Sunday Reads…
Posted: August 19, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, misogyny, Mitt Romney | Tags: Romney Taxes, Sexism 27 Comments »Good morning…
It has been one hell of a week, in fact I still have one OPM (other people’s munchkin) left…and he goes home today. Since things have been so busy, and because I am so tired, today’s post will be on the thin side. Hopefully these are links are new to you, if they are repeats…I am so sorry.
Here is an interesting article from the Guardian. Mitt Romney’s tax returns: the ‘voter fraud’ theory
There has been much speculation about why Romney refuses to disclose earlier tax returns. Could it be as simple as an address?
Well, if there is something serious, my guess is that the press will never have the “balls” to get to the bottom of it: For Romney: no coffee, but coffee ice cream
Yeah, wow that is some kind of investigative reporting there! It is like all the questions about boxers or briefs, who gives a fuck? Anyway, below are a few more links on Romney/Ryan:
Republican Medicare plan would be a gamble – latimes.com
Obama: Ryan plan would reduce Romney’s tax rate to 1 percent – Political Hotsheet – CBS News
I know those are not telling you anything you don’t already know, so let’s move on.
Earlier this week I mentioned a trend in Juvenile crime down in Mississippi, well here is an update on some other states that are getting notice for their incarceration statistics.
ACLU has a round up of sorts: Breaking the Addiction to Incarceration: Weekly Highlights
Speaking of updates: Viviette Applewhite, 93-year-old plaintiff in Pa. voter ID case, gets card amid appeal | theGrio
And since it is Sunday, a story that you may find amazing: Man with no limbs swims Bering Strait | World news | guardian.co.uk
Which brings us to a topic that we have already touched on here at Sky Dancing. There is some discussion about comedians like Daniel Tosh, rape and comedy: Have you heard the one about rape? It’s funny now
‘All this [misogynistic material] normalises and diminishes violence towards women.’ Illustration: Thomas DowseThere’s a reason it’s called a punchline. At the Edinburgh comedy festival there are rape jokes and domestic violence jokes bouncing through the town. It is strange why comedy, theoretically so revolutionary, should embrace the bloodiest kind of social reaction, but it is so.
I watched a young, gangly comic called Chris Turner position himself as a nerd, boast he went to Oxford University, and tell jokes about Roman numerals. Then it came: “I was waiting for my girlfriend to come round. Because I’d hit her really hard.” Afterwards I asked him – why tell jokes about domestic violence? “Because it’s funny,” he said. “It’s funny enough.” Then he said he has studied feminism. So this is a culture that mocks the degradation of women; it is, as they say, only material and sometimes promotion. There is a show called Sex Tourist by Chris Dangerfield, which has a flyer you can take to an escort agency for £10 off.
Misogyny is a constant in standup, and has been for 20 years, since the feminist revolution began to crawl away from mainstream culture, to be shagged by Loaded. A comic called Gerry K tells a joke about watching a pimp fighting with two prostitutes. “I’m not having that,” he says, “So I joined in.” Here comes the reveal – “I punched her spark out.” A comic called Paul Revill says: “Some audiences say they don’t like rape jokes. They say that, but I know what they mean.”
Gee, that sort of sounds familiar to me..you may say no, but I know… no means yes. These kind of jokes are horrible and disgusting. So in connection with these misogynistic “jokes” come this gallery of images from “yesteryear”: Sexist Vintage Ads: 17 Vintage Ads Targeting Husbands And Wives
Are you boring your husband to death?
There used to be a pill for that.
Click through the slideshow below to see some cringe-worthy vintage ads targeting married couples, then let us know: what would you do if you saw a sexist ad like this today?
Wildfires are creating havoc in Idaho: Idaho resort town ordered to evacuate over wildfire
Authorities on Saturday ordered the evacuation of a small mountain resort in Idaho as firefighters braced for the possibility that a wildfire that has charred 82,000 acres could reach the town of Featherville in the evening.
Smoke from the Trinity Ridge Fire in the Boise National Forest blanketed roadways leading to Featherville, raising health concerns and reducing visibility, said Gary Walker, spokesman for the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office.
Hope to put some more links in the comment section when I wake up, anyway…hope you have a lovely Sunday, see you soon in the comments below.
Sima
fiscalliberal
grayslady
JJ Lopez Minkoff
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Thanks for the roundup, JJ. I’m glad the last munchkin is leaving soon. Hope you can get some R&R before the next kiddie crisis!
It’s very interesting that Viviette Applewhite has gotten a Voter ID card. The state of PA must be trying to buy her off so she won’t continue her lawsuit.
BB, I haven even looked at the computer today…but after reading about that duckfuck Akin, I am glad that I took the day off!
Thanks for the article on sexism and comedy, I can’t believe how many women listen to that crap, and tell me that’s not what he (Tosh) met to say………..right.
About the fires, live about 200 miles from the Trinity fire in Idaho, and Featherville is closer to us, but looks like that could be defended…………. Huge fire on the Oregon/Nevada border, 400,000 acres but not near homes or town. There is the Manton Fire in Northeastern California, and it is hard to get updates regarding those fires. Yesterday was the worst in Boise, went to Soccer game and you couldn’t see the mountains, it settled in pretty good, but the wind shifted, and last night I could see the mountains……….. One family in Manton was eating super, and had to get up and leave and get out of the house.
Oh no. I hope you’ll be safe!
Yes Fannie, stay safe! One of the boys that was over this week…his mother works for the forestry service and she finds out tomorrow if she will be sent over to those fires in Idaho. She is always being sent out during fire seasons. There are some brave folks fighting those fires…
So “comics” think that rape is funny – ergo when they get raped, that will be funny right? Geez, how far down the degradation hole does one have to go to get a laugh, and quite honestly, anyone who laughs at that sheite deserves to be in the same hole.
Minx, good roundup. Hope you get some peace and quiet in this life. Just found out that one of my lost touch long ago friend is homeless, so offered a place to stay. I hope that will work out, but there wasn’t anything else I could have done, being on a pension and all.
On the Media yesterday had a segment on Ayn Rand. During the interview, the guest was talking about The Fountainhead & the “consensual rape” in the book. Would a woman ever classify any rape as consensual? Needless to say, the guest was male. http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/aug/17/
Connie, I can’t even look at that link, although perhaps when I’m having multiple glasses of wine I might try. I was raped. There is nothing consensual about it. It’s a power trip that leaves the perpetrator feeling wonderful, and the victim feeling like they want to kill themself. Years later, from a distance, I would kill the bastard that tried to make me the centre of his fantasy, but I could never kill. although, some days….. well leave it at that.
I cannot imagine what is has taken for you to survive & succeed carrying that horror with you. The interview, and I believe there were a couple of guests, was interesting because it was more about how Rand would not have liked Paul Ryan.
I’ve never read The Fountainhead, but I saw the movie because James Darren (Moondoggie of Gidget fame, oh my) was one of the stars. He is all that I remember of the film. Whatever “political” message it contained was totally wasted on me. However, I do remember that Charleton Heston (in his democratic period) was the “star” & it was set in Hawaii. By the way, I have the album pictured in this video:
Oops, my bad. It was Diamond Head with Charlton Heston, not The Foundtainhead, which starred Gary Cooper & Patricia Neal. What can I say besides I’m old and my memory just ain’t what it used to be.
I loved James Darren as a kid. I wonder what happened to him?
He’s still drop dead gorgeous. He is still performing. Here is his website: http://www.jamesdarren.com/ I think the last time he acted was on Deep Space Nine. Here’s part of Sandra Dee’s last interview, featuring James Darren & Shelley Fabares (from the Donna Reed Show & Coach):
Ah, Moondoggie, weren’t all young teen girls in love with the idea of a moondoggie, although I was rather more partial to the Big Kahuna (Cliff Robertson). Sadly, Sandra Dee did not have a happy life, and Cliff Robertson was maligned and driven to accept substandard roles in horror movies despite being an award winning actor. The power of money to punish all who are out of line, I suppose. Darren was probably the only one who came out of that movie and led a relatively good life.
Moyers & Company was a rebroadcast today. I missed it the first time & it was wonderful. The guest was Khalil Gibran Muhammad. His book is The Condemnation of Blackness. Here’s a link to the show: http://billmoyers.com/episode/encore-confronting-the-contradictions-of-america%E2%80%99s-past/ What a fascinating interview.
Ed Gillespie says Romney/Ryan would keep Medicare solvent by raising the age to 67 and booting current 65 and 66 year-off the program to shift for themselves.
Why would the CBO think their own assumptions were unrealistic? Lying hack!
For fellow former hippies — Scott McKenzie died yesterday at age 73. He recorded the famous song about the Summer of Love, San Francisco (with flowers in your hair). The song was written by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas. I almost went to SF in 1967, but I came to Boston instead. No regrets.
I never knew that McKenzie was in The Journeymen.
For any fans of the film Soylent Green, the author of the book upon which the movie was based, Henry Harrison, recently died. He was 87. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/18/books/harry-harrison-a-prolific-writer-of-satiric-science-fiction-dies-at-87.html?src=me&ref=arts That movie had more of an effect on me than any other I can think of.
Too often science fiction has a way of coming true. The great writers can take a theme and play what “would happen If”. Frank Herbert’s Dune and then his son has taken the Dune books even further (Often with a manuscript that Frank Herbert wrote.}
Soylent Green is one of the best — carry out the theme of too many people and pollution and lack of protein.
The Stainless Steel Rat! Wily men, smart women, and set in a space cowboy opera sorta setting. I could use reading something like that; the news is just too crazy.
Happy Birthday President Clinton 66 years young and looking good.
I’m not quite clear on what used to make a person a senior citizen at 65, and now that person is not a senior until 67 or 70. Could it be ageism? No, say it isn’t so. Quite frankly, as a senior approaching not quite senior hood, I have never taken a dime of government money, and now that I’m approaching an age where I could benefit for the taxes I paid and the contributions via paycheque in lieu of pay raises, I’m advised that I’m not just a real senior. Isn’t it interesting that the politicians have in the past, and also the wall street sharks, looted the pension plans after their pie in the sky forays didn’t work. And now, they are trying to paint people approaching pension, and of course those who are already collecting it as leeches on the teat of government. Excuse me, we contributed to those plans, we took lower wages in order to contribute to those plans, and now we are the leeches? Compared to those trying to loot the funds, we are red riding hoods trying to evade the wolf.
Iceland is having a very nice recovery, thank you.
A Novel Approach
bad lip reading, more Mitt…
Oh, golly gee, that video is a knee-slapping humdinger. Thanks, Ralph.