Saturday: Politics, Physics, and… Purr-pics!
Posted: March 10, 2012 Filed under: just because 72 Comments
Morning, news junkies!
Here’s your Saturday morning link dump… grab a cuppa or have your furry one pour you a refill… and let’s get started!
“What Barack Obama seems to want to do is go back before those days when we were in different classes based on income, based on color of skin.”
–another moment of Grizzly Inanity, on Sean Profanity’s show
- Amidst a semi-endearing ‘y’all’ and ‘grits’ moment (for Mittens, that is) at a farmer’s market in Jackson, Mississippi, Romney sticks his crony capitalist foot in his mouth yet again:
JACKSON, Miss. – Campaigning in the Deep South, where he faces tough opposition from more-conservative rivals for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney is promoting an antiregulatory theme and a vision of a new environment in which regulators “see businesses and enterprises of all kinds as their friends.”
At a town hall meeting here on Friday, Romney also slammed the Obama administration for imposing a moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil-spill disaster.
“We were in Pascagoula yesterday and we saw behind us a couple of large drilling rigs not being used right now,” Romney said. “The use of drilling rigs in the Gulf is the lowest of any place in the world, lowest utilization. That’s because of this president and the moratorium he put in place that’s illegal.”
- This headline made my Friday night: “Gloria Allred seeks Rush Limbaugh prosecution“…. Bwahahaha! Classic! Whatever you think of Gloria Allred and her skill/intentions at seizing any opportunity to take on a high profile lawsuit, she still serves as a check and balance in our misogynist culture… anytime she gets on her legal eagle box, it’s a barometer of sorts. So I says… Go get him, Glo! LOL.
- You don’t hear me say this often, so listen up: Thank you, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and the Obama Administration for not granting a waiver that would free up funds meant for the Women’s Health Program here in Texas. The banning of this program, due to icky Planned Parenthood cooties, has been such a maddening and saddening story to watch unfold. So to have the HHS and President do this is a welcome surprise for me. I hope it is more than a showhorse (rather than workhorse) move during an election year–but I’m not foolish enough to discount that possibility either. Still, this is a GOOD showhorse move, with symbolic heft to it.
- I always give credit where it’s due… So, while I am firmly in the “Honey Badger for President” camp and have zero intention of voting for Obama (or any other Republican running, Obama being one himself in everything but name…), here is another move that I must give the President credit for this week: Obama Personally Lobbied to Defeat XL Pipeline. More election pandering? Probably. It is Obama’s typical “we need more studies first” stance. But, I was still very glad to see the measure defeated. And, we do need more studies first–at minimum.
- I love this next, it’s full of geeky goodness… Via SciAm’s facebook page: “Reports of the death of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle have been greatly exaggerated.”
Alright. Now for a bit of Blogger housekeeping…
I apologize for not getting the Kitty or the Hillary posts out last weekend as promised. I’m not sure *when* I’m going to be able to get the Saturday afternoon kitteh posts going, though I haven’t forgotten about doing them one bit (and commenter paperdoll, if you’re reading, I haven’t forgotten about the dog pics I am super duper tardy on owing you, either!) It’s just going to take a few weeks more or so for me to deliver. This afternoon I have to attend the first birthday of my cousin’s first kid, so this weekend is a non-starter. And, I’m in the process of moving into some new digs (move-in date is Saint Patrick’s day)! And, then at the end of this month I turn thirty-one. So it’s nonstop nonstopping for me for a bit 😉 As soon as things settle down, I’ll re-organize my blogger schedule and fit everything in.
I will have a new “Cinematherapy in Feminist Perspective” post over at Taylor Marsh’s this evening, so check it out.
Until then… here’s a picture of Rue reading the Economist with me:
If you’re curious (or nosey like Rue’s sister, Lily), here’s what we were reading last Saturday night…
Sex and Advertising: Retail Therapy -- How Ernest Dichter, an acolyte of S. Freud, revolutionized marketing (The Economist, Dec. 2011, holiday double issue)
As for the Hillary blogging–well, I’ve tried to keep my morning read on the lighter side this Saturday so I can spend more time on a super duper sized Hillary Sundae post for you this weekend.
Therefore… it is now your turn in the comments… What’s on your read-n-rant list this morning? Hope you have a lovely Saturday!
Oh… and here is Rue telling Lily some kind of secret…
(…actually, Rue was just grooming Lils…)
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Wonk – welcome back. I was wondering where you had been lately. And, thanks for beginning & ending with kitty pics. As a cat-aholic I’m going to share the absolutely best cat blog on the net: http://www.voxfelina.com/ Peter Wolf is the ultimate, amazingly intelligent advocate for feral & free roaming cats. Note: all my cats live indoors & were rescued off the streets. Many cats aren’t so lucky & they are constantly under attack.
I think you’ll find this article interesting. I stumbled upon it by accident: http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/03/can-stereotyping-girls-harm-boys-too/ More support for the necessity of encouraging children.
And, finally, this wonderful piece on Story Corps yesterday: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/09/148178236/a-mom-becomes-a-man-and-a-family-sticks-together I laughed out loud at the 7 year old’s reaction.
Hi Connie! 🙂 Thanks for the links, esp. that one on gender stereotyping.
I did see that last one somewhere but didn’t get a chance to read the entire story… marking this to read later tonight.
I think you’ll get a kick out of the 7 year old daughter’s comment to her mom.
Thks 2 for kitteh links, also being a person of rescued felines.
Morning Wonk and the beautiful playful kitties.
The Police State has arrived…
Morning Woman Voter and thanks for putting this here…
This is truly odd and creepy. Why not just put a clause in contract or something about facebook content that leaks out to the public.
Up with Chris Hayes just showed this list, truncated. Here’s the entire list of women in elected positions around the world: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm The US? We’re tied for 78th place.
Seventy-eighth place – Now why would a woman want to get in to politics? Seems you’d better not do it if you’re a Conservative. Do you see the hypocracy? How many names do you have for Sara Palin? Quiterella? Perhaps if she wasn’t attacked so viciously (women included) she wouldn’t have quit.
Can we be civil to each other? Treat each other with respect? Make a pact from here on out that we women support each other? No name calling? I’d like that for my daughter, and for future generations.
You obviously hate S.P. Ignore her. Don’t write about her, but don’t continue attacking her and calling her names. I understand the 78th place thing.
Men call women nasty names, and women do the same thing…………….
We call male politicians “names” too. Deal with it. I’m not supporting women who want to take us back to the 19th century. When SP begins supporting other women, I’ll reconsider my opinion of her. Why should it be a one-way street?
When Sarah Palin begins to defend women than perhaps I would consider not calling her out for her ignorance.
All she has to offer is a daily bashing of Barack Obama which most of us here do all the time. Nothing original in that.
Quitterella is exactly who she is. Quitting her role as governnor of a state half way through a 4 year elected term when each state was facing economic crisis is cowardly and those who continue to refer to her “governor” is ridiculous. She walked away from her supporters who voted her into office and does not deserve the respect of continuing that title.
Choosing to ignore her would be a pleasure if she would also agree to just go away. But the spotlight is what she craves and appearing on Fox where her stupidity goes unchallenged is not going to happen anytime soon.
When ignorance is celebrated then I would suggest that this blog, along with others like it, will continue to speak out against men and women who would propose stripping of us of our fights as human beings.
Quitterella she is and Quitterella she will remain for as long as she sits on the sidelines throwing spitballs at women without offering solutions to issues that plague us as a gender at the hands of the party she openly supports.
Hmm, lessee. I called her Sarah Barracuda. Her own nickname.
I also referred to Grizzly Inanity. Again, from her own chosen nick.
Those are pretty mild compared to what I call the male Republicans, actually.
K B Hutchinson is a conservative woman in politics. Palin is a narcissistic and shallow reality celeb. She walked away from her duties as governor for money and attention.
I used to call her Palady……….haven’t for some time. When she came out supporting Newt Gingrich – it’s over………….when she came out defending Rush the pig, it’s over. I am sick to death of women coming to the defense of the pigs, and she is going out of her way right now to do so. She is not helping women, not when she rewards Rush’s behavior. I don’t like the sexism, the racism, and homophobia coming other women.
Rather than helping girls and women to value themselves, she seems to be lost in her own world, and at this point she is on her own. She’ll be at the convention………Alaska has three delegates for Gingrich, and she is one. She wants you to know that she is there if you want her to serve her country.
I have enjoyed being a lurker for months. My mistake was coming out and making a comment about SP, my bad. I do apologize but I was only trying to point out that it’s hard for a woman to want to get interested in politics. No one likes to be attacked.
I’m not a fan of name calling either, but it seems to me that those on the Right hurl a lot more hurtful & nasty invectives than those on the Left. I don’t like Palin’s politics and she says some really dumb things. So did George W. I think our politicians should be smarter than me, but I’m old school. Basically I don’t like stupid & I don’t like lies. The truth is bad enough, why do folks have to lie?
Cynic,
No one is attacking you. Right now our country is in a terrible state. The last thing we need is more right wingers like SP to get into the government. I agree with you that we need more women in politics. But we aren’t attacking Republican women in sexist ways. We’re simply treating them the same as we do right wing men who are anti-woman. SP is against women having the rights to control our own bodies. I can’t support that.
Women can see what happens when they stick their neck out; people just waiting to chop it off. Look at what happened to Hillary in the ’08 campaign. She’s strong and carried on. There are many that don’t have the fortitude. I would be crying every time someone attacked me, so I join groups, help, become a follower, but not a leader. That part of me keeps me from going forward. I know my limits.
That Catholic school girl in me wants people to get along; be nice. You know, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all thing. I told my husband that I think I was born with an old soul.
Anyway, I will continue to lurk. I love a good blog, and you have links to very interesting articles. Have a nice weekend.
cynic,
First not everyone is cut out to be a leader. Think about it – this world would be a gazillion times worse if everyone tried to lead.
Second, IMHO what makes this blog THE BEST are all of the voices contributing. I know that I’m smarter and better informed since I’ve become a regular follower here.
Finally, sometimes we have to stick our necks out. If Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul & so many other women hadn’t, we probably wouldn’t have the vote today. MLK put his life on the line for civil rights. Without him being willing to make that ultimate sacrifice (along with Medgar Evers and others) we’d still have a pre-civil rights country.
Undoubtedly it is difficult which is why it is even more important for a woman in a leadership position to rise to the occasion. I am glad to have you here and commenting. A lot of us have some strong feelings about the sexist treatment of women in politics too. Palin’s done more damage than good imho.
It is incomprehensible to me why Quitterella is continually offered a forum to utter her stupidity. Granted, she and Hannity are always expected to lower the IQ of any room they inhabit, but this statement begs logic.
The first black president of the US is wanting to bring us back to the Civil War era? A time when slavery was in fashion, where men were beaten, people were worked to death, women were raped, and children were yanked from the arms of their parents to be sold? Is she beyond stupid or what?
This woman is so profoundly ignorant that it never ceases to amaze. How is anyone allowed to spout this stupidity unchallenged?
The fact that she never knows what the hell she is talking about is well known but this statement alone validates every joke made about her yet she continues to embarass herself without a shred of self awareness.
And to think that there remains a shred of support urging this idiot to “run Sarah, run”.
Mind boggling to the extreme.
It is baffling how she got from Barack Obama to pre-Civil War…
…ex girl guv needs to stop cribbing her answers off of Jonah Goldberg et al.
Well, be prepared for another round of Sarah because Game Changer airs tonight on HBO. Palin and her supporters condemned the film as soon as the release date was set, and my husband told me a competing, this-is-the-real-Sarah product will be airing tomorrow night [not sure when or channel]. The HBO release is the one with Julianne Moore playing Miss Sarah. I’ve seen the clips and was amazed how Moore managed to get Palin’s look and speech patterns down.
Anyway, it’s sure to stir the political spirits and controversy all over again.
The screenwriter also wrote Recount, about the stealing of the election in Florida in 2000. And, if there are any Buffy fans out there…….the screenwriter is Danny Strong who played Jonathan on Buffy.
Althernet has a piece about Game Change & says it gets quite a bit wrong. Also complains there are too many actual news clips used in it. http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/154490/everything_the_sarah_palin_movie_%22game_change%22_gets_horribly_wrong/
Mitt Romney won the primaries in Guam and the Northern Marianas–which is fitting since Romney seems to want to return to the days of indentured servitude. Do you supposed he approves of forced prostitution and forced abortion for the indentured servants too? Rick Santorum was OK with it.
Leave Mitt Romney alone. He’s just trying to eat his
wafflegrits.😉
Next week Doonsbury will be focused on the Texas anti-abortion laws. Some newspapers aren’t going to publish it–apparently it’s OK to force women to have transvaginal ultrasounds, but not OK to talk about it on the comics pages.
Those editors are true chickenshits!
Those newspaper censors sound right in line with whatever state it was who censured a Dem legislator for saying “uterus.” Or maybe because in his speech he was attacking the Republican attempts to return women’s health to the 1800s.
It was Democrat Scott Randolph of Central Florida. Here you go:
And here’s a local NPR station interview with Scott Randolph where he tells the background on why he did this on the House floor: http://www.wmfe.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12479&news_iv_ctrl=1041
This is bad news from Indiana: “Last-minute plan would let FSSA cut Medicaid”
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120309/NEWS05/203090348/1001/NEWS?flv=1
I guess poor Hoosiers don’t need teeth, anyway.
Any suggestions about some civilized place where I could move after my mother passes away would be welcomed.
Good luck with that. There aren’t that many civilized places left in this country. At least it’s less expensive to live in Indiana. But the way things are going lately, I’m not sure what I should do.
Washington’s Medicaid covers dental but at such low rates there are only 2-3 dental clinics in the Seattle area who take appointments for adult Medicaid patients. There are many more dental clinics for kids only, though. So most adults with Medicaid can only get dental care if there’s a last-minute cancellation and they’re waiting in the clinic. So they show up and wait, day after day after day.
Lots of adults with mouth abcesses needing antibiotics, would come to the community medical clinic because they couldn’t get earlier dental care. Never understood why it was OK for parents not to have have health care. Who takes care of the kids when the parent gets sick?
Medicare doesn’t cover dental care. Or hearing aids. That doesn’t make sense either to me.
Don’t move back here, BB. Mike Pence is likely to be our next governor.
Ugh! The only good thing about that would be that he wouldn’t be my mom’s rep. anymore.
We really need to get started on that Sky Dancing Co-op/Commune…
I like the idea of linking up to share skills and knowledge, of which we already do some. Cat-pilling techniques come to mind 😉
Or, are you visualizing a co-housing sort of idea?
I agree about the commune thing wonk…I suggest somewhere in Vermont, as that is the only state that doesn’t have anti woman legislation. The only one!
Minx, Vermont does seem like the best place to live for a variety of reasons. I am seriously considering moving there after my mother dies.
Who wants to join me? 🙂
The kids have 4 years left of high school. Once they go to college I will join you…;)
Washington state is woman-friendly. We could have NW and NE branch of the SkyDancers CoHousing community!
Did ya’ll see Maddow’s piece last night on tar sands? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#46688861
No. Thanks for the link, Connie.
Washington woman finds about about her husband’s other wife on Facebook.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-10/facebook-bigamy/53460586/1
see it really does all come out in the wash. 😆 😆
What happen did the sugar daddy go AWOL
Ok, ixnay on my post at Taylor’s this evening… the site is down. I’ll post it next week.
I love your kitty pics. Warm and fuzzy they are!
Thanks, yes very 🙂
I love those kitty pics too. Keep them coming!
Wonk, have you thought about starring Rue or Lily in the Petidote feature on Corrente?
I learned this morning that we have a startup auto manufacturer here in my little Austin suburb. They’re making electric cars for the wheelchair bound and it looks like a very good idea. Probably never sell one in the US but they have dealers in France and the UK. Kind of cute and I hope they sell a bunch of them.
http://www.kenguru.com/
They are part of a renewable energy industrial park which is being built now. A large solar farm, a wind turbine manufacturer and several other projects are underway.
Neat! Thanks, Ralph.
Wow, that is a fantastic solution! Thanks so much for the link, Ralph. I work with a lot of patients using wheelchairs. Adapting a conventional vehicle to a wheelchair — access, hand controls, etc.– is expensive and requires a big vehicle. Those Kengurus solve a lot of problems! I’m definitely going to be talking about these.
I’m glad to hear you believe it would be a good solution. They have a 60 mile range but only a 25 mph top speed now. In cities, I think it would still work and, if they could catch on here, maybe they could speed them up.
I wonder if there would be problems with US safety regulations like bumper height etc? Seems it would still be worth investigating. Let me know if I can help since I don’t live far from where they are building.
It’s street legal in the US!
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/print-edition/2011/02/18/austin-lawyer-brings-hungary-automaker.html
Ralph, for may of my patients using wheelchairs and living in the Seattle metropolitan area, who need to go to the grocery store, the library, the drugstore, medical clinic — a Kenguru would do it.
I think the company should do publicity outreach with groups like the MS Society and the larger medical centers who have specialty neuromuscular-type disease clinics.
I’m talking with our assistive-technology staff when I get back to work. Thanks for your offer of help, Ralph. Too bad I can’t swing funding for a visit down there to check it out for our patients! And the Seattle area — really the whole Pacific NW area — is ahead when it comes to electric vehicles and charging stations. Still a long ways to go in that area, though.
TP: BREAKING: 98 Major Advertisers Dump Rush Limbaugh, Other Right-Wing Hosts
This is good. Advertiser aren’t just dropping Limbaugh. They’re dropping his comrades.
Wow. That’s fantastic!
Oh, happy happy joy joy!
LIVE: Women in the world summit
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/10/live-women-in-the-world-summit/
BTW, Rachel Maddow announced last night that James Inhofe will be on her show next week (Tuesday?) hawking his anti-climate change book. He says a passage in Genesis proves that climate change isn’t real. Guess that’s a slam dunk!
Oh my. Rachel will shred him. I can’t believe he has the guts to debate her.
Rachel prefaced the announcement with the fact that several other R’s had promised to come on her show, but then they cancelled. Guess we’ll see just what size cojones Jimmy actually has.
IRAQ – meanwhile in the “new” Iraq created by Cheney/bush — the religious police are murdering kids — teens — because of their hairstyle. Hundred of kids are being bashed to death with concrete blocks for adopting a secular hairstyle.
Saddam was a secular bastard — and women and kids could dress as wished.
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/09/199614.html
The US christian Taliban have been in Uganda teaching their brand of hate — where gays are also being bashed to death by the US taught Uganda religious police.
Two religions based on hate — or we could also credit the crusades like invasion of Iraq whose people had nothing to do with 9/11 with the death of the teenagers.
In Michelle Bachmann’s district — gay teens are killing themselves because of the hate they are getting at school from their peers and with the knowledge of the teachers and administrators.
Seems like a war on kids is happening in really “religious” places.
Getting murdered for a hairstyle . . . . . nice going brush-crap.
I’ve just been reading about that. The numbers in that article may have been exaggerated, but it’s still horrifying. Here’s Reuters article that is slightly less sensational but gives more information.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/10/iraq-emo-killings-idINDEE82907X20120310
Wouldn’t it be nice if the religious right of all religions cared as much about living children as they do about a fertilized egg? This just further proves that it’s not about the fetus, it’s about controlling women’s bodies & women’s reproductive rights – they are the property of The State.
All this will do is make the religious nuts hate muslims even more.
and badly neglected property to boot 🙄
Santorum won the Kansas caucuses this afternoon. Big surprise, not!
Kansas county GOP chairman on Romney: ‘Apparently, he chose to go to Guam today’