so expect more news items like this in the future.
* Rachel Maddow spots something really corrupt in Michigan: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#47395558
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* I hope this kid's family and community are proud of him, because I sure would be. Someone raised him right: http://browngurlwfro.tumblr.com/post/22620029881/positive-press-daily-leland-camara-5-year-old
* Every time LBJ comes up, as it did on last night's Daily Show, I think of something a Professor at my second college once said about him. For context, the Proff in question was drafted. They ended up not sending him overseas, though all his friends went, basically because he was a terrible soldiers and the veterans training him believed he and any men unfortunate enough to be under him would be killed right off seeing how bad he was in the jungle training. He was one of those guys who would go to peace marches in his uniform. He hated the war, the stupid, pointless waste of it. He hated what happened to his friends who went. I can not give exact quotes after nearly twenty years, but it went something like this: "I was so angry about the war back then, and I put so much energy into hating LBJ over it, that couldn't see the real achievements like Civil Rights, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Financial Aid System to send the middle class to college." He did is best to teach it fair, to put in the serious positive legacy while at the same time teaching the chain reaction of bad decisions about Vietnam and the real costs, including having veterans in to talk about. I think it's important to keep the contradictions in his character in mind. I think last night's interview caught that in both his doing the right thing for Jackie Kennedy after the assassination and the mind boggling cruelty to Robert Kennedy right after. Of course I think something similar about John Adams (great man; terrible president), or Jefferson, or so many other presidents and other public figures. It's easy to get so anger that one forgets the other things that matter. I was still thinking of it watching the Richard Clarke interview this evening. Back when he was in office, I lumped him in with Rove, Cheney, Rumsfield and the rest of the truly horrible people working for W.. Here he was being honest about mistakes and deliberately bad decisions they made. It made me think he was a better person than I could give him credit for at the time. It's important to remind myself that things can be more complex than they look.
* rm has something important to say about body image: http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/22609428945/thank-you-for-writing-about-body-image-im-16-and
* Greenwick on hat doesn't and doesn't make a good ally and what the president said: http://greenwick.livejournal.com/107495.html?style=mine#comments
* WTF tea party (I haven't independently verified this one): http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/07/fox-news-contributor-laments-mistake-of-letting-women-vote/
* Hector needed coaxing, but he did come sleep with us. He spent the early evening sleeping on my shoulder again, but then was comfortable enough to nap on my work table.
* It looks like time again to remind people it's okay to disagree in this space (politely) with me and each other. If I'm wrong or said things too simplified, please do speak up.
* It also looks like time to mention again that I don't do "reblog if you agree with X" stuff. If you read my stuff you know what side I'm on.
* Glee S:2
1. Watching the "Born This Way" episode, I was startled by how incandescently beautiful Kurt was, but I couldn't put my finger on what was different, so I watched it again and and spotted the exact moment he changed. It's during his long solo ballad. He gets this glint in his eyes, and raises his hands while singing, like in "Don't Cry For Me," only this time, there is no one gesturing for him to tone it down The whole rest of the episode, he sings with holds hands and his whole body. e's free to be all of himself again, ad there's joy in every hip wiggle and guest. Back when Blaine was singing him good bye, he makes gesture like he's releasing a bird. I keep thinking, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly." When they all hug him good bye, they are both affirming his value, but letting him go, out of the cage, and the whole rest of the episode, he's flying again. What a beautiful and generous thing for Blaine to do, to have understood how much Kurt needed this in "Night of Neglect" and to set up the little good bye ceremony that said, "I/we love you, now go fly!" That's very generous and grown up thing to do, to be happy for Kurt even though free means not together every day, even though it means being alone in the cage and catching time together where they can in the evening.
2. I'm not sure it's always clear how fond I am of Blaine and how much empathy and admiration I have for him. How can I not, knowing what the costs are and just what it takes to survive.
3. I love that Puck chose the "I'm With Stupid" Arrow pointing to his crotch shirt.
4. Have I mentioned how much happier I am with Lauren than I expected to be? I thought she was going to be a one note joke, but they fleshed her out to be a whole person good and bad like everyone else.
5. Every time Rachel's Barbra thing comes up, I think of my Mother, who felt that way about her too. We weren't Jewish, but my Mom was never conventionally beautiful and she found Barbra Streisand inspirational, her bravery and confidence, her making the world see her as beautiful just the way she was instead of changing herself to fit someone else's idea of who she should be. (And yes, that's something that's cool about Lea Michelle and Padgett Brewster too).
6. Every time I get to disliking Quinn, she breaks my heart a little ad I end up on her side again.
7. I think the Santana/Brittany/Artie stuff hurts so much because it feels so real and everyone is wrong and everyone is right.
8. In "Rumors," I really wanted to smack Finchel. I guessed immediately what the deal with Sam was. Maybe it helped that it's so common here. I kept thinking how selfish and self involved you would have to be to see the evidence and assume it was all about you instead of Kurt and Quinn being tactful and generous.
9. However, Rachel is not wrong that you shouldn't be with someone you don't trust.
* Cleolinda on the Avengers FTW: http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/1021966.html?style=mine#cutid1
I completely endorse her comments about Nick Fury/Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlet Johannsen/Black Widow. (And this from me who generally doesn't enjoy Ms. Johannsen's acting).
This has spoilers but puts into words something that made me uncomfortable, but I couldn't figure out how to phrase properly under a mild spoilers tag, and my response Black widow in the scene was really complex. She captures the complexity and ambiguity and why a certain of the lines is not okay: http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/1022287.html?style=mine#cutid1
* Imagine the fun I could have with these: http://revelations-of-a-hermit.tumblr.com/post/22640522708/takesawayourfears-ruineshumaines-the-500
* I love these, but even if I could afford them the Butt would have broken them all the first week: http://snakewife.tumblr.com/post/22655346883/staceythinx-the-medusae-collection-of-lamps