Late Late Night: Dumbasses of the Week (V.S. Naipaul and Kenneth Del Vecchio)

Posted: June 6, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 14 Comments

This guy:

This past week, the Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul was interviewed at the Royal Geographic Society in London about his phenomenal career, which spans six decades. It should have been a glorious moment. Instead, Sir Vidia told an interviewer that no woman could ever be his literary match. Then he singled out Jane Austen and said that he couldn’t possibly “share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world.”

Naipaul also called a book by his former female publisher, “feminine tosh.” And that, he said, is because a woman has a “narrow view of the world, since she is inevitably not a complete master of the house.” This from a man the New York Review of Books called “the greatest living master of English prose.”

His comments somehow reminded me of this guy and this scene:

The real dumbass above went after women authors and the fictional dumbass went after women characters and women readers, but the criticism pretty much seems to boil down to stereotyping all female writers, characters, and readers as irrational, overly emotional, unworldly chick lit lightweights.

On the other hand, Jack Nicholson was playing a misanthropic novelist whose life had been debilitated by obsessive compulsive disorder, whereas V.S. Naipaul is a Nobel laureate who once said of his mistress: “I was very violent with her for two days. I was very violent with her for two days with my hand. My hand began to hurt.”

His poor, poor hand. So burdened doing all those enriching “master of the house” things.

This is the guy who can’t think of any girl writer who is his literary equal? Or…gasp…a girl writer that is better than him?

I’m sorry we can’t all write from the experience of having physically assaulted someone for two days. Our poor little wimmen pea brains and our narrow little existences.

Here’s what I think.

Naipaul needs to go sit in a fetal position and put on some Depends if need be and read Zadie Smith.

As a matter of fact, I just did a cursory search on whether he has and found this from an interview in 2008:

The conversation turns briefly to Zadie Smith. Naipaul has not read White Teeth, but sympathises with the author’s predicament: ‘The problem for someone like that is: where do you go, how do you move? If you’ve consumed your material in your first book, what do you do?’ He shakes his head. ‘All those stages are full of anguish.’

Why hadn’t Naipaul read White Teeth by 2008? That’s pretty ridiculous. It was published in 2000 and was highly acclaimed. I think this is a case of a big ego masking insecurities.

Be sure to check out Diana Abu-Jaber’s open letter to this dumbass — From One Writer To Another: Shut Up, V.S. Naipaul (h/t Ramsgate, over in the comments at my Sat. crosspost at TM’s.) Teaser:

Your use of the word “master,” is chilling. My father’s family is from a part of the world that has been colonized and conquered many times over. For many Jordanians, education and literacy has come in the form of British schools and the English language: but can anyone claim that the colonized subject is the master of his or her own home?

Cujo359, another regular over at TM’s, had this to say about Naipaul:

I’ve never heard of that guy, but I’ve heard of Jane Austen. Just sayin’.

The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates urges us–quelle surprise-to not deprive ourselves the genius of Naipaul because of Naipaul’s misogynist (and racist) blinders:

The fact of the thing is this: We don’t get to choose our teachers. If you’re going to be an artist, or a thinker, or even a full person, you better be able to make yourself into something more than the shadow of someone else’s bankrupt philosophies. You better be more than an obvious and predictable reaction.

To which I say, hey Coates, where was this attitude when you went off on Cornel West? Where was the PSA saying “Just ignore Cornel West’s comments about Obama as a black man and learn from what he is saying about Obama being a corporate tool. You don’t get to choose your teachers…” ? Just wondering.

Switching gears…

Here’s another creepy dumbass (h/t Dakinikat) — NJ GOPer Premieres Anti-Abortion Suspense Flick This Weekend:

Kenneth Del Vecchio, a Republican candidate for New Jersey state Senate and a producer of conservative-themed films, is premiering a psychological thriller this weekend with a pro-life twist: Three pregnant women, who intend to have abortions, are kidnapped and forced to carry their pregnancies to term.

The movie, called “The Life Zone,” was produced by Del Vecchio’s “Justice For All Productions,” and is premiering Saturday at the Hoboken Film Festival in Teaneck, N.J. A press release describes the festival as “one of the nation’s largest film festivals, which Del Vecchio founded and chairs.”

From the release:

The controversial premise of THE LIFE ZONE: three women have been kidnapped from abortion clinics and are being held for seven months–until they all give birth. The film, which appears to cut right down the middle, examining the topic from both sides, offers a powerful, anti-abortion climactic twist.

Well this looks like as good a spot as any for me to put up some footage from The Last Supper. If you’re unfamiliar with this dark political comedy from the ’90s, it’s about a group of stereotypical bleeding hearts who invite all kinds of rightwing nutjobs to dinner to kill them and rid the world of their evil. Without giving the final scene entirely away, I’ll just say that the message of The Last Supper is that all politically motivated violence is ultimately futile.

Not sure whatever the hell the “anti-abortion climactic twist” is supposed to be with “The Life Zone” (interesting how the title mimics The Last Supper).

Is it that kidnapping women and holding them for seven months to force them to have babies is not a “culture of life” thing to do? Somehow, I’m not convinced.

Anyhow, here’s The Last Supper trailer:

Saturday: Rihanna, MAC, and Hillary (Fighting Sexual Violence)

Posted: June 4, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads | 35 Comments

Vintage cafe postcard, circa 1920

Note: I got the postcard above from here, which
seems to have originated from a site that’s now defunct,
but there’s another (slightly grainier) scan on flickr.

Morning, news junkies. You know the drill. Grab a cuppa something (like the French Flappers are doing to the right) and read on…

(Oh and if you were one of the 18 million who voted for Hillary, don’t miss today’s historical trivia at the end!)

Rihanna’s “Man Down”: What Do You Think?

Here’s a link to the youtube if you haven’t seen the video yet, and also be sure to check out Rihanna firing back at her critics.

I’ll say upfront as a general disclaimer that I’m a firm believer in nonviolence (cases of self-defense being the obvious exception). Nonetheless, I find it disturbing that comparatively speaking Rihanna has caught more flack, judgment, and reproach— for depicting a character whose constant lyrical refrains pointedly ask how could she take the life of somebody’s son, even though that “somebody’s son” has just sexually assaulted her– as opposed to Eminem, who rose to fame largely on the popularity of songs where he fantasizes about brutally killing his wife for infidelity. Of course Eminem’s songs always draw controversy too, but that has only ever seemed to fuel his star power. In Rihanna’s case, a female enterainment reporter has written a post on Huffpo declaring Rihanna the falling star of the week. At any rate, I don’t think Rihanna’s video or lyrics are even saying that violence is the answer (which is what her critics are charging), but I’ll let you judge for yourself and have at it in the comments. The other angle to this I’d like to put out there for discussion is that Rihanna’s character in the video embraces the sensual human being she is rather than covering it up in a burka (as the Crunk Feminist Collective discusses at the link.)

Hillaryland

Click to Go Viva Glam!

Continuing on the theme of confronting the problem of violence against women… On Thursday, Madame Secretary announced A New Public-Private Partnership With the MAC AIDS Fund to Combat Gender-Based Violence in South Africa. Here is a link to the Mac Aids Fund website.

Ahead of the live stream of Hillary’s remarks on the state.gov site, MTV Act’s Caroline Walker previewed Hillary’s announcement — Hillary Clinton Goes Viva Glam, Teams Up With M•A•C AIDS Fund:

Since 1994, the M•A•C AIDS Fund has been raising money to combat AIDS and its large scale effects, both domestically and abroad. Let’s think for a moment where the world’s sociocultural temperature fell around perceptions of the causes and prevention of HIV/AIDS in the early ’90s: not so informed, not so solution-focused. M•A•C truly did and continues to trailblaze by crushing stigma and engaging consumers.

Celebrities–including inaugural ambassador RuPaul–have been lining up for 26 years to endorse Viva Glam lipsticks, products that have raised $200+ million by putting 100 of sale proceeds toward the foundation. Lady Gaga’s shade is the latest installment, officially described as “light, warm beige,” best visualized as matching her condom-inspired flesh-toned Latex power suit of ’10. Safe sex is all the rage.

But back to Hillary. In a fierce effort to connect the public and private sector in global solutions to combating AIDS, the U.S. government is joining forces with the M•A•C AIDS Fund to provide much needed money and support to victims of rape, sexual violence and infection in South Africa. In addition to the expected health care and educational services, the partnership will empower these women to stand strong by providing psychological counseling and legal services as recourse for assault.

Walker ends her post on a lighthearted note: “If Hill shows up in the original ‘intense brownish-blue red (matte)’ Viva Glam I, she’s getting my vote for any and all future endeavors.”

I’m not sure what shade of lipstick Hillary was wearing, but for what it’s worth, she WAS wearing an intensely brown jacket that is reminiscent of the design she and Amy Poehler wore on SNL. Not exactly the same jacket though as far as I can tell.

You can see the video of Hill’s announcement for yourself–lipstick, foreign policy, pantsuit and all–at Dipnote. From the transcript:

The partnership we are announcing today is part of that wide-ranging approach, because when a woman is raped or if she cannot negotiate with her partner for safe sex, she risks being exposed to HIV. We cannot stop the epidemic of HIV unless we also address the epidemic of violence against women.

I’m going to tie in a couple items specifically about AIDS awareness in a moment, but a few more Hillary links first:

(Slideshow via Cooliris, h/t Still4Hill.)

(This is the kind of response we need to the war on women on the domestic stage here in the US.)

AIDS Anniversary

Sunday marks 30 years since the first AIDS cases were reported. Since then, H.I.V. science has been translated into prevention and treatment breakthroughs, one of the greatest being the antiretroviral treatment that has ensured that millions of H.I.V.-positive people can lead healthy lives.

[…]

A cure will require funding commitments, strong community engagement, rigorous and innovative scientific endeavor and, above all, further collaborative multidisciplinary science with a better connection between basic and clinical research — in short, all the same ingredients that got us where we are today with the global antiretroviral treatment.

Thirty years is a long time and yes, we still do not have a cure. But if we do not seriously start looking for one, now that the science is telling us that perhaps we should be, do we want to be here in another 30 years regretting that we did not try?

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and president-elect of the International AIDS Society. With Luc Montagnier, she was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of H.I.V.

HIV Infections Dropped 25 Percent in Last Decade…But the health gains are unevenly distributed and fall short of international targets.

Wapo’s Monica Hesse: Listen up, fellas: Naked man-parts? Not so sexy.

Not the best segue way from discussing AIDS awareness and research, but I just had to include this. It’s in reference to all the crotch shots that have been in the news in recent years. Teaser:

We polled some women. Really, they would like to see . . .

“I would like a photo of a made bed,” says Kathryn Roberts, who works at a law firm in Washington. “I would take rose petals, but I want them on top of a made bed.” And not that fake kind of made, either, where the comforter is smooth but the sheets are a jumbled mess.

“Or laundry,” adds her friend Andrea Neurohr.

“Folded laundry,” elaborates Roberts. “Maybe in a wicker basket.”

Preferably laundry not folded by the maid he had a love child with.

That “wicker basket” add-on is a hoot.

Incidentally, on the topic of what men can do to seduce women, I saw a classic King of Queens rerun the other day–the episode where Kevin James shows Leah Remini how to pole dance. I’m embedding it here for anyone who could use the extra laugh today.

The Identity Politics of This Season’s Top Chef Masters

If Bravo bores the daylights out of you, then just skip this… but what did I tell you the other week? They’ve totally made it obvious that their season 3 gimmick/hook is whether or not a woman will finally win. So after a crazy science fair episode where the chefs were cooking with beakers and bunsen burners and serving their food in petri dishes, we’re down to the last four: Traci, Naomi, and Mary Sue–three strong female contestants who have all racked up wins in the quickfire and elimination rounds–and Floyd, who god love him ’cause he’s Indian and he can pull off serving Buffalo burger with paneer. But, he hasn’t won any quickfire yet–and the only elimination round he’s won is the buffalo and paneer. Then again last season’s winner didn’t start racking up wins until the penultimate episode either… so who knows. Either way, whether it’s a girl chef or a Desi chef who wins, Bravo managed to cover both my demographics this time, Lol. I’m really pulling for all the girls, though, especially Traci.

Alice Paul sewing the suffrage flag.

June 4-7 in History

“I always feel … the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end.”

— Alice Stokes Paul, suffragist; U.S. Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 4, 1919 (ratified on August 18, 1920).

Shirley Chisholm, 1972

“I am a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. I make that statement proudly, in the full knowledge that, as a black person and as a female person, I do not have a chance of actually gaining that office in this election year. I make that statement seriously, knowing that my candidacy itself can change the face and future of American politics — that it will be important to the needs and hopes of every one of you — even though, in the conventional sense, I will not win.”

— Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, June 4, 1972.

Hillary wins New Hampshire

“You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the President of the United States. And that is truly remarkable.”

— Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, June 7, 2008

The real deal ran in 2008, but the Democrats passed up on her, so if it’s a tea partier who happens to put her one little stone in this time, the thanks for that can be laid just as much at the DNC’s doorstep as it can be at the RNC’s.

Besides, the Ds and/or Rs will have to put a woman at the top of one of their tickets before I’ll believe they’re capable.

And if you’re already tired of the Palin bus-to-nowhere, here’s a contrast from the other side: Roseanne Barr’s double campaign for President of the United States/Prime Minister of Israel. Her “Green Tea Party” platform is a wild, albeit hyperbolic, glimpse into what a populist left corollary to the tea party would like if there was a national figure who they could rally around right now. Then again, if it’s going to be an equal and opposite reaction to the lunatic right, it needs to be hyperbolic. Obligatory disclaimer: Roseanne runs her mouth with no filter on her as usual, so you know…filter out the stuff that works as brilliant social satire and/or commentary, and for the parts that don’t…just use brain bleach as needed! I skipped most of the “re-education camp” paragraphs, but I did smile at her “people-ism” hybrid of socialism and capitalism and the “Change the demographics of government” section. Those two were keepers.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. What are you reading and blogging about this Saturday?

I’d also love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve blogged about…

  • What do you think of that Rihanna video? Hit or Miss?
  • Will we ever find a cure to AIDS?
  • Will a woman run in 2012?
  • What’s the “folded laundry in a wicker basket” scenario that you’d rather see?
  • And, most importantly of course, who is going to win Top Chef Masters?

P.S. Just saw on yahoo that Pink gave birth to a baby girl! Isn’t that sweet? Pink is one female pop artist of my generation who just ROCKS, plain and simple. Raising my glass to Pink and little Willow Sage Hart.

[originally posted at Let Them Listen; crossposted at Taylor Marsh and Liberal Rapture]

“Big Wheel” Turning in Texas

Posted: May 29, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Women's Rights | 9 Comments


You think I am your possession
you´re Messing with a Southern girl
— Tori Amos, “Big Wheel,” Austin, TX 7/25/09

After reading the headline below, I feel like my Oil Field Girls spotlight last weekend was a bit prescient. When I visualized “all of us brazen little hussies at the grassroots hitching a ride out of our politically regressive environs,” little did I know that just a week later I’d get to tell you about the formation of a bipartisan coalition of Texan women legislators in response to an all new low in the war on women in our state. This is beyond politics and parties. It’s women in government speaking up as individuals, as citizens, speaking for all of us to say, “Enough is enough!”

Via the Houston Chron blog — Prominent House lawmakers create ‘Women’s Caucus’:

“To the Women of the Texas Legislature:

“This legislative session has brought to light the varying attitudes toward women and the issues important to women. We may not agree with each other on every issue, nor should we, but we can agree that we need a forum that facilitates our ability to unite on issues. It is with this sentiment that we are forming the Women’s Caucus.

“We want to create the framework for current and future women legislators to get their messages heard, to seek guidance from experienced leaders, and to unite on issues important to all of us.”

Republican "family values" on display once again

The above was written by Houston representatives Beverly Woolley (R), Senfronia Thompson (D), and Carol Alvarado (D).

Let’s hear it for us Houston chicas!

The letter comes in the aftermath of despicable fliers that were created by the Texas Civil Justice League (the state’s oldest tort reform lobbying group). The fliers made their way around the House chambers last week.

There was another flier that depicted a baby pacifier, but the one that really got the wheel turning is the one that appears here, above to the right.

It shows a child suckling a bare breast, to campaign against what the flier refers to as “Nanny State” amendments to H.B. 2093.

From the bill’s official description:

“Relating to the operation and regulation of certain consolidated insurance programs.”

It’s an insurance bill. It doesn’t have anything to do with scary girl parts… except of course in the fevered imaginations of conservative men.

Note: TCJL president and general counsel E. Lee Parsley sent out an e-mail to the Texas House apologizing for showing “poor judgment” in giving the bare breast flier to someone outside the organization who then distributed it. Parsley claims he had rejected the concept. He didn’t destroy the copies, however. And, he doesn’t appear to have regretted the pacifier ad at all.

Seems like he’s just sorry he got caught. The TCJL has apparently suspended Parsley and communications director Cary Roberts, pending an investigation.

With the damage already done from the distribution of the fliers, Women in the Texas House pushed back.

On Thursday, Rep. Senfronia Thompson–author of H.B. 2093 and dean of women legislators in Texas–delivered an impassioned, righteous protest on the floor (see youtube to the right) which you really need to view if you haven’t already.

From a transcript via a comment at feministing:

“During this legislative session we’ve spent about 30 or 40 percent of our time kicking the reproductive organs of women down the road. And I thought that that was an issue that we had finished and completed.I want to attest to the fact that kicking the women’s can down the road…it’s still being kicked.” –Rep. Thompson

Rep. Carol Alvarado also joined in with a bipartisan group of women behind her:

“We have had almost 50+ amendments or bills come across this floor this session that I think have demeaned women, but this one takes us to an all-time low, would you say that is correct, Ms. Thompson?” –Rep. Alvarado

To which Thompson replied:

“It is an all-time low, and I personally tell you this. This is not a technique to get this bill passed or concur, I don’t care if you kill this bill. I want you to remember one thing that I’m saying today: I don’t appreciate this attack on women, I don’t appreciate this flyer! I want to tell you something: I don’t perpetrate violence against somebody, but if they were here I’d probably bloody their nose, right here on this floor, I guarantee you that. And Doctor, I’d have to call you to their aid, and I’m not joking. I would bloody their nose because they have no right to do women this way. And we have not earned this disrespect in this house! We get elected just like you do, and we have not earned this kind of disrespect. I don’t want to tolerate it by anybody! And men, if you don’t stand up for us today, don’t you walk in this chamber tomorrow.“

At the end, Tomball representative and tea partier Debbie Riddle called Rep. Thompson a “hero” and then asked an eyebrow-raising question:

“Do you think that this has become standard operating procedure by some because of what goes on in this House with the way some of the men have treated some of the women with pornography on the floor of this House? Do you think that’s why this is acceptable, Miss T?” –Rep. Riddle

Riddle didn’t go any further, but Thompson’s reply to her was really diplomatic and priceless, just like her preceding remarks.

That’s what leadership looks and sounds like.

Turns out that Riddle was talking about an isolated incident of porn on a cellphone. Riddle declined to name the male legislator responsible for said incident.

The Dallas Voice’s Tammye Nash covered Rep. Thompson’s speech as well:

Texas state Rep. Senfronia Thompson — someone I have for whom immense admiration and respect for many reasons, not the least of which is her passionate support of LGBT rights — took a moment of personal privilege today on the House floor to let loose on the Texas Civil Justice League, which distributed fliers targeting Thompson HB 2093 which deals with insurance and contractors. Thompson wasn’t angry that the TCJL opposes her legislation. What made her mad was the photo on the flier: a close up of an breastfeeding infant over which were written the words “Don’t expand the nanny state.”

[…]

But it wasn’t just the Texas Civil Justice League that bore the brunt of Thompson’s anger. She also criticized the male members of the House for allowing and even perpetuating an atmosphere of such disrespect toward women to exist in the first place that the flier was even produced in the first place.

The Austin Chronicle calls what’s been going on in the Texas legislature the “Worst. Session. Ever.”:

Well the liberal media now has its sound bites–82nd Leg. most racist and sexist Leg. in history! This whole thing is disgusting! #txlege”

Hey, don’t blame us. We didn’t say it. That was Rep. Jose Aliseda, R-Beeville. But after yesterday’s explosion of porn, infighting and collapsed deals, it may be the best car crash session ever.

The Texas Tribune’s Emily Ramshaw and Kate Galbraith are asking… Is There a Boys Club Under the Pink Dome?:

(pink dome is a reference to our Capitol)

Last session, when then-freshman Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, raised a parliamentary question about a male colleague’s bill, she says he said — growled really — “Don’t talk to me like that, little lady.” A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, and Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker, faced literal catcalls when they got into a heated debate over a payday lending bill. “Meow,” some lawmakers screeched, as the chairman reprimanded the women: “Ladies, please keep this civil.”

Is there sexism in the Texas Legislature?

This week’s flap over a flyer showing an infant nursing at a bare breast — an interest group’s effort to portray an insurance bill as an attempt to help turn Texas into a “nanny state” — has rekindled this age-old discussion.

The current Nanny State flier fiasco reminds former Houston representative Debra Danburg of her efforts to reform Texas rape laws in the eighties and nineties:

When she introduced a bill in the 1980s to strengthen rape laws, she said that some male lawmakers appeared at the back microphone, arguing, “If I can’t rape my wife, who can I rape?”

Ramshaw and Gailbraith also report that some of the men in the Texas House are meeting to “discuss gender issues”:

As for the men, they appear to be making some adjustments in light of the “nanny state” incident. When asked what he meant when he told the lower chamber on Thursday that some male House members would meet to discuss gender issues, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, joked, “The first rule of fight club is, you don’t talk about fight club.” He confirmed that a bipartisan coalition of male lawmakers is “putting their minds together” to find effective ways to make sure interest groups know such imagery is completely inappropriate — but also to take a closer look at how behavior and discourse on the House floor, which he said sometimes “pushes the line,” is perceived.

“We want [Thompson] to know we have her back,” said Martinez Fischer, who brought his 2-year-old daughter with him onto the House floor on Friday. “She doesn’t need that — she’s the toughest member of the House. But we need to make sure to deter that kind of behavior. And we all have an example to set.”

I hope the daughters of all these male legislators follow in the tradition of Texan feminist muckrakers. Women in Texas are not to be messed with, especially when we join forces together from across both parties. We are not your chattel.

Saturday: Beyonce, Bridesmaids, and Big Business

Posted: May 28, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: morning reads | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Morning, news junkies…hope you are off to a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend. I’m going to keep my two cents brief this Saturday, so grab a cup of whatever and let’s go!

Is Beyonce’s New Video Feminist?

I saw this item on AlterNet the other day and found the discussion in the comments interesting. I have to say, the author of the article itself didn’t put forward very compelling arguments for her stiletto feminism (and I love my purple suede stilettos), but her piece did alert me to NineteenPercent’s response to Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls),” which I recommend checking out.

What ‘Bridesmaids’ Can Tell Us about Small Businesses and the Recession

New Deal 2.0’s Mike Konczal uses Kristin Wiig’s storyline–her character loses a bakery she started during the recession–as a teachable moment on Keynesian economics, complete with nifty graphs. He concludes that “Full employment is the friend of new business owners. It would be great if either of our political parties would emphasize that in a time of 9% unemployment.” Amen to that. (I did get to see Bridesmaids last weekend, btw. It lived up to the hype!)

Why the Rich Love High Unemployment

Mark Provost’s guest post at George Washington’s blog, outlining precisely why neither of our political parties is emphasizing full employment. (See also lambert at corrente… DISemployment: Letting the Rattner out of the bag.)

Judge strikes down corporate donations ban

The oligarchy racks up another win, just in time for 2012. As ThinkProgress noted yesterday:

Today’s decision extends beyond the egregious Citizen United decision because Citizens United only permits corporations to run their own ads supporting a candidate or otherwise act independently of a candidate’s campaign. Cacheris’ opinion would also allow the Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries, for instance, to contribute directly to political campaigns.

Chernobyl Times Ten: Fukushima and the Radioactive Sea

Via Counterpunch. Highly depressing but important read from Harvey Wasserman:

“When it comes to the oceans, says Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceonographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, “the impact of Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl.”

“The greatest living surrealist has left the planet“…RIP Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)

I enjoyed this brief but thoughtful blog post on Leonora Carrington’s passing, and the LA Times blog posted two neat photos–one of a bronze sculpture by Carrington exhibited along Mexico City’s Avenue Reforma in 2008, and another of Carrington celebrating her ninety-fourth birthday earlier this year. Also from an essay last year by art historian Alan Foljambe:

Rather than rebelling in a violent way against those who would control her, Carrington creates a parallel reality in her paintings in which, represented by animals and female deities, she is in a position of strength where she is not in danger of being used as a vehicle for the schemes or motives of someone else. Rather than confronting reality and attempting to overcome it, Carrington retreats from the struggle and creates another reality in which she feels more at home.

The gendered expressions of mental illness and violence

This is a topic that I think relates back to much of the dynamics underlying gender politics. Teaser from Historiann’s commentary:

There are of course seriously mentally ill women who suffer from similar paranoid delusions and fixate on individuals the way the Tucson gunman did. For example, a story in this week’s The New Yorker by Rachel Aviv (sorry–subscription wall) offers a nuanced, tragic description of the progress of mental illness in a woman whose disease sounds quite similar to Loughner’s. Yet, she didn’t pick up guns and kill a crowd of people. Instead, she retreated into a New Hampshire farmhouse and slowly starved to death.

James Carville: Obama is looking like a 2008 Republican…

In 1992, Bill Clinton famously proclaimed himself to be an Eisenhower Republican. By that measure, I’d say President Obama is a pre-2008 John McCain Republican.

But this much is sure: The policies of the eventual Republican nominee, that is, anybody left running for it by the time of the vote, will be right in line with those of Sarah Palin. It’s pretty remarkable that the next election is going to boil down to a competition between the 2008 Republican presidential candidate and his vice presidential nominee.

It’s not that Obama is a socialist born somewhere other than Hawaii, or that he possesses a Kenyan anti-colonial mentality — but that some Republican needs to stand up and say, with some legitimacy, that Obama is taking all of the GOP’s ideas.

Well, there you have it. NOTA 2012.

How Cornel West Did the Obamites a Favor

BAR’s Glen Ford hits it out of the park once again. Excellent analysis of the situation. I myself have always preferred to focus more on Obama-the-politician and leave Obama-the-man for his family and friends to concern themselves with.

Hillaryland

  • Dipnote: Welcome to Shelbyville (Welcome to Shelbyville airs this week on PBS; check your local listings. It’s also being streamed for free through May 31st on PBS’s website.)

Just a quick geek link before I wrap up…NYT: Evidence of Water Beneath Moon’s Stony Face

…throwing a wrench into the Giant Impact hypothesis.

This Day in History (May 28)

Pioneering woman scholar Abby Leach was born in 1855:

In the 1870s, there were many more opportunities for women in education than there had been a decade earlier–Vassar, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley had been all been founded by 1878. Still, the major men’s colleges of the day entertained no thoughts of educating women. Harvard held annual entrance examinations for women in New York City, but they only told the women who took them whether they would have gotten into Harvard were they men. Abigail Leach changed all that, however, when she arrived on the doorstep of three Harvard professors—William W. Goodwin, James B. Greenough, and Francis J. Child—in 1878 and asked them to instruct her in Latin and Greek. The men were so impressed by her courage and persistence that they agreed. Soon they would be impressed by her intellect as well.

Also see Abby Leach vs. Grace Harriet Macurdy.

What’s on your blogging list today?

[originally posted at Let Them Listen; crossposted at Taylor Marsh and Liberal Rapture]

Good News on HCR in Vermont, Bad News on Birth Control in Texas

Posted: May 26, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Health care reform, Women's Rights | Tags: , , , | 16 Comments

Vermont goes single payer! Via ConsumerReports.org:

Vermont has a plan for single-payer health care

Vermont made history today when Governor Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, signed into law a plan to create the nation’s first state-run “single-payer” health system. If fully implemented, every Vermont resident, including those on Medicare and Medicaid, would be entitled to enroll in the state’s own insurance plan, Green Mountain Care. Private insurers would still be allowed to operate in the state.

Meanwhile in Texas, efforts to eliminate funding for birth control are afoot. Via RH Reality Check:

Report from Texas: Will Legislature Eliminate Access to Birth Control?

A colleague of ours working in the Texas legislature and wishing to remain anonymous has sent a report detailing efforts to eliminate funding for birth control in the state.

The colleague writes:

The Texas Legislature has been meeting since January to debate a grim budget prospective for the next two years. In a session where money is tight and there are many losers, women are losing the most.

According to reports, anti-choice groups in the state and the Republican party are working to ensure that it will be “next-to-impossible for low-income women to have access to healthcare and contraceptives through state-funded family planning services.”

As Andrea Grimes reported last month:

RH Reality Check editor Jodi Jacobson adds this note from her colleague reporting out of Texas:

“If you believe that women have a right to control when they have a child and to access birth control–if you believe women are human beings with human rights–please call your State Senator & State Representative. Your voice will make a difference. Calls must be made before this Friday, May 27, 2011. To find out who your State Senator & State Representatives are go to http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/“

Here’s wishing Vermont the best of luck with their road map to healthcare that makes sense and hoping they can pave the way for the rest of us, especially those of us living in states like Texas, where Gov. Goodhair and his ilk seem hellbent on making healthcare a privilege of the rich instead of a right for us all.

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