Sunday Shuffle

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow,
If I fail, if I succeed,
At least I live as I believe!
No matter what they take from me,
They can't take away my dignity.

The Greatest Love of All

I hope life treats you kind,
And I hope you have all you've dreamed of...
And I wish to you joy,
And happiness...
But above all this,
I wish you love...


I Will Always Love You

Whitney: (to announcer) I love you darling, thank you.

(to audience) My, my, my. Well, well. You all look like you're having a ball. Because this evening is about kids--and music--I just have to do this next song. It's just a requirement. You know, it's all about love. And, to me, music and love are the same things really. So if our kids grow up with music in their lives then there is no question that they will always, always be loved.

All right! (cues song start)

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

I'm Every Woman (a capella)

How Will I Know?

The Star Spangled Banner, 1991 Super Bowl

Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

(This is just some of her fabulous work, apologies if I left out one you like the best)

Open Thread

Hosted by a praying mantis.
This week's open threads have been brought to you by awesome ice sculptures.

RIP Whitney Houston

Singer and actress Whitney Houston died today, from as yet unknown, or at least unreported, causes. She was 48.


I am so desperately sad about this news. Her eponymously titled 1985 breakout album was one of the first cassettes I ever owned, and I used to listen to it over and over and over on my purple boombox in my bedroom, dancing and singing along into my hairbrush.

When I was in the middle school choir, my best friend and I performed Whitney Houston songs at every annual Solo & Ensemble competition. We didn't even remotely do them justice, but we just loved her so much. Blub.

My sincerest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. My thanks to Whitney Houston for all the amazing music.

Open Thread

Hosted by a phone booth.

The Virtual Pub Is Open

[Explanations: lol your fat. pathetic anger bread. hey your gay.]

TFIF, Shakers!

Belly up to the bar,
and name your poison!

Photos of the Day

Hey, remember when I said how there were SO MANY great wire photos from CPAC of angry white conservatives and Herman Cain screaming from patriotic podiums and furiously pointing while definitely saying things like "Obamacare" and "handouts"...? Of course you remember! It was only yesterday! Well just LOOK at these crumblebuns!


That is Rick Perry! He is definitely angry and pointing!


That is Mitt Romney! He is sooooooooooo angry and pointing!


That is Mike Huckabee! He is totes angry and pointing!


That is Newt Gingrich! He is super angry and pointing!


That is Herman Cain! He is very angry and pointing!


That is Ann Coulter! She is for sure angry and pointing!


That is Marco Rubio! He is pretty miffed and pointing!


That is Mitch McConell, and that is definitely his angry face. He is pointing!


That is Michele Bachmann, whose angry pointing is, frankly, kind of weak sauce.


That is John Boehner! He is sooooo over it and pointing!


That is Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who ain't angry at all
the hot conservative tail he thinks he's gonna get at CPAC!


That is Rick Santorum showing why he is the new frontrunner.
Rick Santorum don't point. Rick Santorum is a fister!
And thus ends another moving episode of "Looking at Angry Conservatives Pointing at Things," with Melissa McEwan. Fin.

Daily Dose of Cute

Happy (3rd) Birthday Rosie!





And, really, what is the fun in sitting still long enough to get a non-blurry picture when there are Things To Be Watched From My Perch and brand new birthday toys to chew on?

Quote of the Day

[Content Note: Reproductive rights.]

"This is the kind of coercion we can expect. It's not about contraception. It's about government control of our lives and it's got to stop."—Republican presidential candidate and EXTREME ANTI-CHOICER Rick Santorum, on the Obama administration's contraceptive policy, at CPAC today.

Said, presumably, without a trace of fucking irony.

lulz

An Observation

I've had at least five people defriend me on Facebook since I started using my new avatar:

The Parks and Rec Open Thread

There was no new Parks and Rec episode last night (BOO!), but we didn't have an Open Thread for last week's Galentine's Day episode, so let's talk it about now, okay?! OKAY!


My absolute favorite part of this episode was Chris' DJing while he was super depressed. That was LITERALLY the worst Valentine's Day music I have ever heard.

Also, scatx and I were both rewatching the ice rink grand entrance scene ("Get on your feet!") from the previous episode like 9,000 times this week, because nerdz, and, while I was watching it on the 8,573rd time and laughing until I cried, I was also thinking about how genuinely radical the Leslie Knope character really is, and how radical a plotline it is that she's got a male partner who is profoundly supportive of her career.

That there wasn't an arc about his "coming to terms" with her career, that it was just taken as read that he was going to be her ally because her ambition was part of what he loves about her, is a really revolutionary departure from the familiar rom-com construction of a dude who "learns" how to love am ambitious woman only after he sees that trying to crush her dreams makes her unhappy. (Quelle surprise!) Ben is already a fully-realized equal partner, who wasn't written to "grow" for the benefit of men in the audience who are assumed to be unable to relate to a man like that.

I feel like P&R is saying to those men: We won't indulge your tiresome discomfort with ambitious women. We expect more.

And, in doing so, it's also acknowledging that there are men in the world who are and have been unconditionally supportive of their female partners' ambition, who navigate without some boner-killing identity crisis the negotiations and compromises innate to any two-career partnership. Ben, I thought, is kind of a gift to them. Here YOU are. We see you.

Tangentially: One of the things that I always think makes P&R the most feminist show on television is that there's no regular foil for Leslie's feminism, even outwith her romantic relationship. Ron is the obvious candidate for that role, but he doesn't actually fill it. He continually recognizes Leslie's competency and general awesomeness. But I digress.

I also had this sort of related thought about how radical it is that all of this is taking place in small-town red(dish) state America. I live in a small town in Indiana, and I'm involved enough in local politics I've got the mayor's cell phone number, you know? This show is about women like me. And it speaks to me, reflects some of the realities of being a feminist outside a media/creative career in a major urban center, in ways that shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show or Murphy Brown never did, even though I love those shows.

(It's also one of several fundamental differences between P&R and 30 Rock, which is a show I don't like.)

Being a feminist here, and being a feminist when I lived in Chicago for a decade, can in some ways be two very different things. I like seeing that acknowledged by P&R.

So, anyway. Those are my thoughts! What are yours?

Friday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by limes.

Recommended Reading:

M: Whitman in Louisville: Samantha's "I Sing the Body Electric"

Tami: Black Woman, Know Your Place: Cornel West Clings to His Privilege

Peter: Civil Liberties Hypocrites

Kathleen: Jaroslav Flegr and the Cat Parasites Messing with Our Brains

Josh: Pinterest Is Quietly Generating Revenue by Modifying User Submitted Pins

Jessie: On the Un-Fair Campaign [Content Note: The post at this link discusses racism and white privilege.]

Andy: Gay North Dakota Couple of More Than 20 Years Denied Marriage License

Leave your links and recommendations in comments...

Primarily Horrendo

People walk past a cardboard cutout of Republican US presidential candidate Rick Santorum at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, February 9, 2012. [REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst]

In my mind, the soundtrack to that image is this song.

Anyway! I sort of lost the plot with the primary news this morning, after the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT that President Obama was kinda sorta caving but not really (?!) to conservative religious bullies. The one GOOD THING about this election is that, no matter which of the two major parties you support, you can feel safe in the guarantee that the healthcare of women and other people with uteri will always be regarded as a TOTALLY NEGOTIABLE ITEM.

"My uterus is a bargaining chip!"—Me, every election in my lifetime.

Speaking of misogyny, Rick Santorum, Good Christian, says he has concerns about women in combat roles because "that could be a very compromising situation, where people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved. It already happens, of course, with the camaraderie of men in combat, but I think it would be even more unique if women were in combat."

Sure. Like, what if I were on the frontlines in Afghanistan, and I saw an enemy combatant who I thought was super dreamy? I would probably abandon my post to go make out with him, and then tell him to shoot the dudes in my unit. So Rick Santorum, as usual, definitely has a point.

In other news, the surging Santorum is cleaning up the grody Newt Gingrich leftovers. Sloppy Seconds Santorum! That's what we used to call him at the roller rink back in the '80s.

What does that even mean? I don't know. Here's a picture.


In Mitt Romney news, Mitt Romney is meeting privately with conservative leaders at CPAC, "in an effort to reassure Republicans who remain skeptical about his candidacy." Ha ha GOOD LUCK, Mitt Romney! I hope your party is fun and that its attendees enjoy the party favors! By which I mean THE BRIBES!

Something something Ron Paul. Liberty. Freedom. Gold standard. Honest rape.


Rick Santorum reading this post: "That roller skater isn't even me!"
Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.

Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

PJ Harvey: "Down By The Water"

Obama Blinks on Birth Control

Swell: White House to Announce Contraception Rule 'Accommodation' for Religious Organizations.

With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control coverage, ABC News has learned that later today the White House — possibly President Obama himself — will likely announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups.

Adding cowardice upon cowardice—caving, and announcing it in the Friday News Hole.

One source familiar with the decision described the accommodation as "Hawaii-plus," insisting that it's better than the Hawaii plan — for both sides.

In Hawaii the employer is responsible for referring employees to places where they can obtain the contraception; Catholic leaders call that material cooperation with evil. But what the White House will likely announce later today is that the relationship between the religious employer and the insurance company will not need to have any component involving contraception. The insurance company will reach out on its own to the women employees. This is better for both sides, the source says, since the religious organizations do not have to deal with medical care to which they object, and women employees will not have to be dependent upon an organization strongly opposed to that care in order to obtain it.

Let's be clear about what this means: An additional burden is being placed on women to accommodate the bullshit objections of a vocal minority who are playing politics with religion to complain about a policy the central mandate of which has been law for over a decade.

All of this "religious freedom" malarkey is the invocation of false ethics by some of the most unethical, cynical, opportunistic jerks in the country. This isn't an issue of "religious freedom." They're forcing Obama's hand, seeing if they can get him to throw women's healthcare and equality under the bus again.

And he just blinked.

UPDATE: The administration's position is that it's really no big deal because women will still get free contraception coverage—women who are employed by religious institutions will just get it directly from their insurers rather than through their employers. I still have some grave concerns.

Religious Freedom

The hue and cry being raised by some members of the Catholic church hierarchy and some opportunistic members of Congress over the Obama administration's requirement that employers provide contraception to their employees reminds me that their argument of religious freedom and how the evil federal government is stomping all over it applies to more than just pills and condoms.

I belong to a religious denomination that is adamantly opposed to war in any form and to the manufacture and sale of it. The Quakers were founded on this tenet, they have suffered for it, including torture, exile, and even death, yet they haven't changed their position in five hundred years. As a Quaker, I too am opposed to war and its trappings to the point that I registered as a conscientious objector in 1970. And yet my taxes go to the Treasury every year; taxes I am sure go to support the Department of Defense and our war machine. I'm pretty sure that with my income, my contribution to their budget over the last forty years wouldn't buy a Snickers bar at the Pentagon canteen, but my money somehow, some way still ends up in their coffers. But I dutifully file my income taxes, collect my refund, and attend meeting nearly every Sunday. So why am I not out in the street waving a sign about it (as some Friends do) or calling up my congress-critters to get them to pass a bill that would allow me or my fellow Friends to opt out of paying a portion of our taxes to kill people?

It's because I realize that this is a world where there are people out there who want to kill us no matter how peaceful my intentions are, and in a real world, we need to have a Department of Defense. I would like it if we didn't have to have it, but I know reality when I see it. (I would also like to be a well-built billionaire who could fly.) Second, even if I was bound and determined to put an end to war and war taxes, I don't have the political clout, the money, or the fancy clothes to convince my member of Congress to put forth a bill that would provide me or the other members of peace churches with the privilege to opt out of paying war taxes on religious grounds. Nor do I have the clout to get the state legislature to pass a bill that allows my church to recognize and perform same-sex weddings, which is in keeping with our meeting's dedication to equality for all, or the right of women to have autonomy over their own bodies.

For every church out there that is opposed to all of the culture war issues, there is at least one or more that supports the other side. And yet they're drowned out in the noise by the well-funded and the well-connected. The evangelical bullies have tried to claim ownership of the Christian brand and claim that no true Christian would support forcing employers to pay for something they oppose. And yet there are a lot of other Christians -- and non-Christians who are affiliated with them (you don't have to believe in God or Jesus to be a Quaker, you know) -- that want those employers to provide for the health and well-being of their employees, including whatever it takes to keep them that way.

There are probably more Catholics in Miami-Dade County than there are Quakers in the whole world. The annual lobbying budget for the Catholic Church could fund the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) for life. There isn't one Quaker on the Supreme Court, and there are probably more Muslims in Congress than Friends. So maybe that's why my religious freedom is being denied as a matter of course and nobody's getting on MSNBC like Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (who seems to have his own dressing room there) to advocate for my absolutist religious view that war is murder and same-sex couples have a right to get married.

Or maybe it's because I and people like me realize that in this world, some things are more important for the greater good of the people than my own particular point of view. That has been a part of what I learned both as a Quaker and as an adult: my religious freedoms end when they harm the rights of others. That doesn't mean I'll surrender them, but being an absolutist doesn't win an argument; it ends it.

Here endeth the lesson. Peace.

Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.

Blog Note

Yes, comments are fubared again, for reasons out of our control, as we have not changed any settings or messed with the formatting in any way.

I have notified Disqus, who will hopefully resolve the problem soon.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: All right, I figured it out. Something in our back-end settings keeps getting reset to a selection we don't make. I don't know why this happens over and over, but I've asked Disqus to look into it, so hopefully it can be prevented. I know it's a huge pain when the text goes tiny, but at least now I know what to do when it happens.

Please forgive me for addressing this on the blog and not responding to every email individually.

Open Thread

Hosted by a tiki.

Question of the Day

Following up on yesterday's QotD: What is your favorite movie (comedy or otherwise) that is just virtually devoid of women for no good reason?

(As opposed to, say, a film like The Shawshank Redemption, which takes place almost entirely in a men's prison, so the dearth of prominent female roles makes sense. That there are so many films made in male-centric environments is a whole other issue entirely.)

I don't know if this is precisely my favorite of the many possible answers to this question, but the first one that came to mind is The Usual Suspects. There's no good reason that one of the crooks couldn't have been female.

Imagine if Verbal Kint had been a lady. (!)

Photos of the Day

OMG, y'all! There are SO MANY great wire photos from CPAC today! WOWEE WOW does that look like a fun place to be! I have literally just looked at HUNDREDS of photos of angry white conservatives and Herman Cain screaming from patriotic podiums! I can't even begin to imagine HOW SUPER DUPER FUN it is to be there!

Here are some of my FAVORITE PHOTOS that are NOT of angry people with veins popping out of their foreheads who are furiously pointing while definitely saying things like "Obamacare" and "handouts":


PERFECT. I mean, those buttons are almost TOO perfect, aren't they? If I ever see anything more perfecter than Reagan 2012 campaign pins, I will begin to fear for the dimensional stability of the multiverse.


This is from the last CPAC because Ron Paul isn't attending this one, so Reuters is sending it out again: We miss you, Ron Paul! LYLAS! Stay sweet!


Big seller, I'll bet. HUGE.

That likeness is UNCANNY! (No, it isn't.) If there's one thing you can say about conservatives, it's that their totally racist and otherwise very inappropriate caricatures of President Obama are VERY GOOD. (Nope, they're not.)


Hey, look who it is! Looking good, Darth Creepious Mr. Vice President!

*wink!*

Pack It Up. We're Done Here.

The Great American Experiment has officially failed:

Mississippi State Rep. Steve Holland, a Democrat, introduced a bill in the state's lower chamber calling for the part of the Gulf of Mexico that borders his state to be renamed the "Gulf of America."

A local Latino GOP organization called on Holland to withdraw the measure. "If this bill passes the legislature and is signed into law, perhaps it is time to rename the Mississippi River," wrote Bob Quasius, Café Con Leche's president, in the letter. "After all, sharing a name with a state that wants to rewrite maps out of disdain for Mexicans would be a disgrace to the rest of the nation."

All right, well, Bob Quasius might have bought us another year. Good one, Bob.

Someone please send Rep. Holland a memo informing him that Mexico is part of the Americas.

UPDATE: In comments, Shaker Anitanola links to a piece in which Holland asserts it's all a big joke to highlight that the GOP is failing to "feed, clothe and educate children, take care of older adults, provide economic development and high systems in this state." Um, okay. Suffice it to say I am unconvinced that pretend (?) racism that is indistinguishable from authentic racism is not a very effective strategy to expose the GOP's fuckery.