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Tuesday Reads: Military Scandals, Hollywood Problems and Perversions, and Other News

Posted: February 4, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Barack Obama, child sexual abuse, children, court rulings, Crime, Criminal Justice System, Foreign Affairs, Iran, Israel, morning reads, U.S. Politics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |50 Comments

Hedgehog newspaper

Good Morning!!

Winter weather continues to dominate my world. I was all ready to go out for groceries yesterday when I looked outside and saw snow coming down. Sigh . . .

We’ve got a couple of inches on the ground now–not a big deal except that there are two more storms on the way. We get one day’s respite, and then a big storm on Wednesday (5-9 in.) and a nor’easter coming on Saturday.

The storm we’re getting tomorrow is already impacting the plains states of Oklahoma and Kansas and the Midwest. If you’re in its path, you’d best stay inside and find some indoor activities to keep you occupied–like reading a good book or surfing the internet. Speaking of which, let’s see what’s in the news today.

Here’s some good news from Talking Points Memo: Obama Persuades Dems To Back Off Iran Sanctions, Give Peace A Chance.

Senate Democrats came close to blowing up President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran by toying with a new sanctions bill that negotiators cautioned would poison talks.

But in recent days it has become clear that they’re going to hold off, after aggressive lobbying from the White House, as diplomatic negotiators’ attempt to turn an interim six-month deal struck last November into something more permanent. The goal is to get Iran to surrender its nuclear weapons capabilities in exchange for relief from a swath of economically devastating sanctions….

Legislation to beef up sanctions on Iran, authored by Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-NJ), has a whopping 58 additional sponsors, 15 of which are Democrats. Criticism of the interim deal from Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, boosted the bill. But in the last three weeks, numerous Democrats have backed away and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said he’ll wait to see how negotiations play out before considering the sanctions bill.

Obama, Kerry and their top aides pulled Democrats back from the brink by making their opposition to any sort of new sanctions bill clear in a series of public remarks and private face-to-face meetings with top senators. They’ve warned that bringing up a sanctions bill amid talks would empower the hard-liners in Iran, making it politically untenable for President Hassan Rouhani to cut a long-term deal. They’ve conveyed their strong belief that pushing sanctions legislation at this pivotal moment would only increase the chances of a war, according to sources familiar with the matter.

It’s too bad that Obama has to deal not only with Republicans trying to undermine his initiatives, but also with Democrats who seem to be more concerned with what Israel wants then what is best for the U.S.

Recently the Navy has been caught up in a scandal involving “nuclear force officers” caught cheating on proficiency tests. According to Fox News:

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Thursday the number of nuclear force officers implicated in a proficiency test cheating scandal has grown to 92 out of a force of 500.

James spoke to reporters after touring nuclear bases around the country, which The Associated Press has revealed suffers from such low morale and burnout that they have committed serious security lapses other breakdowns.

James, who is new to the job, said the nuclear force is beset by “undue stress and fear,” and said the nuclear force suffers “systemic problems.”

Today we’re learning of a serious fraud scandal in the Army. The Washington Post reports: Army probes allegations of fraud by recruiters and others in enlistment referral program.

Army criminal investigators are probing the actions of more than 1,200 individuals who collected suspect payouts totaling more than $29 million, according to officials who were briefed on the preliminary findings of the investigation and would discuss them only on the condition of anonymity. More than 200 officers are suspected of involvement, including two generals and dozens of colonels.

The alleged fraud drew in recruiters, soldiers and civilians with ties to the military who submitted, or profited from, false referrals registered on a Web site run by a marketing firm the Army hired to run the program. Suspects often obtained the names of people who had enlisted from recruiters, claimed them as their referrals, and then kicked back some of the bonus money to the recruiters.

The abuse is feared to be so widespread that Army investigators do not expect to conclude all audits and investigations before the fall of 2016.

But there are even more scandals. At the National Journal, Sara Sorcher and Jordain Carney offer A Pocket Guide to the Military’s Many Scandals to help us keep score.

Hoffman

Quite a bit more has come out about the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. The New York Daily News is now reporting that 70 bags of heroin and numerous prescription drugs were found in the Greenwich Village apartment he was living in had been living in.

Seventy glassine baggies of heroin packed for individual sale — at least 50 of them unopened — were discovered in the $10,000-a-month rental where the Oscar-winning actor was found dead Sunday with a needle stuck in his left arm, sources said.

Some of the envelopes had the words “Ace of Spades” written on them, and others were stamped with the name “Ace of Hearts.” Both are brands of heroin that are often cut with a powerful pain reliever called fentanyl, and have become a plague in Pennsylvania, where they were used in 22 overdose deaths.

Police are now trying to learn where Hoffman got the drugs.

Apparently Hoffman had gotten sober when he was 22 years old. He told 60 minutes interviewer Steve Kroft in 2006 that he stopped drinking and drugging because he was “panicked for my life,” and that there were “things I wanted to do” and he wouldn’t be able to do them if he kept on the way he was going. Reportedly Hoffman stayed clean and sober for 23 years, until he began using again in 2013. He checked himself into localadlink.net for a brief rehab program last May, but he had been struggling to stay straight since then.

As a recovering alcoholic and addict who has been sober more than 30 years, it’s very difficult for me to read about this. When I went into treatment at age 33, I met people who had been sober for more than 20 years and then drank again. It’s hard to believe, but the disease never goes away no matter how many years go by. And they say if you use again, the results will be much worse than when you quit. It sounds like once Hoffman went back to the drugs, he simply couldn’t stop. Although I am one of the fortunate people who have never had a desire to drink again after I quit, I know it still could happen to me. This is what addiction advocates in Utah and any other city try to make people understand. No recovering person is immune.

Last link on Hoffman: CNN pieced together a timeline of his last couple of days. Some friends said he seemed fine, but his ex-partner told police he seemed high the day before he died. Read more details at the link.

Mia Farrow and Woody Allen with adopted children Satchel and Dylan

Mia Farrow and Woody Allen with adopted children Satchel and Dylan

There’s been quite a bit of talk lately about Woody Allen’s creepy interest in young girls, after his adopted daughter Dylan wrote an open letter to The New York Times about her childhood experiences with the famous actor and director. Frankly, I believe her, but as usual many powerful people like Barbara Walters are defending Allen and suggesting that Dylan is either lying or reporting false memories. Of course, these people must ignore the facts that when 7-year-old Dylan first spoke up, Allen had been in therapy for two years for his inappropriate behavior toward her and that the prosecutor in the case found probable cause to charge Allen but felt that Dylan was too fragile to handle a trial. Read the decision in Allen v. Farrow here.

For anyone interested in this case, I recommend reading two long Vanity Fair articles by Maureen Orth–From 1992, Mia’s Story and a follow-up from 2013, Mama Mia! I also want to point to some circumstantial evidence. Of course we all know that Allan began having sex with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn when she was barely out of high school; but I didn’t realized until yesterday that Allen’s movie Manhattan was based on a sexual relationship he had with a high school girl when she was 17 and he was in his 40s.  Predictably, the girl, Stacey Nelkin is defending Woody Allen today.

From CNN: Former girlfriend Stacey Nelkin defends Woody Allen, refutes accusations of child abuse and seductive tendencies.

…on Monday evening “Piers Morgan Live” welcomed Stacey Nelkin for an exclusive, primetime interview.

Having dated Allen as a teenager, when she was 35 years his junior, Nelkin remains skeptical of the statements penned by Dylan Farrow, who is alleging to have been molested by her adoptive father as a seven-year-old. To Monday’s guest, the latest claims are simply an extension of the ugly separation between Allen, and Dylan’s adoptive mother, Mia Farrow:

“These accusations came on the heels of a horrible custody battle, Mia being extremely upset, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and she was hell-bent and determined to destroy something that he loved,” said Nelkin, who insisted her own relationship with Allen was entirely consensual and not corrupt in the least. “Woody loved Dylan. We were in contact at the time, and he would talk about her a lot. He loved the kids that they had adopted together, and she took Dylan away by creating this whole scenario.”

Maybe Nelkin is hoping Allen will finally acknowledge her and give her a part. She had a small role in Annie Hall, but here performance was left on the cutting room floor. How would Nelkin know what is true–I wonder if she knows that Woody was having sex with Soon-Yi while he was adopting his two children with Mia Farrow?

One more bit of circumstantial evidence from a 1976 People article about Woody Allen’s neuroses:

Woody will admit now only to “dating around” and living with girls for stretches ranging from “two days to two weeks—if you call that living together.” Could he possibly have mellowed from the days when his movies rated horniness as a human malaise second only to bubonic plague? “I try to have sex only with women I like a lot,” Woody explains solemnly. “Otherwise I find it fairly mechanical.” (He has little interest in family life: “It’s no accomplishment to have or raise kids. Any fool can do it.”)

He goes on: “I’m open-minded about sex. I’m not above reproach; if anything, I’m below reproach. I mean, if I was caught in a love nest with 15 12-year-old girls tomorrow, people would think, yeah, I always knew that about him.” Allen pauses. “Nothing I could come up with would surprise anyone,” he ventures helplessly. “I admit to it all.”

Okay, enough about the problems and perversions of movie stars. Did you hear about the man who claims he survived being adrift in a boat for more than a year? BBC News:

“I want to get back to Mexico,” Jose Salvador Albarengo reportedly said as he was taken to the islands’ capital, Majuro, for a medical examination.

Mr Albarengo said he left Mexico with a friend for a trip in a fibre-glass boat in December 2012.

He was found by people living on the island of Ebon Atoll on Thursday.

He had initially identified himself to authorities as Jose Ivan.

The castaway told the local deputy US ambassador Norman Barth, who was acting as an interpreter for Marshall Islands authorities, that he was originally from El Salvador, but had been living in Mexico for 15 years before his epic voyage.

From ABC News:

Alvarenga, who said he got lost after a shark fishing trip off the coast of Mexico in December 2012, said he survived 13 months drifting in the Pacific Ocean by eating fish, birds and turtles, a representative at the  Washington D.C. Embassy of the Republic of the Marshall Islands told ABCNews.com.

The man also scooped up little fish that swam alongside his drifting boat and ate them raw, while also drinking bird blood to quench his thirst, Thomas Armbruster, U.S. Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, told the Associated Press.

Alvarenga told officials he is  from El Salvador but had been living and working in Mexico as a fisherman for 15 years before his ordeal.

In December 2012, Alvarenga said he left Mexico in a 23-foot fiber glass boat with a teenage companion named Ezekiel for what was supposed to be a day trip of fishing, the ambassador said.

A storm blew their boat off course, Armbruster said, and caused them to become disoriented and adrift. He said the castaway told him Ezekiel died a month later.

Who knows if it’s true?

Now it’s your turn. What stories have captured your interest today? Please post your links in the comment thread.

50 Comments on “Tuesday Reads: Military Scandals, Hollywood Problems and Perversions, and Other News”

  1. Pat Johnson says:
    February 4, 2014 at 10:02 am

    Girding up for the next couple of storms heading out way in New England. The only “bright spot” is that Spring Training starts in a few weeks. Other than that…..

    Don’t know what is truth or fiction when it comes to both Woody and Mia. Both are seriously disturbed human beings.

    Mia has no idea if Frank Sinatra or Woody fathered Ronan. Wow! This also means that if true she was having sexual relations with her former husband who was in his 70’s and also married to someone else.

    Mia is another defender of Roman Polanski so she leaves me somewhat cold about her accusations. On the other hand Woody does appear to be someone whose moral compass is missing. Marrying a 20 yr old and the adopted daughter of his former lover at the age of 56 raises doubts about the whole thing.

    We will never know the truth but these two are content to play it all out once more in the press which is in itself tawdry.

    Woody and Mia are both so nuts it is difficult to believe either one of them to be honest. Now we have Ronan jumping in from his perch at MSNBC which makes you wonder how long he will last.

    Talk about a dysfunctional group of people! They have covered every base so far.

    • bostonboomer says:
      February 4, 2014 at 10:10 am

      I agree that Mia is f’d up, but the accusations are from Dylan. After reading her open letter and knowing Woody Allen’s history, I believe her. I don’t think she her claims should be dismissed because Woody and Mia are crazy.

      • Pat Johnson says:
        February 4, 2014 at 10:17 am

        Not dismissing it but wondering if perhaps she may have “false memories” fed by Mia.

        Her story sounds compelling but he was never formally charged at the time when the judge ruled the poor kid was unable to separate reality from fantasy.

        Not to say it didn’t happen but with this cast of characters it is difficult for me to come down firmly on the side of one over the other.

        These are two people with lots of baggage and it is not difficult imagining one or the other outright lying.

        They are both insane from where I sit.

        • bostonboomer says:
          February 4, 2014 at 10:22 am

          Actually that wasn’t the ruling. I linked to the actual court document in the post. There was probable cause to charge Allen, but the prosecutor felt Dylan was too fragile to deal with a trial and the judge went along with it.

          As a survivor of child sexual abuse and someone who knows what it’s like not to be believed as a child, I am going to go with Dylan’s account.

          BTW, the research on “false memories” is not as clear-cut as many people believe. I’ll leave it there, because I tend to get stressed by these kinds of discussions.

          • Fannie says:
            February 4, 2014 at 10:36 am

            I believe her above all else. I get a long face when adults turn against those who have been sexually abused. It is so wrong, because the abuser plays the family like no other, it’s such ease for him. I think Mia tried to find the way, and deep down believes her daughter to speak the truth.

            I am glad she hasn’t given up on the truth about Woody, she was the one hardest hit, and to suffer far worst than he will ever admit to.

        • bostonboomer says:
          February 4, 2014 at 10:26 am
          • Pat Johnson says:
            February 4, 2014 at 10:30 am

            I hope so because I am definitely “over” cleaning my car off every time it snows.

            Not the worst winter on record here but very annoying.

            Of course expect me to be whining come summer when it gets hot.

          • bostonboomer says:
            February 4, 2014 at 10:41 am

            Same here. I reserve the right to complain about the weather at any time of year.

    • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
      February 5, 2014 at 12:24 am

      Yeah I am with you there Pat, on all of it…except I do feel Woody Allen is fully capable of doing that to a child and I believe Dylan was molested. Don’t forget Mia’s other family history:

      Mia Farrow’s sex abuse silence – Salon.com

      Mia Farrow is outspoken about people she believes sexually abuse children. The day after her former partner Woody Allen was honored at the Golden Globes, she tweeted, “A woman has publicly detailed Woody Allen’s molestation of her at age 7. Golden Globe tribute showed contempt for her & all abuse survivors.” She was the subject of a lengthy Vanity Fair profile last fall that detailed her daughter Dylan’s harrowing allegations of sexual abuse by her father, Woody Allen. But she has been silent on the subject of another sex abuse case in her family – this one involving her own brother.

      In October, right around the same time of Maureen Orth’s glowing story of Farrow’s “triumph,” Farrow’s brother John Charles Villiers-Farrow began serving 10 years in prison for molesting two neighbor boys. According to the local Maryland news affiliate, authorities said “he abused one victim for seven years, beginning when the boy was nine, and abused another boy from the ages of 8 to 13.”

      • bostonboomer says:
        February 5, 2014 at 7:56 am

        That’s very interesting, provides some clues for what could have happened to Mia to make her so messed up. Suggests that her parents were probably abusive too. Abuse survivors tend to be attracted to perpetrators as adults–men who will abuse their children.

        And so, the cycle of violence and abuse continues onward….

        No matter how much people blame and undermine Mia, it does nothing to change the credibility of 7-year-old Dylan’s story (which she first told to someone other than Mia Farrow) or the facts of Allen’s history of obsession with young girls.

        • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
          February 5, 2014 at 8:11 am

          No matter how much people blame and undermine Mia, it does nothing to change the credibility of 7-year-old Dylan’s story (which she first told to someone other than Mia Farrow) or the facts of Allen’s history of obsession with young girls.

          Oh yeah, I agree with that!

          • bostonboomer says:
            February 5, 2014 at 8:59 am

            Thanks. I’m really tired of the these “feminist” writers like Mary Beth Williams blaming Mia instead of Woody. Listen to the victims.

  2. RalphB says:
    February 4, 2014 at 11:45 am

    Military ‘Has No Use’ For For The Spartans. Remember there is no money for SNAP or UI…

    Aero News: New C-27J Cargo Planes Stored In Arizona Boneyard

    The Dayton Daily News reports that the Air Force has spent some $567 million to acquire 21 new Spartans since 2007, but has found that the Air Force does not have missions for many of the aircraft.

    The planes had originally been acquired because of their ability to operate from unimproved runways. But sequestration forced the Air Force to re-think the airplane’s mission, and it determined that they were not a necessity, according to an analyst with the Project for Government Oversight.

    …An Air Force spokesman said the program was “too near completion” to be able to terminate the program in a way that does not cost the taxpayers more than building the airplanes and sending them immediately to the boneyard.

    Build them and shitcan them.

  3. RalphB says:
    February 4, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    Hooray, the good guys won a round thanks to online activism.

    DKos: Online Backlash Kills Kansas swipe at expanding Internet..

  4. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    Not sure if yall saw what some idiot Seattle fans did to a historic structure in Pioneer Square after the Game. They did $25000 damage and some folks are trying to raise money to restore it now.

    http://www.gofundme.com/6ni2ic

    #HowSeattleRiots Fixing the Pergola

    http://www.kirotv.com/videos/news/video-historic-pioneer-square-pergola-damaged-in/vCPxzG/

  5. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    BREAKING: Scotland just legalized same-sex marriage.

    http://bzfd.it/1fYfdIn

    • ANonOMouse says:
      February 4, 2014 at 2:09 pm

      Well, there are a bunch of happy laddies and lassies right now. Makes me want to sing all the songs from Brigadoon.

      • ANonOMouse says:
        February 4, 2014 at 2:10 pm

        And what’s even better is I know all the songs from Brigadoon.

        • RalphB says:
          February 4, 2014 at 2:11 pm

          🙂

          • ANonOMouse says:
            February 4, 2014 at 2:32 pm

            Unlike Sochi Russia, Scotland DOES have gay people and they’ve decided to treat their gay & lesbian citizens with respect. I’ll think I’ll toast Scotland with a DeWars Scotch & Soda before I sing the Brigadoon Songs. 🙂

          • bostonboomer says:
            February 4, 2014 at 10:52 pm

            Now I’m really proud to be Scottish–on my Dad’s side anyway.

  6. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    http://nakedlaw.avvo.com/crime/six-reasons-dylan-farrow-highly-credible.html

    Woody Allen is presumed innocent. However, having represented many child sexual abuse victims for decades, I find Dylan’s story is highly credible. Here’s why.

    • janicen says:
      February 4, 2014 at 3:39 pm

      I believe Dylan. It’s a double tragedy that this happened to her and now she’s being accused of some type of hysteria that’s causing her to conjure false memories. She’s at least lucky to have a loving mother who has been in a position to get Dylan the therapy and help she needs to deal with all of this.

  7. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/04/1274866/-MUST-SEE-Stephen-Colbert-s-hilarious-take-on-bigots-freaking-out-over-Coca-Cola-s-ad#

    And, the website the Breitbart.ca’s Michael Leahy truly captured why we’re so angry, saying that:

    MICHAEL LEAHY (2/2/2014): The company used such an iconic song, one often sung in churches on the 4th of July that represents the old “E Pluribus Unum” view of how American society is integrated, to push multiculturalism down our throats.
    Yes, the old “E Pluribus Unum”. That’s Latin for “Speak-a da Englis”. (audience laughter) And Leahy points out it’s not enough that they sang…
    MICHAEL LEAHY (2/2/2014): … a deeply Christian patriotic anthem whose theme is unity — in several foreign languages … the ad also prominently features a gay couple.
    For Pete’s sake, since when are gays allowed to gay up “America the Beautiful”? I mean, if the woman who wrote the song, Katharine Lee Bates, saw this ad, she would be disgusted, and so would her life partner Katharine Coman, with whom she lived for 25 years in what was then referred to as a “Boston marriage”. (wild audience cheering and applause)

    • ANonOMouse says:
      February 4, 2014 at 2:02 pm

      Oh no, a Lesbian wrote America the Beautiful? Well, that explains the line about “the fruited plain”. Ok you gays, you have nothin to offer, get back into the caves.

  8. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    City on a Hill – IND Monthly
    theind.com
    The most epic Culture War battle waged in a generation is threatening to erupt in a small town in the piney woods of rural west Louisiana.

    http://www.theind.com/news/cover-story/16379-city-on-a-hill#.UvDt7aXYtOk.facebook

  9. RalphB says:
    February 4, 2014 at 2:08 pm

    The CBO report out today is generating the most bogus stories I’ve ever freaking seen. Here are some headlines, I refuse to link to the damn lies.

    “Congressional Budget Office: Obamacare A Tax On Work”
    “CBO: O-Care slowing growth, contributing to job losses”
    “Report fuels Obamacare debate with estimates of job loss”
    “Obamacare may push people out of the workforce”
    “Health Care Law May Result in 2 Million Fewer Full-Time Workers”
    “Obamacare Will Lead To 2 Million Fewer Workers In The Labor Force”

    From the NYT story come this happy horseshit:

    A new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office says that the Affordable Care Act will result in more than 2 million fewer full-time workers in the next several years, providing Republican opponents of the law a powerful political weapon leading up to this year’s midterm elections.

    Breathtakingly different from what the report actually says here:

    For some people, the availability of exchange subsidies under the ACA will reduce incentives to work both through a substitution effect and through an income effect. The former arises because subsidies decline with rising income (and increase as income falls), thus making work less attractive. As a result, some people will choose not to work or will work less—thus substituting other activities for work. The income effect arises because subsidies increase available resources—similar to giving people greater income—thereby allowing some people to maintain the same standard of living while working less. The magnitude of the incentive to reduce labor supply thus depends on the size of the subsidies and the rate at which they are phased out.

    That is, people will no longer be forced to work some crap job just to get health insurance. People may actually retire instead of working until they freaking die!

    Reince Preibus is either the headline writer for most of the MSM or the reporters have not actually read the CBO report but are regurgitating some Republican press release. I hate our good for nothing lazy ass media!!!!!

    • RalphB says:
      February 4, 2014 at 2:10 pm

      The actual CBO report is not terrible, if you’re interested. Most problems will be caused by slow growth, no shit!

      http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45010

      • ANonOMouse says:
        February 4, 2014 at 2:13 pm

        Thanks for that link. I’m very interested in reading the “actual” report.

      • RalphB says:
        February 4, 2014 at 2:39 pm

        Page 102:

        Other technical changes to estimates of mandatory spending include a $6 billion decrease in CBO’s projections of outlays for premium and cost-sharing subsidies provided through health insurance exchanges over the 2014–2023 period. That decrease largely reflects lower expected enrollment in2014 in plans sold through the exchanges, and lower premiums for those plans, than previously projected.

        In addition, CBO’s current projections include newly estimated payments (and collections) for the risk corridor program, a system of profit and loss sharing to limit the risks that insurers will face during their first few years of operating under the ACA. The government’s outlays for that program are estimated to total $8 billion between 2015 and 2017, and its revenue collections from the program are expected to total $16 billion during that period.

        Projecting fewer people getting coverage in 2014 through the Exchanges.

        Projecting that the failure of the Exchange launch only depresses enrollment for a year, enrollment resumes up to trend in the out years.

        Subsidies are lower because premiums are lower.

        The risk corridors will behave like Medicare Part D risk corridors and be a net money maker for the federal government.

  10. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    http://www.thenation.com/blog/178203/choosing-comfort-over-truth-what-it-means-defend-woody-allen#

    Choosing Comfort Over Truth: What It Means to Defend Woody Allen

    I’ve never watched a Woody Allen movie. My parents refused to rent them after he began a “relationship” with Soon-Yi Previn and their explanation stuck with me through adulthood. I was around 13 years old at the time, and always looking to pick a fight—I asked why it mattered since Previn wasn’t his “real” daughter. My parents sat me down and talked about the responsibility adults have to children, and certain boundaries that parents and parental figures must respect.

    As I grew older—as I had teachers come on to me as a teen, as I experienced the way grown men get away with sexualizing girls—I understood the significance of what my parents told me. Today, as an adult, I know that when we make excuses for particular, powerful men who hurt women, we make the world more comfortable for all abusers. And that this cultural cognitive dissonance around sexual assault and abuse is building a safety net for perpetrators that we should all be ashamed of.

    We know one in five girl children are sexually assaulted. Yet when victims speak out, we ask them why they waited so long to talk. We question why don’t they remember the details better. We suspect that they misunderstood what happened.

    • RalphB says:
      February 4, 2014 at 2:53 pm

      Beats me how anyone can defend him. With his known past, I believe every word that Dylan Farrow wrote unhesitatingly. I’ve seen a lot of innocent until proven guilty but that only applies in a court of law not the court of public opinion. I see no functional difference between defending Woody Allen and Roman Polanski.

    • ANonOMouse says:
      February 4, 2014 at 3:04 pm

      It’s always difficult to win any sort of battle against the powerful and the influential. Rape, incest, sexual assault are even more difficult because all to often they become “he said, she said”. Children rarely tell, especially a child in her circumstance which began when she was 7. Has the statute of limitations for prosecution of Allen passed? If it has the best she can hope for is to heighten the awareness of those who bring their children around him because he will never admit guilt.

      • RalphB says:
        February 4, 2014 at 3:14 pm

        The statute of limitations probably ran out long ago. Major damage will probably be to Allen’s reputation/legacy and it might save another child somehow.

  11. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 3:04 pm

    http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0203/Bill-Nye-vs.-Ken-Ham-Should-scientists-bother-debating-creationists-video

    Science Guy’ Bill Nye and Ken Ham, founder of the biblically literalist Creation Museum, are set to debate evolution tomorrow. Is it a mistake for scientists to agree to share a stage with creationists?

    • ANonOMouse says:
      February 4, 2014 at 3:15 pm

      I think it’s a mistake because in the end those who want to believe in the biblical story of creation will ignore science and fall back on what they call “faith”, what I call willful ignorance.

  12. janicen says:
    February 4, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    “A serious fraud scandal…” in the army. Well then I guess we can expect Fox News and all of their right wing minions to start calling for shutting down the army. Whenever a single medicare cheat is prosecuted, the right wingers start howling that medicare/medicaid must be shut down. 🙂

  13. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    woah

    http://www.today.com/id/44337958/ns/today-today_news/t/ex-powell-aide-dick-cheney-fears-prosecution-war-crimes/#.UvFhtfmTjSh

    Ex-Powell aide: Dick Cheney fears prosecution for war crimes
    ‘(Cheney) knew the Texas governor was not steeped in anything but baseball … He was president for all practical purposes for the first term’

  14. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 4:17 pm

    I keep wondering if I should blog on this or not and I really want to head to the court house to hear some of this.. especially if Nagin is on the stand … but it’s unbelievable!

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/02/ray_nagin_trial_live_coverage_4.html#incart_2box

  15. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    The Tyranny and Lethargy of the Times Editorial Page

    The Tyranny and Lethargy of the Times Editorial Page
    Reporters in ‘semi-open revolt’ against Andrew Rosenthal

    IT’S WELL KNOWN AMONG THE SMALL WORLD of people who pay attention to such things that the liberal-leaning reporters at The Wall Street Journal resent the conservative-leaning editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. What’s less well known—and about to break into the open, threatening the very fabric of the institution—is how deeply the liberal-leaning reporters at The New York Times resent the liberal-leaning editorial page of The New York Times.
    The New York Observer has learned over the course of interviews with more than two-dozen current and former Times staffers that the situation has “reached the boiling point” in the words of one current Times reporter. Only two people interviewed for this story agreed to be identified, given the fears of retaliation by someone they criticize as petty and vindictive.
    The blame here, in the eyes of most Times reporters to whom The Observer spoke, belongs to Andrew Rosenthal, who as editorial page editor leads both the paper’s opinion pages and opinion postings online, as well as overseeing the editorial board and the letters, columnists and op-ed departments. Mr. Rosenthal is accused of both tyranny and pettiness, by the majority of the Times staffers interviewed for this story. And the growing dissatisfaction with Mr. Rosenthal stems from a commitment to excellence that has lifted the rest of the Times, which is viewed by every staffer The Observer spoke to as rapidly and dramatically improving.
    “He runs the show and is lazy as all get-out,” says a current Times writer, and one can almost hear the Times-ness in his controlled anger (who but a Timesman uses the phrase “as all get-out” these days?). Laziness and bossiness are unattractive qualities in any superior, but they seem particularly galling at a time when the Times continues to pare valued staffers via unending buyouts.

  16. dakinikat says:
    February 4, 2014 at 5:35 pm

    De Blasio Won’t March In St. Patty’s Parade Due To Restrictions On Gay Pride Signs http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/de-blasio-st-patricks-day-parade …

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