Da Vinci Code: Let's Talk About Sex

I haven't seen the Da Vinci Code yet and, despite reviews, it seemed millions throughout the world flocked to see it anyway. I still think I should read the book first so I will probably dig my copy out and wait for the movie to come on DVD (gotta get some use out of my Netflix account). I saw some protesters outside the theater near my house during the opening weekend. I'm still not sure what the aversion is to this "work of fiction." Even if it were true, so what if Jesus was married? So what if he was married to Mary Magdalene? So what if he had children? Why is it so important for him to have been single and, allegedly, celibate? Clearly he was sent to earth as a man. Why would he not live as a man who, because he is the son of God, lives to set an example? Why would that example not include being married? I'll tell you why. Conflict over sex is at the base of the three Abrahamic religions. There is an obsession with it.

It's all about the sex.

And God.

But mostly, it's the sex.

"A central theme of the book is a question about whether Jesus was indeed sexual and whether there was indeed the possibility that Jesus had a relationship with Mary Magdalene and fathered a child," Haffner said.

"Certainly in Jesus' humanity we can expect that Jesus was a sexual person," because all humans are sexual beings, she said. "That doesn't mean that we necessarily express our sexuality with different people."

The idea of Jesus being sexual -- having sexual thoughts, feelings, urges, or (God forbid!) actually having sex with his wife -- really freaks a lot of people out.

Why?

If we are to believe, as most Christians do, that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, then by definition it means that Jesus also was fully sexual.

So why the collective flip out?

"In the Christian tradition, we have a religion that's based on a virgin birth that has followed an immaculate conception with a celibate hero God," Haffner said.

Well, there's that.

"There is built into the story an erotophobic emphasis. But that came later," she said. "For example, the immaculate conception idea is [from the] third century. It's not in the original story and it's not scriptural. ... We only tell part of the story. What's happened is that because of people's own fears of talking about sexuality, that erotophobia gets carried forward."

If Jesus could feel all that humans do -- joy, love, sorrow, anger, fear, pain -- why would he not also feel sexual? That isn't sinful.

It's just human.

And it doesn't mean that he had to have sex to be sexual.

But what if Jesus did?

How, exactly, would that threaten the very foundations of the Christian faith? A faith that is, if I'm not mistaken, based on the fact that Jesus came to Earth and sacrificed his sinless human life on the cross to redeem the rest of humanity, so that by faith, through grace, we all could be saved.

A faith that is not, unless I'm overlooking something, based on the idea that Jesus was a celibate man who neither married nor fathered children.[...]

I am a menacing little thing when I get into conversations about religion with friends and acquaintances. My key question, even before The Davinci Code, is always: what if you learned tomorrow that there was no trinity and that Jesus was just a man? What if he was a man, albeit an enlightened man like Buddha and Mohammad, who'd found a perfect and peaceful way of living who was able to show people a better and compassionate way? Do you stop trying to be a good person? Do you stop trying to follow the example of both the biblical and historical Jesus?

Naturally I cannot remember where I heard someone say that religion was basically people's way of coping with the prospect/fear of death. Indeed, most of the thumpingest people I've met are far more fixated on the afterlife than they are on living in the present. You've got suicide bombers in Islam martyring themselves with the hope of getting multiple virgins in heaven (btw, what do female suicide bombers get?). But what about behavior here on earth? Too many fundamentalists, of many faiths and denominations, do not seem to address that at all and their narrow interpretation of religious texts seems to promote and incite behavior that is to the contrary of what their lead prophets taught.

I don't have a problem with the prospect of Jesus being "just a man." One of my college theology teachers, a Jesuit priest, told our dumbstruck class that since Jesus was a man, he had erections. Now, that is totally something I'd never thought about but I will say that hearing a professor say it so matter of factly has been one of the reasons why I haven't been so attached to the "magic" of the bible. I have no problem viewing Jesus as a man because he was a great man. Whether he is seated at the right hand of the father really doesn't matter to me as his mission, I thought, was to teach us how to live here on earth. I cannot say that I fear dying and not being accepted into whatever heaven is. I cannot say that I fear going to "hell" because I don't believe in literal interpretations of the bible or that the only way to salvation is through having narrow, fundamentalist Christian views.

This movie has brought out the worst in some of those who profess to be the best Christian soldiers. I am amazed at how angry and afraid it seems to have made people. I would hope that it would be a challenge to all to study not only the biblical Jesus but the historical, walked on this earth, Jesus. Perhaps some of the things documented in the bible might seem less plausible but it should give people pause to think about what being a Christian really means and how they can live their lives, as mere men and women, the way Jesus would have.

(hat tip Paul W.)

So This Is Democracy

This site isn't updated nearly as much as it used to be nor as much as I'd like it to be. With our reporters being in so much danger, it's hard to get inside information. Baghdad Burning gives an insider's look into life in Baghdad. This time the update is about a soccer fan being intimidated by some of al Sadr's goons. It's sad. This isn't what we promised the Iraqi people.

As it turns out, Muqtada has a fatwa against football (soccer). I downloaded it and this is a translation of what he says when someone asks him for a fatwa on football and the World Cup:

"In reality, my father's position on this topic isn't deficient... Not only my father but Sharia also prohibits such activities which keep the followers too occupied for worshiping, keep people from remembering [to worship]. Habeebi, the West created things that keep us from completing ourselves (perfection). What did they make us do? Run after a ball, habeebi… What does that mean? A man, this large and this tall, Muslim- running after a ball? Habeebi, this ‘goal’ as it is called… if you want to run, run for a noble goal. Follow the noble goals which complete you and not the ones that demean you. Run after a goal, put it in your mind and everyone follows their own path to the goal to satisfy God. That is one thing. The second thing, which is more important, we find that the West and especially Israel, habeebi the Jews, did you see them playing soccer? Did you see them playing games like Arabs play? They let us keep busy with soccer and other things and they've left it. Have you heard that the Israeli team, curse them, got the World Cup? Or even America? Only other games... They've kept us occuppied with them- singing, and soccer, and smoking, stuff like that, satellites used for things which are blasphemous while they occuppy themselves with science etc. Why habeebi? Are they better than us- no we're better than them."

Important note: Islamic Sharia does not prohibit soccer/football or sports- it’s only prohibited by the version of Sharia in Muqtada’s dark little head. I wonder what he thinks of tennis, swimming and yoga…

I listened to the fatwa, with him getting emotional about playing football, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Foreign occupation and being a part of a puppet government- those things are ok. Football, however, will be the end of civilization as we know it, according to Muqtada. It’s amusing- they look nothing alike- yet he reminds me so much of Bush. He can barely string two sentences together properly and yet, millions of people consider his word law. So when Bush raves about the new ‘fledgling Iraqi government’ ‘freely elected’ into power, you can take a look at Muqtada and see one of the fledglings. He is currently one of the most powerful men in the country for his followers.

So this is democracy. This is one of the great minds of Bush’s democratic Iraq.

When her blog isn't updated for a long time, I always wonder if something has happened to her. The updates may be few and far between but they still give us a peek into the mess we've made in Iraq.

We Can't Win Like This

This is the problem. We've never been able to identify the enemy. We went into Iraq under false pretenses and haven't ever had a clear view of whom we were fighting. I am certain that women in labor are not the enemy.

Two Iraqi women were shot to death north of Baghdad after coalition forces fired on a vehicle that failed to stop at an observation post, the U.S. military said Wednesday. Iraqi police and relatives said one of the women was about to give birth.

A car entered a clearly marked prohibited area near coalition troops at an observation post but failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory warnings, the U.S. military said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

"Shots were fired to disable the vehicle," the statement said. "Coalition forces later received reports from Iraqi police that two women had died from gunshot wounds ... and one of the females may have been pregnant."

The statement said the incident was being investigated.

"The loss of life is regrettable and coalition forces go to great lengths to prevent them," the military said.

The statement was issued after Iraqi police said a pregnant woman and her cousin were killed by American troops while driving to a maternity hospital in Samarra, a predominantly Sunni city 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha.

AP Television News footage showed the women's bodies wrapped in sheets and lying on stretchers outside the Samarra General Hospital, while residents pointed to bullet holes on the windshield of a car and a pool of blood on the seat.

"I was with the victims, one of them was pregnant and about to give birth," said a woman who did not give her name but said she was a relative of the victims.

But we kill them anyway.

Saving Her The Trouble

This Malaysian man "Bobbitted" himself to prove his faithfulness to his wife. In Thailand, scorned women call it feeding the ducks (scroll to bottom of the page).


Technorati Tags: feeding the ducks

Ward, Ward, Ward

Who is paying this man and why is this so important to him?

As he did in California in 1996 and in Washington state in 1998, California businessman Ward Connerly has led a successful campaign to place an anti-affirmative-action measure on Michigan’s November ballot.

The misleadingly named Michigan Civil Rights Initiative would amend the state’s constitution to end affirmative action programs for women and people of color in public employment, education and contracting. Many feel it’s also meant to subvert a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed race to remain a factor in admissions at the University of Michigan.

Opponents of the initiative believe it will roll back advances women and minorities have made in the state, and fail to correct still-glaring inequities. For example, Michigan is tied with Alabama for having the second-worst gender pay gap in America. In higher education, the state’s women earn fewer professional and doctorate degrees than the national women’s average.

A recent report by University of Michigan researcher Susan W. Kaufmann outlined the types of women’s programs that could be threatened should the ballot initiative pass. Those include:

• Gender-specific screening programs for breast and cervical cancer, and public-health campaigns to promote breastfeeding and prenatal smoking cessation.
  
• Apprenticeship, education and training programs for nontraditional occupations.
  
• Outreach programs to help women and minorities compete for government contracts.
  
• Recruitment and support programs for women interested in pursuing careers in the skilled trades.
  

In the aftermath of California’s Proposition 209, studies show that women have been underrepresented in the state’s skilled trades, graduate schools and college faculties. Gyöngy Laky, a professor at the University of California, Davis, has derisively called 209 “an effective affirmative action program for white men.”

They Killed His Cousin

I could almost laugh but this is just so freakin' ridiculous. The United States Marines shot the Iraqi Ambassador's cousin - in cold blood. Does anyone else see a problem with this? Yes, of course the murder of his cousin. But, I'm talking about having someone as an ambassador who's had a personal loss at the hands of the US Marines serving as Ambassador. It's not his fault but if it were me, I'd be a wee bit salty with the Marines and the United States. I'm not sure I'd be able to serve in that capacity objectively. I'm just saying ...

BLITZER: But even months before the incident in November, you lost a cousin at Haditha in a separate battle involving United States Marines.

SUMAIDAIE: Well, that was not a battle at all. Marines were doing house-to-house searches, and they went into the house of my cousin. He opened the door for them.

His mother, his siblings were there. He led them into the bedroom of his father. And there he was shot.

BLITZER: Who shot him?

SUMAIDAIE: A member of the Marines.

BLITZER: Why did they shoot him?

SUMAIDAIE: Well, they said that they shot him in self-defense. I find that hard to believe because, A, he is not at all a violent -- I mean, I know the boy. He was [in] a second-year engineering course in the university. Nothing to do with violence. All his life has been studies and intellectual work.

Totally unbelievable. And, in fact, they had no weapon in the house. They had one weapon which belonged to the school where his father was a headmaster. And it had no ammunition in it. And he led them into the room to show it to them.

BLITZER: So what you're suggesting, your cousin was killed in cold blood, is that what you're saying, by United States Marines?

SUMAIDAIE: I believe he was killed intentionally. I believe that he was killed unnecessarily. And unfortunately, the investigations that took place after that sort of took a different course and concluded that there was no unlawful killing.

I would like further investigation. I have, in fact, asked for the report of the last investigation, which was a criminal investigation, by the way.

[Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq] is aware of all the details, because he's kept on top of it. And it was he who rejected the conclusions of the first investigation. I have since asked formally for the report, but it's been nearly two months, and I have not received it.

BLITZER: Did you raise these concerns you had with the president today when you were at the White House presenting your credentials?

SUMAIDAIE: No, I did not, because I did not want to bring a personal note into a much wider brief that I have here.

BLITZER: But what I hear you saying -- and I don't want to put words in your mouth -- is there maybe, in Haditha, at least, a pattern to what happened to your nephew, what happened apparently in November when these other Marines went in?

Are there any other examples of cold-blooded murder that you are familiar with in Haditha?

SUMAIDAIE: I am familiar with at least one other killing of three youths, which happened very soon after the killing of my cousin. They were in a car. They were unarmed, I believe. And they were shot.

Now, in that case, there could be possibly [an] excuse or explanation that the Marines were afraid. They were approaching them too fast, or whatever. But the details as they were related to me were such that there was no possibility of misunderstanding.

But in all these situations, you know, you have the word of the community, people around, civilians around -- and you have the word of the individuals in the Marines. ...

When it comes to comparing these two sources, I mean, if my uncle, whom I have known all my life since childhood, and I know he would not make up stories, and I know he would not lie, and I know what is at stake is the life of his grandson, then, you know, I know which word to take.

BLITZER: Do you have confidence the U.S. military will do a thorough investigation?

SUMAIDAIE: Ultimately, possibly, yes. But in situations like this, the ramifications are so profound that they -- they would initially take the attitude that they hope this would go away.

If it can be swept under the rug, it would. But when -- when it goes up higher in the hierarchy, then there are people who recognize the potential damage of cover-up, and there is a better possibility of it being opened up.

Too Late For The Muzzle

It was one thing when John Murtha was suggesting that we pull the troops out. It is another now that he is harping on the massacre in Haditha. I saw him on Good Morning America this morning and he was still fired up on The Situation Room on CNN later today. I agree with him wholeheartedly but this isn't good for those who want to try to sweep this under the rug. I just hope nothing happens to him because he has no intention of shutting up.

CONGRESSMAN JOHN MURTHA (D-PA): "Well, what I worry about Wolf is [that] this happened six months ago and you heard nothing about it. As a matter of fact, the original story was that an [improvised explosive device] killed these 15 people. It became very confusing to the public. Time Magazine came out with an article and they still tried to cover it up.

"Now, there were payments made to victims which aren't made unless we kill them one way or the other. And secondly, they knew about it the day afterwards...

"And the longer it goes the worse it is for us, because it looks like it's our policy to do something like this...

"This helps [al Qaeda] recruit terrorists."

(h/t Raw Story)

Well, Duh!

I think this was pretty much a no brainer. Good!

John Allen Muhammad, already sentenced to death in Virginia for a sniping spree that terrorized the Washington area in 2002, was convicted of murder in the neighboring state of Maryland on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Maryland state's attorney, John McLane, said a jury found Muhammad guilty on all six counts of murder brought against him.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo used a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice, with a modified rear to allow sniper shots to be fired through a hole in the trunk, choosing victims at random at gas stations, outside shopping malls and elsewhere.

Virginia had already sentenced Muhammad to death for one murder there during the October 2002 shootings, in which 10 people were killed and three were wounded.

Malvo, now 21, has pleaded guilty and testified against Muhammad, whom he had once considered a father figure. Malvo has been sentenced to life in prison in Virginia.

India Now Tops South Africa

I am sure that this is not a contest India wants to win.

India now has more people living with HIV than any other country, a UNAIDS report has revealed.

The report shows that India now accounts for two-thirds of HIV cases in the whole of Asia.

An estimated 5.7 million Indians were infected by the end of 2005, overtaking the 5.5 million cases estimated in South Africa.

However, While 18.8% of South African adults were living with HIV, the figure in India was 0.9%.

Estimates of total deaths in India since Aids was first identified in 1981 range from 270,000 to 680,000.

Most of the infections there were caused by unprotected heterosexual intercourse, according to UNAIDS.

States in southern India have traditionally been the hardest hit by the disease.

A study of prostitutes in Tamil Nadu found 50% had been infected with HIV.

However, UNAIDS said these regions had made progress in combating the spread of infection.

In contrast, little or no progress had been made in cutting infection rates in the north of the country, where injecting drug use is thought to be the main driver of infection.

The UN agency estimates that only 7% of Indians who needed antiretroviral drug therapy actually received it last year.

In addition, only 1.6% of pregnant women who needed treatment to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission were receiving it.

UNAIDS also sounded a warning about neighbouring Pakistan, where around 85,000 people were estimated to be infected with HIV by the end of 2005.

It said the country would have to improve its prevention efforts if it is to avoid a more serious situation.

Moron!

First of all, this man needs to still be in jail! Second, where do women find these retards and why do they leave them alone with their children?

An Australian man has been charged with causing bodily harm after he put a 13-month-old baby in a tumble dryer when she spilt a drink on herself.

Samuel Siddall, 21, was left in charge of his girlfriend's baby while she went to the gym for an hour, police said.

She returned to find the baby had suffered serious burns. Doctors notified police because of the suspicious nature of her injuries.

They expect the baby to make a full recovery and leave hospital this week.

'The injuries are horrific and in my years of being a police officer I have not seen or heard of this type of injury before,' police detective Deb Newman told reporters.

'The person we allege has done the act has stated that he has put the child into a clothes tumble dryer, closed the door and turned it on for a couple of minutes,' she said.

Police said the child suffered serious burns to both feet and her left hand as well as bruising to her face and back.

Mr Siddall, 21, was released on bail and told to reappear in court in June. He was also forbidden to contact the child's mother.

Killed Lounging On The Balcony Again

Laura Ingraham's asinine comments on the Today Show a few months ago were the first things that came to mind when I found out that two CBS crewmen had been killed and a reporter critically injured in Iraq. I wonder what she has to say now.:

Atrios remembers Laura Ingraham's insane rant from the Today Show:

"It's why Howie Kurtz has Assrocket and Hugh Hewitt on his show on a regular basis. I suppose the reasons for this are very simple - by bringing on these idiot critics they placate the right wing frothers while simultaneously confronting cartoon criticism, letting themselves avoid confronting actual criticism. Still, at some point one wonders if enough is every enough? I mean, who would invite Laura Ingraham back on after this crack:

Ingraham: "To do a show from Iraq means to talk to the Iraqi military, to go out with the Iraqi military, to actually have a conversation with the people instead of reporting from hotel balconies about the latest IEDs going off.

Here's the video of Ingraham with David Gregory (Video )

This was when the meme these right wing zombies were peddling was that journalists were too afraid to cover the war. As long as they said it, the networks allowed them airtime to pass out their brand of kool aid.

CBS:

"A CBS News correspondent was critically injured and her two-person crew killed Monday when the Baghdad military unit in which they were imbedded was attacked. Kimberly Dozier, 39, sustained serious injuries in the attack and underwent surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Baghdad, the network reported. She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis."

Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan, both London-based, were killed.

Toni Morrison Is Praised As She Retires

It's hard to believe that she taught as she wrote masterpieces.

Former President Bill Clinton last night praised acclaimed Princeton University professor Toni Morrison for her humanity and exquisite touch with the written word.

"I thank you, my friend, for your great big heart and for using that and your mind to help us to see the grace we must all imagine," Clinton said at the end of his three-minute tribute to Morrison as she prepares to retire from the university.

He then walked over to the Nobel laureate author, seated in the front row, and embraced her.

An invitation-only crowd of about 345 people turned out for the Morrison tribute in the Allen Room of Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Time Warner Center in midtown Manhattan.

The event -- "Toni Morrison: Her Triumphs, Her Contributions, Our Future" -- was in the making for about a year and co-hosted by Princeton University and its program in African-American studies.

In 1993, Morrison became the first black American to win the Nobel Prize in literature, an accomplishment reached after the publication of her first six novels.

The Nobel awarded to Morrison was the first to go to an American-born writer since 1962, when John Steinbeck was the literature laureate.

Morrison is one of 10 retiring Princeton faculty members expected to get the honorary status as professors emeriti early next month, pending approval by Princeton's trustees.

Last night Clinton said reading her books can be all sorts of things, depending on the reader's perspective, "breezy or laboriously difficult," inspiring laughter or tears, anger or joy.

"You can be full of pride or covered in shame . . . but one thing you can't do is retire. You have to engage" when reading one of her books, the former president said.

Other celebrities offering tributes to Morrison were Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman and Tony Award winning actress Phylicia Rashad.

Rashad thanked Morrison for "your intuitive understanding and feeling for the power of the word to reawaken in us the knowledge of who we really are."

Known for her lyrical portrayals of blacks who endure poverty and disaster, Morrison has written eight novels -- from "The Bluest Eye" in 1970 through "Love" in 2003.

Technorati Tags: Toni Morrison

Burn That Damn Flag!

I am so sick, sick, sick of hearing about and seeing that damned confederate flag! What is it about "YOU LOST" that these yahoos don't get? How many defeated countries continue to wave their old flag? How many Brits are running around wearing red coats because it is part of their heritage (forget about those confused ones who are still calling the US "the colonies")?

Steve Gilliard has more on the latest behind some 15 year old's right to flaunt the confederacy as well as other stories about blacks and the confederacy.

Chicken George (on the bongos) and Uncle Remus 2006

This is the deal! There was a civil war in America. Both sides had flags and armies. One side won. One side lost. There is one American flag now! ONE! I don't care if the confederate flag reprents Southern pride. I don't care if some strange negroes think they have some stake in the confederacy. You cannot rewrite history or refight the war. The losers have no business flying the flag unless they are at a private pity party for descendents of the losers. Put the flag down and GO HOME!

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?

You're Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen!
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We Speak Korean, Hindi and Chinese

A couple of years ago, I accompanied my mom to her doctor's office so she could have some tests run. The neighborhood where the office was has changed drastically since I moved to Cali so when I got in the elevator and saw a sign that said "We speak Korean, Hindi and Chinese" I was flabbergasted and impressed at the same time. Now, I realize that Oklahoma is not as diverse as the city of Chicago but Tom Coburn should realize that this country has changed - dramatically in the past couple of decades. It's not just about Spanish. There are thousands of new Americans - legal or not - who do not speak English fluently. Depending on their age, they are not going to be fluent before they die or leave. What we don't need are people dying due to language barriiers. Coburn needs to get out more and stop pandering to the white sheet crowd. It's too late for that.

Executive Order 13166, signed by President Clinton on August 11, 2000, improves quality health care access for all patients, regardless of their primary language. This executive order requires Medicare and Medicaid providers to offer limited-English-proficiency (LEP) patients with a full interpreter or translator services in their own language.

This week, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) plans to offer an amendment that repeals this mandate. A look at some current problems Coburn’s amendment would make worse:

– Parents with limited English proficiency are three times more likely than parents who report speaking English “very well” to have a child in fair or poor health.

– Parents often report language barriers as the single greatest issue to garnering access to health care.

– 19 percent of Spanish-speakers report having forgone needed health treatment due to a language barrier.

At a time when the United States is more linguistically diverse than at any other time since the early 1900s, we should be working to overcome barriers that may affect an individual’s access and quality of care. Coburn’s amendment undermines the steps this country has taken to ensure access to health care.

I received the sample ballot, for our pending election, a few weeks ago. It was in English but also had translations in Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Chinese. I think I received a card in the mail before that requesting that I declare my language perference. I totally forgot to return it. Perhaps that is why I received another sample ballot last week that was totally in Spanish.

Let's face it. The horse is already out of the barn as far as the number of non-English speakers who are here and who will continue to come. Some will learn English. Some will leave it upon their children to learn it and translate. Limiting medical services is the absolute wrong way to take a stand or change things.

Since When Did Oprah Become MTV?

Since when is Oprah obligated to have every dang rapper on earth on her show? I am sick of this whining! Newsflash rappers: she don't owe you jack!

Rappers Ludacris and 50 Cent have dissed Oprah Winfrey. Now, Ice Cube has a beef with the talk show queen.

"I've been involved in three projects pitched to her, but I've never been asked to participate," the rapper-actor tells FHM magazine in its July issue, on newsstands June 6.

"For 'Barbershop,' she had Cedric the Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn't invited," says the 36-year-old rapper, referring to his 2002 movie. "Maybe she's got a problem with hip-hop."

Cube adds: "She's had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?"

A call by The Associated Press to Winfrey's spokeswoman at her production company, Harpo, was not immediately returned Friday.

Last month, 50 complained that Winfrey rarely invites rappers on her talk show: "I think she caters to older white women." Ludacris, whose real name is Chris Bridges, told GQ magazine that the media mogul was "unfair" to him during a show he appeared on last October with co-stars from best-picture Oscar winner "Crash."

Earlier this month, Winfrey defended herself in a surprise appearance on New York City-based radio station Power 105.1.

"I listen to some hip-hop," she told DJ Ed Lover. "You know, I've been accused of not liking hip-hop and that's just not true. I got a little 50 (Cent) on my iPod. I really do. Love 'In Da Club.' ... Love that, and you know, love Jay-Z, love Kanye (West), love Mary J. (Blige)."

Ice Cube, whose other films include "Friday" and "Three Kings," will release his latest album, "Laugh Now, Cry Later," on June 6.

Perhaps Ice Cube needs to have a chat with 50 Cent who concluded that Oprah's show was for older, white women. Maybe he needs to start pitching to Tyra Banks since many think she is poised to take up where Oprah leaves off.

(Muttering under my breath ... "all these hard ass wanna be thugs whining like little biatches!")

Technorati Tags: Oprah, Ice Cube

Horrifying Indeed!

Via Feministing

This is just horrifying.

Since the Turkish government began cracking down on honor killings last year, a new trend is currently being investigated by the UN: serial suicides among young girls and women.

These incidents have been occurring mostly in the Kurdish southeast. An example is in Batman, where 10 of the 14 people who have committed suicide have been women and girls under the age of 23. (A few were as young as 12 years old.)

Activists are saying that these girls and women are being forced by their families to commit suicide because male relatives that usually commit honor killings are being given life sentences under a new penal code. In result, these girls are being told that if they don’t kill themselves, their father or brother will have to go to jail.

Others speculate that some are being murdered and then presented as suicide to the authorities. The UN Special Reporter on Violence Against Women, Yakin Erturk, is being sent to the area to find out exactly what is happening.

Amnesty International estimates that between a third and half of women living in Turkey suffer from some form of domestic violence.

Too Short For Jail

So, I guess this is like the blond teacher who slept with her student who was deemed "too pretty" for jail. How is it that this guy is exempt from being punished for being a sexual predator because he is too short?

A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.

His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.

"You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child," she said.

But, she said, "That doesn't make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category."

Thompson will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography.

He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions closely.

"I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life," the judge told Thompson. "I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced."

How is he not a hunter (I guess that means predator)? He's a little man who molested the only person smaller than himself - a child. In jail, someone bigger than him might use that advantage over him. Why does he deserve more protection and sympathy than a child?

Shot For Wearing Shorts

This is the kind of liberty and freedom our solidiers are dying for? These are the psychos Saddam Hussein was trying to keep from grabbing power. We've unleashed them.

The coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead in Baghdad on Thursday, said Iraqi Olympic officials.

Coach Hussein Ahmed Rashid and players Nasser Ali Hatem and Wissam Adel Auda were killed in the al-Saidiya district of the capital.

Witnesses said the three were dressed in shorts and were killed days after militants issued a warning forbidding the wearing of shorts.

Other Iraqi athletes have been targeted in recent incidents.

In this case, according to accounts, the men dropped off laundry and were then stopped in their vehicle by gunmen.

Two of the athletes stepped out of the car and were shot in the head, said one witness. The third was shot dead in the vehicle.

"The gunman took the body out of the car and threw it on top of the other two bodies before stealing the car," said the witness, who requested anonymity.

He said leaflets had been recently distributed in the area warning residents not to wear shorts.

Ken Lay Comes To Jesus

Oh Lawd! Here we go with "God" again. Where was his God when he was commiting fraudulent acts? Oh, I forgot. God was probably busy talking to George W. Bush.

"I firmly believe I'm innocent of the charges against me," Lay said following the hearing. "We believe that God in fact is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the lord."

So what does that say about the thousands of people who lost their jobs and/or pensions? That NONE of them loved the lord? Just a thought but I'll bet God is busy working all things for good for the people that Lay and Skilling ruined! Is it God's fault that he did what he was convicted of doing? George Bush might save him with a pardon but he needs to leave God out of it his quest to avoid his just rewards.

When Will Jesus George Bush Bring The Pork Chops?

Will somebody tell this man he isn't Jesus or the second coming? I don't want to hear nary another word out of his mouth about his faith, his Christ, his prayers or his directives from the almighty. It's making the world despise us and it's getting us killed. Madeleine Albright says it well!

President Bush has alienated Muslims around the world by using absolutist Christian rhetoric to discuss foreign policy issues, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says.

"I worked for two presidents who were men of faith, and they did> not make their religious views part of American policy," she said, referring to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Democrats and Christians.

"President Bush's certitude about what he believes in, and the division between good and evil, is, I think, different," said Albright, who has just published a book on religion and world affairs. "The absolute truth is what makes Bush so worrying to some of us."

Bush, a Republican, has openly acknowledged his Christian faith informs his decisions as president. He says, for example, that he prayed to God for guidance before invading Iraq.

Some Muslims have accused him of waging a crusade against Islam, comparable with those of the Middle Ages. The White House says it has nothing against Islam, but against those who commit terrorist atrocities in its name.

But Albright says Bush's religious absolutism has made U.S. foreign policy "more rigid and more difficult for other countries to accept."

In her book, "The Mighty and the Almighty," Albright recalls how Bush, while he was governor of Texas, told Christians he believed God wanted him to be president.

I have a request for God but it would probably get my phones tapped so I won't put it in writing!

What's Next? Illegal Nurses?

In what, exactly, is this country willing to invest? We've outsourced technology to India and China (did I ever mention that I am underpaid and underemployed as a result?). We've let immigrants - legal and otherwise - enter the country in droves to the point where far more than field labor is being impacted (like I've said, people were cool with "all the Mexicans" when they thought they were just replacing "lazy nigras" but now that wages for regular blue collar jobs held by other folks are being undercut, we suddenly have to "protect the borders" and deport folks). Now we don't have enough nurses and they say it is too expensive to train nurses here so what's the solution? Import cheap nursing labor from indigent countries?

Nathan Newman raises an interesting issue here. Democrats in Congress offered an amendment to the immigration bill currently being debated that would allow an unlimited number of foreign nurses to enter the United States, on the grounds that there's a nurse shortage in this country.

 That sounds like a good idea, but here's the problem: won't it cause an even more disastrous nurse shortage in developing countries, perhaps causing collapses in health care systems around the world? That already seems to be the case in the Philippines and India. On the broader issue, the New York Times ran a good piece a while back on the "brain drain" developing countries face when all their skilled workers leave for OECD countries. It can cause "a vicious downward cycle of underdevelopment." Not good for them, and it's hard to know what to do. Restrict immigration of skilled workers? Screw the poorer countries?

Now Newman's solution to the nursing issue seems unexceptionable—train more nurses in the United States, since there are currently more people who want to become nurses than spots in nursing school. On the other hand, for those worried about keeping health care costs down, it's much cheaper to "outsource" nursing education to the Third World, where education costs are naturally lower. Ideally, perhaps, the United States would do more to help develop the poorer countries that are sending us all their cheap labor, but that would involve more drastic changes than anything being contemplated in Congress right now.

I have nothing against immigration. I've said that before. But, before this gets turned into an "Americans don't want to be nurses anymore" con job by the healthcare industry, we need to make people aware that people do, indeed, want to be nurses. But, as one of my sorority sisters (a relatively new nurse) stated: "Problem is there aren't enough nursing educators or funds to educate these nurses. Completing Nursing School is no easy tasks for anyone. We have many professors at <...> alone who are burnt out because they are teaching two or three theory classes and clinical courses as well ... And their salaries are garbage, so almost all of them have 2nd, even 3rd jobs. It's not SAFE for more than 10 students to be in one clinical course. In my opinion there shouldn't even be that many. We can't produce nurses on a conveyor belt. "

Why aren't we willing to invest in vital and critical skill sets? You have people in America who are willing and able to study to become good nurses yet we want to outsource that so that we can get the skills on the cheap. As a result, this may also leave poorer countries without adequate health professionals and care because we are luring them all here (probably to under pay them and thereby undercut the wages of Americans who spent thousands of dollars on a quality nursing education). But then the government will want to use our tax dollars to come to the aid of these countries from whom we've poached their skilled workers. Perhaps I'd rather my tax dollars

Again, who benefits? This country? Patients? ( No offense but as attentive and patient as I am with accents and dialects, the last thing I want to do if I am very sick is try to process some foreign speech patterns? I do it all day long at work and there are times when I just have to nod and pretend I understand rather than continuing to say "I'm sorry. Excuse me?" I could end up dead doing that in the hospital). But you know who benefits! The greedy capitalists of the healthcare industry. They win, again, and regular citizens lose!

My college roommate became a nurse. The program at our university was no joke. Both of her older sisters were nurses too. I know that is a profession I still would not, could not, pursue. BUT, I should have the opportunity and this country, as the wealthiest in the world, the wealthiest in the world should have the resources (schools and adequately paid instructors) for me to do so.

Novak Had Rove's Back

I still don't get why Novak wasn't thrown in jail!

On September 29, 2003, three days after it became known that the CIA had asked the Justice Department to investigate who leaked the name of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, columnist Robert Novak telephoned White House senior adviser Karl Rove to assure Rove that he would protect him from being harmed by the investigation, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the federal grand jury testimony of both men.

Suspicious that Rove and Novak might have devised a cover story during that conversation to protect Rove, federal investigators briefed then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on the matter in the early stages of the investigation in fall 2003, according to officials with direct knowledge of those briefings.

[...]

Rove testified to the grand jury that during his telephone call with Novak, the columnist said words to the effect: "You are not going to get burned" and "I don't give up my sources," according to people familiar with his testimony. Rove had been one of the "two senior administration" officials who had been sources for the July 14, 2003, column in which Novak outed Plame as an "agency operative." Rove and Novak had talked about Plame on July 9, five days before Novak's column was published.

The Things I Never Knew About Tampons

Via Pam's House Blend my mind is blown once again. I'm not really grasping this so I think I need some help. Is the Pope going to be watching a whole lot of TV while he is visiting or is it somehow blasphemous for regular citizens to see tampon ads while the Pope is in town? Are tampon ads something that most people would rather not see any other time but have to as a fact of life (you know, like the homeless people in major cities that suddenly disappear when a potentate comes to town)? If Jesus was both man and God, that means he had to deal with day to day life as a man. Why can't the Pope?

Look at what the government of Poland did in advance of the Prada Pope's arrival.

When Pope Benedict visits the homeland of his predecessor this week he will find Poland and its Catholic Church struggling to adapt to life after John Paul - but he will not see any advertisements for lingerie, beer or tampons on state TV.

Broadcasters have banned the promotion of 'inappropriate products' during Benedict's visit, as well as ads carrying any whiff of sexual innuendo. The three state-run channels have demanded to see in advance material due to be shown during his tour, which begins on Thursday. 'There is always the risk that the faithful may feel hurt if programming devoted to the Pope's visit is interrupted by frivolous ads,' said Zbigniew Badziak, head of advertising at the state network.

The decision about what to deep-six was determined by "teams of Catholic journalists."

When I was listening to a piece on NPR about it yesterday, it also mentioned that any billboards with ads for the same products mentioned above, as well as condom ads, would be covered up so Ratzi wouldn't have to avert his eyes or think about bodily functions or sexual urges as he tours the streets.

Blech! On second thought, I don't like thinking about bodily functions or sexual urges when I tour the streets either! Maybe we can make this effort a global one!

Technorati Tags: Pope, tampon ads

Leave The Stinky Mom Alone!

I never used to like Madonna because I thought she always looked like she smelled bad. Oddly, once she had her first child, she looked clean to me. Britney Spears is totally not someone I listen to but she did, at least, look clean - when she was new to the game that is. Then, she had her bad girl transformation and looked dirty and smelly too. I thought that, like Madonna, she might start looking "clean" again after she had kids. But nope, she still looks like she stinks. However, this stalking job they are doing to her about her child and implying that the things that happen to every mother, everyday makes her a bad mother, is just scandalous and shameless. I'm not a mom but moms agree with me!

Britney Spears. She's so easy to make fun of. Even her song titles conspire to mock her: 'Oops, She Did It Again!' But the latest headlines about America's most maligned mother are evoking a new sentiment from fellow moms.

Almost tripped and dropped a baby? PLEASE, they're saying. What mom hasn't? Give the girl a break!

When little Sean Preston entered the world last September, the blessed event only intensified Spears' fame, as celebrity births do nowadays. But unlike, say, Angelina Jolie or Gwyneth Paltrow, Spears had a way of appearing maternally challenged. First it was the sight of baby on Mom's lap in the driver's seat. (OK, that was bad.) Then, the accidental tumble as he was lifted off a high chair. Next, the car seat facing the wrong way in the convertible.

Not good, the celebrity mommy patrol said. We'd never do that.

Until ... the almost-baby-dropping incident.

Suddenly -- and there's nothing scientific about any of this, mind you -- but suddenly, it seems fellow moms are doing something a bit surprising: defending Britney ...

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Rocking On With My Old, Spinstery Self

I started to post on the Newsweek article (linked below) that gave "good news" to the many, many women who are in their late 30s and 40s and have never married (apparently a lot women do get married beyond their "expiration" date). But, I think I've spoken enough on me not feeling any less of a person because I am not hitched. Apparently, one of the subjects in the article feels the same way.

Newsweek "spinster" speaks out

Broadsheet's earlier post about Newsweek's nostra culpa ("Actually, we meant that you're more likely to get married than to be killed by a terrorist!") has prompted a breaking "Apology Not Accepted" from one of the allegedly bereft single women featured in the infamous 1986 article.

In a letter in response to our post, Carol Owens writes, "the entire first paragraph of that [1986 Newsweek] 'story,' which unhappily features me, or some person who is supposed to be me, is a fabrication." Owens says she spoke to the reporter with the intention of discussing what she saw as "false assumptions" informing the demographic study in question. "However," she writes, "the knowledge ... that I was one of six 'unmarried' sisters proved too much for the fervid imaginings of the folks at Newsweek. Somehow, the answer to the question 'How did you first hear about the study?' ended up portraying my mother as a New Age Mrs. Bennett, in a positive lather to marry off all of her daughters now." Evidently, that image stuck. Owens and her sisters spent the next week fending off snickering neighbors, declining offers for makeovers (unmarried = must be u-g-l-y, see), even an invitation to appear in a local "bridal auction."

All of which would have been bad enough even if marriage actually had been a priority for her. "I felt as if I was living in some sort of Bizarro-World where my accomplishments, my intelligence -- my essential personhood -- had no validation unless certified by the societal stamp of marriage," Owens writes. "That notion was in direct opposition to the values that both of my parents had instilled in all of us who are lucky enough to be their daughters."

Fortunately, her real-life story has a happy ending. Owens describes herself as "successful and happy in my chosen field, with a large group of far-flung friends and scads of family to entertain in my home." And, gasp, single. "Then as now, I believe that my worth as a human being is determined by the things that I do, the manner in which I conduct myself, and the love that I give to my family and friends," Owens concludes. "If this is the 'spinsterhood' referred to in the Newsweek article that came out today, I'll just rock on with my spinstery self, thanks."

Yup! She about sums it up for me!

The Real Affirmative Action

Another freeloading foreigner?

SOMETIMES the apple does fall far from the tree. British Prime Minister Tony Blair's eldest son, Euan, has shunned politics - walking away from a gig as an intern at a congresswoman's office - to pursue a master's degree at Yale. And he's going for free on a full scholarship, The Post's Lukas I. Alpert reports. The younger Blair left the internship after just two weeks at the D.C. office of Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.). Some say Blair left because he found the work 'boring,' while others say he found Harman's office too left-wing. So now Euan is off to study international relations at the prestigious Ivy League school where President Bush and former President Clinton studied.

Run Katie! Run!

I mean Kate! Get out of the clown house while you still can!

Is there trouble in TomKat land?

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reportedly got into a big fight — that ended with Holmes deciding to take baby Suri to Ohio to introduce the infant to family and friends. Tom, who is rumored to have a rocky relationship with Holmes’ parents, won’t be joining them, according to Life & Style Weekly.

“He told Katie he wasn’t going, considering the bad relations between him and her family,” an “insider” told the mag. “Katie was really happy he said that, because she’d been afraid to admit to him that she didn’t want him to go.”

The couple allegedly had a “huge argument” which ended with Katie declaring, “I’m doing this and you can’t stop me.” Her rep denies the story.

Cruise reportedly decided to fly his fiancée and tot to Toledo, drop them off and fly back to pick them up.

The episode, however, may be giving Holmes second thoughts. A “confidant” of hers told the mag: “Katie’s very unhappy and beginning to realize she may have made a major mistake being with Tom.”

Eww! TMI! TMI!

What he heck kind of commencement address is this? Shame on you Anderson Cooper!

“The only thing about high school I remember is my senior prom … if what I remember is true, it is very possible that some of you are my children, especially you with the blue eyes and freakishly gray hair,” said Cooper, pointing at an audience member. “Let me just say that if that is true, for legal reasons I can’t say that whether you are my children, but I’m bursting with pride today, and I’m sorry for not being around for the last 20 years.”

More Celebrity Weirdness

These two creep me out almost as much as TomKat does.

Brad Pitt sent an e-mail to the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday saying he was unable to attend because of the "imminent arrival" of his new baby.

Henri Behar, who moderates Cannes' news conferences, read a message from Pitt, who has been in Namibia with his "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" co-star, Angelina Jolie, awaiting the birth of the couple's first child.

"With the imminent arrival of the newest addition to our family, I am unable to join Alejandro, Cate, Gael and the rest of the cast and crew in introducing" his new film, "Babel," the 42-year-old actor said in the message.

"I am tremendously proud of 'Babel' and want to congratulate everyone involved for this great achievement," Pitt said.

In "Babel," directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Pitt plays a husband and father trying to cope with a crisis on vacation in Morocco. Cate Blanchett plays Pitt's wife, and the film also stars Gael Garcia Bernal.

Jolie's children, Maddox and Zahara, have legally had their surname changed to Jolie-Pitt.

And when these two get divorced, unattached or otherwise seperated, are they going to change the children's names back? This chick has a bizarre track record (sorry, Billy Bob still creeps me out). I don't know what kind of mojo she put on him but I'll bet she'll get tired of him and send him packing. Don't get me wrong, I kinda like Angelina. She's a spooky chick. But I think Brad is in over his head. He should have stuck with the sweet, blond girl.

Perhaps We Should Take Some Notes

I don't know if this is some attempt to justify anti-immigration views against Mexicans but we are talking about apples and oranges. Illegals are being lured here by big business with the promise of wages that may be unacceptable to Americans but far better than anything they can earn in their own homeland. Do you think that big business cares about Mexico's laws? Our immigration problem was caused by sheer greed. Mexico has their immigration standards but as long as some fat cat's pockets get lined here, we have none.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger had migrated to Mexico instead of the United States, he couldn't be a governor. If Argentina native Sergio Villanueva, firefighter hero of the Sept. 11 attacks, had moved to Tecate instead of New York, he wouldn't have been allowed on the force.

Even as Mexico presses the United States to grant unrestricted citizenship to millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, its officials at times calling U.S. policies "xenophobic," Mexico places daunting limitations on anyone born outside its territory.

In the United States, only two posts - the presidency and vice presidency - are reserved for the native born.

In Mexico, non-natives are banned from those and thousands of other jobs, even if they are legal, naturalized citizens.

Foreign-born Mexicans can't hold seats in either house of the congress. They're also banned from state legislatures, the Supreme Court and all governorships. Many states ban foreign-born Mexicans from spots on town councils. And Mexico's Constitution reserves almost all federal posts, and any position in the military and merchant marine, for "native-born Mexicans."

Recently the Mexican government has gone even further. Since at least 2003, it has encouraged cities to ban non-natives from such local jobs as firefighters, police and judges.

First They Came For ...

I am glad to see that some people of faith understand that tolerance and acceptance are cornerstones of any real religion.

An interfaith coalition of clergy members and lay leaders announced a petition drive on Monday aimed at blocking a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill on a vote along party lines last week, and the full Senate is expected to vote on it the week of June 5.

About 35 representatives of the coalition, Clergy for Fairness, said at a news conference that more than 1,600 clergy members had signed an online petition against the amendment. The group's Web site has postcards that lay people can print out and send to members of Congress.

By the end of this week, the site should have an electronic postcard as well, said Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an organizer of the lobbying effort but not in the coalition.

Among those represented by the coalition are clergy members and groups affiliated with mainline Protestant churches; the Interfaith Alliance; Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League, the Union for Reform Judaism and the National Council of Jewish Women; Sikh groups; and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Four weeks ago, 50 prominent conservative Christian and Jewish leaders, including evangelicals and Roman Catholic cardinals and archbishops, signed a petition backing the amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage.

Those leaders also promised to distribute postcards to their congregants to urge support of the amendment. The Knights of Columbus alone is distributing 10 million postcards to Catholic churches.

Few experts expect the marriage bill to pass this year. But state campaigns to ban same-sex marriage drew large numbers of people to the polls in 2004, and conservatives hope to mobilize voters by raising the issue again.

Moderate and liberal religious groups have recently made an effort to raise their profile on many issues, including those involving personal morality that many Americans had considered the domain of conservative Christians.

The clergy members at the news conference on Monday said that although the groups opposing the amendment were not of one mind on homosexuality or same-sex marriage, passage of the amendment would give deference to a single point of view and would make the Constitution an instrument of discrimination against a class of citizens.

"When one group is singled out for discrimination, it's not long before other groups will be singled out, too," said Rabbi Craig Axler of Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, Pa. "It's the first time we see the Constitution in danger of enshrining discrimination against one party, one class, and to remain silent as a Jew is unconscionable."

Sins of The GOP

I'm not a fan of smear campaigns but it seems that a number of the men who would be President, and who preach family values, have behavior that is anything but. In the case of these men, I think that full disclosure is essential.

The article not running in the Times tomorrow.

Washington, DC, May 23 - Republicans say it is inevitable that some voters would be concerned and even distracted by the numerous personal indiscretions of the various candidates likely to seek the office of president, and express concern about whether they would be likely to repeat such behavior while in the White House.

While former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani's popularity increased after the events of September 11, pushing his personal issues into the background, Republicans worry he would bring to the White House the kind of activities which marred his tenure at Gracie Mansion.

Giuiliani's behavior led to a judge barring the presence of Judith Nathan, with whom he began having an affair during his last term as mayor, from the mayoral home. The judge's order also criticized Giuliani for the emotional harm he inflicted on his children.

Twice-married Virginia Senator George Allen faces questions over claimed sadistic treatment of his siblings and his fondness for confederate memorabilia despite his having grown up in California. While divorce alone may not disqualify him from the ballot in Republican voters' eyes - they overlooked it in 1980 when Ronald Reagan became the first, and only, divorced man to be elected president - it is still expected to impact his standing with conservative religious voters. Senator McCain of Arizona is in a similar position.

Thrice-married former Speaker of the House New Gingrich also concerns Republicans as he gears up for a potential presidential run. Gingrich, currently 62, began dating his geometry teacher, and future wife, while he was still in high school. He later served her divorce papers at her hospital bed where she was receiving treatment for cancer. He divorced his second wife after it was revealed that he had been having a long-running affair with a staffer 23 years younger than him during the Clinton impeachment saga.

What?

I realize that this is a tragedy and that a child is dead. But, how on earth can you arrest an 8 year old for negligent homicide?

An 8-year-old boy was arrested on homicide charges after he sneaked onto a bus which rolled forward and fatally struck a second-grader, police said Tuesday.

The boy was to be charged with criminally negligent homicide, Officer Doris Garcia said. Police were withholding his name because of his age, she said.

Amber Sadiq was crossing the street near her school when she was struck by the bus in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Police believe the boy was alone on the bus, Garcia said.

Investigators believe the driver got off the bus and secured it but the boy may have gotten inside through the back door, an emergency exit that can’t be locked, and caused the bus to move, police spokeswoman Detective Theresa Farello said.

"She tried to run but the garbage can was in the way," said 12-year-old Kassandra Polanco, who saw the bus bearing down on the girl.

Deli worker Sam Ahmad said he saw the girl under the bus and called 911. He said he and about a dozen other men tried to lift the yellow bus to free her but it was too heavy.

Police said the girl was 8; the Department of Education said she was 7.

Isn't There Some Rule

against using the Lord's name in vain?

A reverend who introduced Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist during a breakfast with other pastors Monday said the Lord came to him in a dream two years ago and told him Crist would be the state's next governor.

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier said that before the dream he did not know Crist, nor had Crist made known his plans to run for governor.

"The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said 'There's something I want you to know,'" said Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. "'Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.'"

Since then, Dozier has spent time with Crist and talked with him at length about policy. He told the group that Crist would be uncompromising in his Christian faith.

It just seems to me that so many of these devout, "God fearing" Christians are awfully foot loose and fancy free tossing Jesus' name out there saying he gave them privileged information. Seems to me that there should be some humility involved instead of this pretense that they have a direct link to God and that they are his prophets. These guys are arrogant and laughable.

Big Pho Pa

Martha wouldn't call this a good thing:

We were pleased over the weekend to notice at our local magazine stand the first issue of Martha Stewart’s new Blueprint magazine. And we would have been even more pleased if she’d been able to hire some premier copy editors for her premiere issue.

Caught With A Virtual Crack Pipe

Dumb ass!

Sure To Be TMI

Is this guy just a publicity hound or what? Who the heck wants to read about his sexual escapades? Be they with men or women (and apparently they were with both) he just sounds like your typical whoremonger - which would have been fine had he not been married with children!

Former Gov. James E. McGreevey once resorted to anonymous homosexual trysts at highway rest stops, according to recently released excerpts from his memoir being released later this year.


McGreevey — who proclaimed himself “a gay American” in 2004 while announcing his impending resignation as governor — describes his long struggle with his homosexuality in the book “The Confession.”


According to the excerpts published Sunday in The Star-Ledger of Newark, McGreevey engaged in the secret encounters because he feared having a relationship with a man would ruin his chances of success as a politician.


“So, instead, I settled for the detached anonymity of bookstores and rest stops — a compromise, but one that was wholly unfulfilling and morally unsatisfactory,” McGreevey wrote.
The excerpts do not mention whether the activities extended into his time as governor.


ReganBooks, a division of HarperCollins, is paying the 48-year-old McGreevey up to $500,000 for the 384-page memoir. He made an appearance Saturday at BookExpo America in Washington, D.C., where he told the newspaper his book is “painfully honest.”


“A lot will resonate with readers,” he said.


The excerpts do not detail his two marriages, or even the scandal, which became public knowledge during an August 2004 televised news conference in which McGreevey acknowledged a gay affair and said he would resign in coming months.


Describes himself as a womanizer
The excerpts also do not mention the former aide whom sources close to McGreevey have identified as the man he had an extramarital affair with.


According to the excerpts, McGreevey said he also became “as avid a womanizer as anybody else on the New Jersey political scene.”


“I knew I would have to lie for the rest of my life — and I knew I was capable of it,” McGreevey wrote. “The knowledge gave me a feeling of terrible power.”

As far as I am concerned, he can creep back into the closet or whatever hole he crawled out of.

To Kill A Child

This is sheer wickedness. One's youth is the time when adults should be cultivating and encouraging free thinking and compassionate freedom of speech. However, this young lady is getting death threats because she dared to make a thought provoking video with a WWJD stance on the Iraq war.

It seems that a young woman by the name of Ava Lowery, a 15-year-old from Alabama has been getting death threats for a powerful video she produced called "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do), a powerful animation that features a soundtrack of a child singing "Jesus loves me, this I know" while one picture after another of a wounded, bloody, or screaming Iraqi child fills the screen. The video ends with quotations from Beatitudes, including, "Blessed are they who mourn" and "Blessed are the meek" and "Blessed are the merciful" and "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Lowery began producing her own videos for her web site in July of 2005 and has thusfar made 70 of them. Not everyone agrees with her, as you might figure, especially the terrorist wing of the Republican party. You see, Ava has been reciveing vile death threats.

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Write It On The Black Board 100,000 Times

She has to repeat it to believe it.

On the eve of her controversial commencement address at Boston College, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended her stance on the Iraq war that has gotten her in hot water with some BC professors.

"I know we did the right thing," Rice told a media roundtable yesterday at the Ritz-Carlton. "I shudder to think what would have happened if force had not been used against Adolph Hitler."

Rice’s staunch support of the Bush administration’s foreign policy, including the decision to invade Iraq, has inflamed hundreds of BC students and professors.

More than 200 BC faculty members have signed a letter in opposition to Rice receiving an honorary degree. At least one professor has resigned over it.

Dozens of students and other protesters are expected to demonstrate. Protesting students are expected to sit together, so they won’t block other people’s views, the college’s newspaper reported.

The professors’ letter states that Rice’s approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with BC’s "commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university’s work."

Muy Estupido!

These people slay me! But leave it to Fox News to bring bigots like this to the forefront!

During a panel discussion on the May 18 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Michelle Dallacroce, the founder of Mothers Against Illegal Aliens, asserted that there is no reason "that we have to have" immigrant women and children in the United States, since there are no jobs for "the women and the children [to] do ... other than their children's job is to dumb down the American children and overpopulate our schools." Dallacroce made her remark in response to a comment by Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, who argued that "we need to have an avenue for more people to come legally," because, "[w]e're creating two million jobs a year and we need these people."

Well, since she's taking it there, I'll take it further. She wants them to leave the women and children behind? Back in Mexico? So what are we going to do with millions of unattached Mexican men roaming around after their work day? Then she'd be complaining about the prospect of them raping white girls and getting them pregnant. That, or she just wants them all for herself.

Gosh! I wish these folks knew how stupid they look and sound!

With Open Arms

I hope that we receive her well. I hope that she isn't exploited for some of her views which might aid us in spreading more anti-Islamic rhetoric. I would expect that she'd be a perfect guest on Democracy Now. I guess now is not a good time for discouraged Americans of color to flee to Europe as it seems that holistility is brewing throughout the Western world. It's rather ironic that as we are seeing immigration being used as yet another wedge issue by the Bush administration, we are willing to accept an immigrant who is being discriminated against in her former safe haven.

Immigration is a political mess in America, but it's reasonably tractable compared with the problem in the Netherlands, which has seen its liberal values turned inside out by tensions between Muslim immigrants and the Dutch. The question, broadly speaking, is whether multiculturalism is possible in such a small, ethnically homogeneous nation, or whether the government will keep insisting on assimilation. There have been flash points along the way, chief among them the 2004 murder of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist. Now there's a new one: the resignation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was born in Somalia, from Parliament.

 

When she sought refuge in the Netherlands in 1992, she gave a false birth date and a false name. She has said so publicly several times. She has explained that she was trying to escape the marriage her family had arranged for her. After a brief investigation, the Dutch immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, who is a member of the same party, insisted on the letter of the law and initially declared that Hirsi Ali's citizenship was never valid. Under pressure, Verdonk has agreed to reconsider.

 

But the real point, of course, is that Hirsi Ali has become too potent a social critic to be tolerated any longer. In her resignation speech, she said, "I wanted to put the oppression of immigrant women - especially Muslim women - squarely on the Dutch political agenda." This debacle is the measure of her success.

 

In the script of van Gogh's film, "Submission," and in her speeches and books - including "The Caged Virgin," which has just been published here - Hirsi Ali has been an unflinching advocate of women's rights and an unflinching critic of Islamic extremism. Her life has been threatened, and she is still in real danger. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose real name is Ayaan Hirsi Magan, says she plans to leave the Netherlands for the United States. She should be welcomed under either name.

A Hot Watery Mess

This is just nasty!

The 72-year-old mayor of Waldron, Ark., allegedly solicited two women for sex after they fell behind on their water bills, according to the Associated Press. One of the women told investigators in an affidavit that she had been having sex with Troy Anderson for eight to 10 years. "She said Anderson paid her $25 per encounter and $60 for a late water deposit. He also allowed her to change the name on her overdue water bill to keep the service running, the affidavit said," according to the AP. The other woman refused Anderson's solicitation, and both women wore recording devices to help bust him.

The Smoking Gun has the warrant for Anderson's arrest, which goes into all the sordid details. The mayor has been charged with two counts of abusing the public trust, a felony, and four counts of patronizing a prostitute, a misdemeanor.

Reader Miller objected to the charges: "This mayor has been coercing sex from these women to keep their utilities on; when he gets caught, he gets charged not with extortion, which keeps the crime where it belongs -- squarely on this shoulders -- but soliciting a prostitute, which spreads the crime from his shoulders to his victims," she wrote in an e-mail. "Nowhere in the story does it say that the women involved are professional prostitutes. Apparently when the guy was booked, the police decided 'Hey, he's paying for sex, that makes her a whore.' Unbelievable. Talk about blaming the victim."

I think that Miller has a point, but wonder if there are legal reasons for the "patronizing a prostitute" charges, rather than extortion.

I Was Right. He's Clueless

When I last posted on the Tony Snow/Tar Baby incident, a reader left a comment that she saw my blog featured on MSNBC on that topic. Sorry I missed it! But, it seems I was basically right about him. He was referring to the Uncle Remus story and not deliberately making a racial slur. Add to that, he's following the typical Bush Administration modus operandi for handling those who dare question them. He brushed critics off as ignorant of "the pathways of American culture" while he misses one of the biggest pathways and hallmarks of American culture: racism (which, btw, Tony thinks isn't a big deal anymore). So, he won't apologize (we knew that) but he will refrain from using the term again ... you know ... to placate the stupid masses who understand the racial undertones that permeate American culture AND folklore.

Last night on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow defended his use of the phrase ‘tar baby’ during his press conference on Tuesday. The expression is used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people, according to Random House, and some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context.

Snow told Hewitt his use of the phrase was completely innocent, but that it would no longer be part of his tool chest of rhetorical devices:

Well, apparently, what’s happened is, apparently some people are unfamiliar with the pathways of American culture, and don't realize the old Uncle Remus story where somebody hugs a tar baby. I've decided, though, because it’s a classic case of, I think, somebody trying to sort of pick a fight. I'll probably take that out of my tool chest of rhetorical devices, rather than having to explain a hundred and fifty years of American culture.

So, as I also stated, once he responded - apologetically or otherwise - it would be time to keep it moving. The lies he will have to tell in the coming weeks and months will be of a far greater impact as his boss is still sinking in the polls and more and more debauchery is being uncovered. I'll leave well enough alone with a link to this blog which pretty much sums up Tony and his head-in-ass-itis:

The way I heard it, Snow was right on the letter of the lore, and willfully clueless about it's; spirit. The idea of a sticky character that traps the unsuspecting dupe did indeed enter our cannon from African culture. In chains.

The shackles, whips, and rapes were not on Joel Chandler Harris’ mindor spirit as he wrote editorials urging southerners to ‘reconstruct’ their society in the mid-1870’s. Reconstruction for African-Americans had in fact just ended. But in Uncle Remus, Harris wove scraps of African culture he didn't understand... into ; an allegory that validated white supremacy. He kept the colorful African figures and cut out the slavery that brought them here.

‘Tar baby’ comes to us through the wide, innocent eyes of a seven-year-old white child resting his head on the arm of a kindly old Negro. Innocent of the slavery in his blood as a boy. Indifferent to the Ku Klux Klan rising around him as a man. Thus Jim Crow, lynching and separate but equal also became part of our ‘lore’... and our law.

The letter of that law didn't change for 100 years. But like poor ole Brer Rabbit’s head in the tar, the myth got stuck so deep in the culture that when the folks in Washington rewrote the segregation part, the white South seceded again politically and won. The tar baby, like the Stars & Bars of the confederate flag, has been restored to cultural purity.

And that little boy nodding on Uncle Remus’ arm? For generations happily ever after, he could grow up to be spokesman for the President of the United States. And when they ask him about his tar-baby, he can truly say that it was all so long ago, and far away...whispered in his ear as he drifted off to dream his American dream... it MUST be just a myth.

Minding Other People's Business

I can't say that I am the biggest fan of "shacking up," especially when children are involved, but what other people do is not my business. Honestly, I think that this couple's interracial relationship is probably more the issue than this intrusive law.

The city council in Black Jack, Mo., has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together. The mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.

Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.

The town's planning and zoning commission proposed a change in the law, but the measure was rejected Tuesday by the city council in a 5-3 vote.

"I'm just shocked," Shelltrack said. "I really thought this would all be over, and we could go on with our lives."

Mayor Norman McCourt said starting Wednesday the city will begin trying to evict groups who do not fit into Black Jack’s definition of family, reports CBS affiliate KMOV-TV in St. Louis.

The current ordinance prohibits more than three people from living together unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption." The defeated measure would have changed the definition of a family to include unmarried couples with two or more children.

McCourt declined to be interviewed, but said in a statement that those who do not meet the town's definition of family could soon face eviction.

In the statement, McCourt said, "the city provides information about its occupancy permit requirements to anyone who requests it. ... As mayor, I am required by state law to uphold the laws of the city of Black Jack."

Black Jack's special counsel, Sheldon Stock, declined to say whether the city will seek to remove Loving and Shelltrack from their home.

Is Black Jack the only place in Missouri where this couple could afford a home? Why would they want to live around these cretins after all of this? Sure, they should have questioned the ordinance just as a matter of principle but I think they should leave whether they are forced out or not. There have got to be far better places to raise children.

That's Unsettled?

On what planet does this guy reside? People are angry, broke and just plain don't like him.

GREGORY: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned the presidency. You are laughing.

BUSH: I’m not laughing –

GREGORY: Why? Why do you think that is?

BUSH: Because we are at war, and war unsettles people. Listen, we got a great economy. We’ve added 5.2 million jobs in the last two and a half years. People are unsettled.

GREGORY: But they’re not just unsettled sir. They disapprove of the job you’re doing.

BUSH: That’s unsettled.

Nancy Pelosi still telling folks impeachment is off the table? Puleese! It had better not be!

George Will Hates Values

I think George Will has finally had it! But, as I've said before, it's too late because people like George Will and Pat Buchanan stood idly by while George Bush buttered up and catered to a contingent of whack jobs to secure his second term. He's finally objecting to the term "values voter?" Where was he when those "values voters" were hijacking his party and this country?

An aggressively annoying new phrase in America's political lexicon is "values voters." It is used proudly by social conservatives, and carelessly by the media to denote such conservatives.

This phrase diminishes our understanding of politics. It also is arrogant on the part of social conservatives and insulting to everyone else because it implies that only social conservatives vote to advance their values and everyone else votes to . . . well, it is unclear what they supposedly think they are doing with their ballots.

On Sunday a Los Angeles Times article on the possibility of a presidential run by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reported: "The Family Research Council, an influential evangelical activist group, has invited Gov. Bush to appear at a fall conference of 'values voters.' " On Monday the Wall Street Journal quoted a pastor who is president of a Texas-based organization, Vision America, that mobilizes conservative pastors: "Values voters see their vote as a sacred trust." The phrase "values voters," which has become ubiquitous, subtracts from social comity by suggesting that one group has cornered the market on moral seriousness.

[...]

It is odd that some conservatives are eager to promote the semantic vanity of the phrase "values voters." And it is odder still that the media are cooperating with those conservatives.

Conservatives should be wary of the idea that when they talk about, say, tax cuts and limited government -- about things other than abortion, gay marriage, religion in the public square and similar issues -- they are engaging in values-free discourse. And by ratifying the social conservatives' monopoly of the label "values voters," the media are furthering the fiction that these voters are somehow more morally awake than others.

Yes, everyone is a values voter. But was he saying that when those who claimed a monopoly on them were ramming theirs down everyone's throats? I don't see the relevance of his words now.

I Thought Heaven In Reverse Was Hell

I was just in a heated debate about made up, jacked up, nonsensical names a few weeks ago. I was talking about black folks then, of course. But now it seems that everyone wants a piece of the "creative naming" action. I don't know who told these people that heaven spelled backwards was cute (or spiritual). But the author poses this question: If it's a boy, will it be Lleh?

Chances are you don't have any friends named Nevaeh. Chances are today's toddlers will.

In 1999, there were only eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh. Last year, it was the 70th-most-popular name for baby girls, ahead of Sara, Vanessa and Amanda. The spectacular rise of Nevaeh (commonly pronounced nah-VAY-uh) has little precedent, name experts say. They watched it break into the top 1,000 of girls' names in 2001 at No. 266, the third-highest debut ever. Four years later it cracked the top 100 with 4,457 newborn Nevaehs, having made the fastest climb among all names in more than a century, the entire period for which the Social Security Administration has such
records.

Nevaeh is not in the Bible or any religious text. It is not from a foreign language. It is not the name of a celebrity, real or fictional. Nevaeh is Heaven spelled backward. The name has hit a cultural nerve with its religious overtones, creative twist and fashionable final "ah" sound. It has risen most quickly among blacks but is also popular with evangelical Christians, who have helped propel other religious names like Grace (ranked 14th) up the charts, experts say. By contrast, the name Heaven is ranked 245th. "Of the last couple of generations, Nevaeh is certainly the most remarkable phenomenon in baby names," said Cleveland Kent Evans, president of the American Name Society and a professor of psychology at Bellevue University in Nebraska.

The surge of Nevaeh can be traced to a single event: the appearance of a Christian rock star, Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, Nevaeh. "Heaven spelled backwards," he said. Among the many inspired by Mr. Sandoval's appearance was Jade San Luis, who named his first daughter Nevaeh two years later. "It felt original," said Mr. San Luis, 26, of Cerritos, Calif. "Now, not anymore."

Today Mr. Sandoval is introduced to and photographed with baby Nevaehs all the time. His own Nevaeh, now 6, skateboards and, when introduced, pipes up that her name is Heaven spelled backward. Does she understand the meaning of heaven? Mr. Sandoval replied, "She knows that is where her grandmother is."

Victory In Iraq After Everyone Leaves

They keep saying we will not leave Iraq until we are victorious. I still haven't figured out what that means. However, more and more Iraqis don't plan to wait around for victory. They are fleeing in droves

Deaths run like water through the life of the Bahjat family. A barber. Three grocers. Four neighbors. Two men who ran a currency exchange shop.

But when six armed men stormed into their sons' primary school this month, shot a guard to death, and left fliers ordering it to close, Assad Bahjat knew it was time to leave.

"The main thing now is to just get out of Iraq," said Bahjat, standing in a room heaped with suitcases and bedroom furniture in eastern Baghdad.

"It's like we are in hell, looking for a piece of straw to grab onto," Bahjat said. "Even with more time, the security will not improve."

Iraqis have been leaving Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Jordan is believed to have close to a million Iraqis, and Syrian cities also have growing Iraqi populations. But since the bombing of a shrine in Samarra sparked a sectarian rampage, crime and killing has spread further through Iraqi society, paralyzing neighborhoods and smashing families.

Now, on the brink of a new, permanent government, Iraqis are expressing the darkest view of their future in three years, and larger numbers are choosing to leave.

"We're like sheep at a slaughter farm," said a businessman, who is arranging a move to Jordan. "Before we were 2,000, and now we are 200. We are just waiting for our time."

'Now you feel, it is much more dangerous for yourself," the businessman said. "All Iraqis are talking like this."

So what's the plan? Let all of the rich and middle class folks leave so that only desperate and poor people are left to be exploited by sectarians and those with Western interests?

Trying To Help Ike!

I forgot what I was watching or reading but somehow Ike Turner was quoted as saying that the reason why he used to beat Tina was because she always had a stupid look on her face (or something to that effect). Sick heffa that I am, I think I know what Ike means every time I see Alberto Gonzales! Something about his expressions just make him look stupid (and his responses don't help) and I just want to punch him!

BLITZER: Give us your -- tell our viewers who aren't familiar your personal story, how you got to where you are, your grandparents, your parents. They struggled, they came here. I don't know if they came here legally or illegally, but give us the story.

GONZALES: Well, three of my grandparents were born in Mexico. They came to Texas. My parents -- both of my parents were born in Texas, extremely poor. My mother...

BLITZER: But when they came to Texas, were they legally documented, were they unlegally documented?

GONZALES: You know, it's unclear. It's unclear. And I've looked at this issue, I've talked to my parents about it, and it's just not clear.

Now, as for Wolfe's question, what the heck kind of question was that? Would he have asked a non-Mexican person if their grand parents were legal? Heck, were his own ancestors legal? What Alberto should have said was that he isn't sure what immigration rules were in place when his grandparents entered the country and then asked Wolfe which ones were in place when his forefathers came here?

I Know This, You Know This

So who do these right wing religious leaders think they are talking to? They must think they are living in Warren Jeffs' polygamist colony where they are brainwashing and raping young girls into womanhood and not allowing them birth control. The reality is this:

The Bush administration has consistently increased funding for abstinence-only groups and public schools across the nation are being forced to push abstinence in sex education classes.

According to Russell Shorto in last week’s New York Times Magazine cover story, Contra-Contraception, these developments are a result of right-wing religious leaders’ growing influence on politics and public policy. He noted that according to these religious leaders, contraception “encourages sexual promiscuity, sexual deviance (like homosexuality) and a preoccupation with sex that is unhealthful even within marriage.”

What Shorto misses is the extent to which Catholics and evangelical Christians themselves use contraception. Here is the latest data:

88 percent of Catholic women currently use birth control, roughly the same rate as other Americans. [Catholics for a Free Choice]

70 percent of evangelical women are sexually active and don’t wish to become pregnant. 90 percent of these women use birth control. [2002 National Survey of Family Growth]

Clearly, these women recognize what their religious leaders do not: that responsible sexual activity is a normal and healthy part of life; that not every sexual act is intended for reproduction; and that preventing unintended pregnancy – by using contraception – is a responsible, moral decision. Now if only our public officials would come to the same conclusion.

Memo To Tony Snow, Re: Tar Baby

Apparently, new White House Press Secretary Tony Snow is rather fond of the term "tar baby." So Think Progress decided to draft a memo to him to give him a clue.

Today in your first press briefing you referred to the term “tar baby” on two occasions:

SNOW: Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny.
…

QUESTION: What are your personal goals? What do you hope to achieve here? Will you continue to televise these briefings? And would you put into English the phrase (OFF-MIKE) the tarbaby?

SNOW: Well, I believe hug the tarbaby, we could trace that back to American lore.

Based on the context of the term, we believe you meant tar baby to mean: “a situation almost impossible to get out of; a problem virtually unsolvable.”

But in “American lore,” the expression tar baby is also a racial slur “used occasionally as a derogatory term for black people.” Use of the term has resulted in people being fired.

As Random House notes, “some people suggest avoiding the use of the term in any context.” Now that you are no longer at Fox News, you may want to take them up on their advice.

UPDATE: Check out Crooks and Liars to watch the video of Snow’s comments.

I'm going to be honest here. I can address this at a number of levels.

I will not claim that this is outright, deliberate racism. I don't believe that he meant to use the term in a derrogatory sense. However, I will say that it was insensitive and, in a sense, being insensitive is worse. Perhaps he had no clue that the term "tar baby" was a derrogatory racial term. My first exposure to it was in the movie "Song of The South" which, as a child, I loved because of the songs, the animation and folks stories (it had some pretty crunchy racial stereotypes and many find it offensive but I didn't internalize that kind of stuff as a child). The story of how Bre'r Fox fooled Bre'r Rabbit into grabbing the tar baby and getting that sticky mess all over him is a classic and originates from Ghanian folk tales. However, as with many positive things, leave it to some "cracker" types to turn it into something ugly. As a child, I can't say I was around the kind of slime that used that term interchangeably with nigger. But, I found out later ...

Tar Baby is also the title and theme of a novel by Toni Morrison. She used the imagery from the folk tale in the context of a black woman who was trying to run away from the negative stereotypes associated with her as a black woman. She was, herself, a tar baby who, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't seperate herself from the blackness.

I don't know if Tony Snow should have known any of that. I've long since given up my expectations that everyone is well read in American folklore, literature or that they have any real concept of the deep, deep scars that racism has left on the psyche of America. I've long since given up on expecting average white people to know anything outside of their immediate and narrow frame of reference (it's a defense mechanism, folks, that I find works best for me) . So, I am more sure than not that Tony Snow thought he was using the term as a way to say that he wasn't about to grab a tar baby and have tar stuck on him forever (though he may have inadverantly done so just by using it). He's no different from the rest of the totally ignorant, insensitive and oblivious folks in the Bush Administration and family.

What I do hope is that this doesn't get blown out of proportion. Tony Snow will have far more chances to make an ass of himself when it concerns topics that are far more important to my bottom line as a citizen of this country. You will hear me scream if I see the red light flashing and hear the siren of issue ambulance chasers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (both of whom I agree with on many things but feel they don't have to address everything). The white liberal bloggers seem to be all over this. At most Tony Snow may apologize (if he is allowed by those who never apologize) for his insensitivity. After that, let's just keep it moving!




Technorati Tags: tar baby, tony snow,

Just Do It Breed!

John Gibson, the rather unattractive albino from Fox News, is trying to save he and his bretheren from the bottom of the gene pool. Seems he's issued an edict that white people must commence to breeding otherwise, as I stated last week, this country will be
more than half minority.

Make more babies. That's the lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple days.

First, a story Wednesday that half the kids under 5 years old in this country are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic.

Know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority population is Hispanic.

Why is that? Hispanics are having more kids and others, notably the ones Hispanics call gabachos — white people — are having fewer.

Now in this country, European ancestry people — white people — are having kids at a rate that sustains the population, even grows it a bit.

That compares to Europe where the birthrate is in the negative zone. They're not having enough babies to sustain the population.

Consequently, they are inviting in more and more immigrants every year to take care of things, and those immigrants are having way more babies that the native population. Hence Eurabia.

Why aren't they having babies? Because babies get in the way of a prosperous and comfortable modern life. Peanut butter fingerprints on the leather seats in the BMW. The Euros in particular can't be bothered with kids.

To underscore that point, a second story Thursday reports that Vladimir Putin is so concerned about the declining, no imploding population of Russia he is paying couples to have babies.

Imagine: Procreating for cash in Mother Russia.

Putin has to take this step because at the rate things are going, Russia will lose 45 million people in the next 45 years. Russia will be at two-thirds of today's population.

This is not a good trend for Russia, and it won't be here either if it should happen.

To put it bluntly: We need more babies. Forget that zero population growth stuff of my poor, misled generation.

Why is this important? Because civilizations need populations to survive.

So far we're doing our part here in America, but Hispanics can't carry the whole load.

The rest of you: Get busy. Make babies.

Or put another way, a slogan for our times: Procreation not recreation.

I meant to post this earlier. I don't know how it left my queue. In the panic, can you see the real reason for the assault on illegal immigration. After all of the imperialism, colonialism, war and destruction, brown people still are managing to find a way to color the world.

See No Evil

Now even newspaper photos of women will make men go astray? Come on folks! Though we have many religious zealots here who would have women wrapped up from head to toe, I still cannot get over how women are cast as such evil temptresses that even a photo will make young men lose all control.

King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The king's directive, made in a meeting with local editors, caused surprise as the monarch has been regarded a quiet reformer since he took office in the ultra-conservative country last August.

In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women — always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf — to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia — such as women having the right to drive and vote.

The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman's picture for the world to see was inappropriate.

"One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this," the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.

"The youth are driven by emotion ... and sometimes they can be lead astray. So, please, try to cut down on this," he said.

This mindset needs to be changed globally because it is old, archaic and tiring! Further, I have a good solution. If so many men are wild animals who cannot even see a picture of a women without being overtaken by lust, lock them up in cages and house them in a zoo!

On My Honor, I Will Try To Lie

I spent half the morning yesterday in a heated internet discussion about prayer and God. As expected, key "thumpers" came out with a vengence defending their right to testify about their Christianity at all times in all settings. The level of ignorance, intolerance and total lack of historical knowledge (even of Christianity) was embarassing - seeing as most of the folks in the debate were colleged educated people. But, we see that intolerance and ignorance are rampant in all walks of life. This church based boy scout troop would have prefered for two scouts to lie rather than admit to being Wiccans (Spanish Inquisition anyone?). They are no longer welcome.

Boy Scouts have gathered from around the area in khaki button-ups and red scarves, eager to earn their God and Country badge.

The leader in a room of about 20 Scouts decides to break the ice by showing how religiously diverse the gathering is.

By a showing of hands, he asks who belongs to the Baptist Church, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, continuing on until two boys are left who have not raised their hands.

One of the brothers is called out to tell the group what church he attends. He replies, "I'm Wiccan."

Little did 12-year-old Cody Brown realize how much that answer would affect his life.

During the past six weeks, Cody and his 15-year-old brother, Justin, have waited with their parents to see how the controversy sparked by Cody's answer would play out.

Within 48 hours of Cody's confession, the troop committee of Holly Grove United Methodist Church in Anacoco was meeting to discuss the implications.

The church sponsors the boys' chapter, Troop 71. Pastor Doug Lewellyn was out of town at the time of the meeting.

"The number one scout law is to do your duty to God and your country," Troop 71 Scout Master Gene Doherty said. "They met to discuss whether or not the boys could live up to that because of their religion."

The conclusion was that they could not.

Doherty called Army Cpt. Todd Buchheim, the boys' father and a former Eagle Scout stationed at Fort Polk, to inform him that the boys no longer were welcome in the troop. The Buchheims said Doherty told them that if Cody had lied about his faith, the boys could have remained with no problem.

"I was trying to give them a head's up so that they wouldn't come to the next meeting and not be prepared for what was going on," Doherty said. "They've been so supportive of our troop, and they're good people."

I bolded the part about lying. I was a Girl Scout from fifth grade until I graduated from high school. I cannot fathom any of my Girl Scout leaders telling any of us to lie about anything. Tell me where lying fits in with any of the values of the scout oath and law?

Domestic Violence Is An Epidemic

No, this is not Africa or the Middle East. This is America and it's a problem.

Domestic violence against women is at epidemic proportions, and physicians need to pay closer attention to it, say new local studies on the issue.

Nearly half of the women surveyed in the Puget Sound area reported that they had been physically, sexually or psychologically abused by their partners at some point in their adult lives. That includes 30 percent who had been hit and 11 percent who said they had been raped by their partners.

"It's an enormous problem that's buried in our society. ... It's across the population and it has major effects," said Dr. Robert S. Thompson, the lead author of one of two studies done by scientists at the Group Health Center for Health Studies, Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center and the University of Washington.

Among a random sample of 3,429 adult female members of Group Health, 44 percent reported they had been physically abused or subjected to emotional abuse, such as threats and chronic disparaging remarks, from domestic partners. Those partners varied from current and former spouses, to dating relationships and lovers.

The rate of abuse was higher for women who were younger, single and had lower incomes. And if they had been physically or sexually abused as children, or had witnessed such abuse, they were about twice as likely to be abused, the researchers reported.

"If you're a little kid and this is normal in your day-to-day life, when you get to be an adult, it's still normal," said Thompson, who is a senior investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies.

But the women surveyed came from a wide range of incomes and education levels.

"This is an equal opportunity problem," Thompson said. "It's not just single, low-income people."

A Plan For Good Riddance

What bothers me more than the actual statement is that this guy has no problem saying it ... in writing! Since Iraq is a disaster that even most kooks cannot face, I guess were back to slaying domestic enemies. Here is yet another World Net Daily NUT spouting hate over Bush's inaction on immigration.

And he will be lying, again, just as he lied when he said: "Massive deportation of the people here is unrealistic � it's just not going to work."

Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society.

I find the phrase "rid themselves of 6 million Jews" particularly callous and frightening. This guy is a monster waiting to happen.

How Long? Not Long!

Yes, it's me being judgemental again. But, I cannot stand Bishop Eddie Long! There is something so slick, greasy and skeevy about him that he just reminds me of a low life snake. I think I first saw him a couple of years ago when he hosted Tavis Smiley's State of The Black Union at his church. He was outed as one of the black preachers who was invited to the White House by the President when Bush wouldn't give the Congressional Black Caucus the time of day. When someone challenged him, he made a comment, which I felt was totally inappropriate for a church setting, that just because he went "to dinner, doesn't mean he had intercourse." Ugh! Coming from a minister, and watching his tongue hang out of his mouth like a lizard's, just grossed me out.

I didn't know he was a prosperity preacher. I just thought he was yet another one of those jack legged con artists with a mega church. Turns out, he was invited to speak at the graduation for the Interdenominational Theological Center and lots of folks are opting out.

An Atlanta's seminary's decision to invite Bishop Eddie Long to speak at its commencement has exposed rifts among black church leaders and threatens to disrupt the school's graduation Saturday.

The ceremony at the Interdenominational Theological Center was billed in part as a homecoming for Long, senior pastor of Georgia's largest church and an ITC graduate. The school is a consortium of six predominantly black seminaries located near the Georgia Dome.

But Long's invitation has:

• Caused prominent theologian James H. Cone, who was scheduled to receive an honorary degree, to boycott the ceremony.

• Prompted 33 graduating seniors to send a letter to the seminary's president questioning Long's theological and ethical integrity to be their commencement speaker.

• Led a 29-year member of ITC's board of trustees to boycott the ceremony.

A walkout, protest signs or a boycott are possible Saturday, student leaders said this week. "We could see a little bit of everything," said senior Joanne K. Bedford, who signed the letter criticizing Long's selection.

The controversy revolves around three emotionally charged issues: the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the future of the black church, and — a deeper issue — how a Christian lives out his or her faith.

Long and Cone embody different answers.

Long preaches what is known as prosperity gospel, that God rewards the faithful with financial success. He declared in a 2005 interview that Jesus wasn't poor. In 2003 Long told a meeting of civil rights veterans in Atlanta that blacks must "forget racism" because they had already reached the promised land.

In 2004 Long led a march — while carrying a torch lit at King's crypt — where he called for a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

Cone is a King scholar whose influential books argue that Jesus identified with the poor and the oppressed, not the prosperous. A professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he is considered the intellectual mentor for a generation of black pastors who came of age in the post-civil rights era.

He won't attend the commencement, he said, because he doesn't want to appear to condone Long's ministry.

"King devoted his life to the least of these," Cone said. "King could have been just like Bishop Long with all the millions he has, but he chose to die poor. He would not use his own message or his own movement to promote himself."

I hate that his church was the locale for Coretta Scott King's funeral program. I also hate that Bernice has chosen a church like his to spread "The Word" because I don't think her father would approve. For some obvious reason, Long reminds me of Rev. Ike (who was around when I was a kid ... heck, he's still around and I thought he was dead). What a crop of money grubbing clones he spawned - in Jesus name - of course.

(link via P6)

Don't Play In The Sun or Coffee Will Make You Black

Just as black Americans finally seem to have begun deprogramming themselves from the brainwashing forced upon them by the slave system and Jim Crow, leaving them thinking that lighter/whiter was more attractive (folks still have a way to go with the hair), it seems that other cultures are aggressively trying to emulate where blacks were a good half century ago. How sad!

In a grim irony, while white women continue hitting the tanning beds and slathering on bronzing lotions to give themselves a glow, Asian women are apparently eagerly scooping up creams that promise to turn them a paler shade of white. And according to the Sunday New York Times, it's a trend that is turning dangerous as some women overindulge in skin whiteners and buy risky black-market versions.

"I have a lot of complaints -- with photographs -- which show that before the cream is used the face is fine and then after it looks like it's been roasted in the oven," Darshan Singh, manager for Malaysia's National Consumer Complaints Center, told Thomas Fuller of the Times. Fuller's piece also includes the story of a Thai woman who may have irreversibly harmed her skin by turning it "albino pink and dark brown" with a bootleg batch of bleaching cream.

According to the Times, a recent survey found that skin whiteners are now so popular in some parts of Asia that four out of 10 women use them. Fuller attributes the Asian desire for lighter skin to an association with higher social status because "those from lower social classes, laborers and farmers, [have traditionally been] more exposed to the sun" and to the fact that European colonizers and Mongol conquerors "reset the standard for attractiveness." Apparently, pale South Korean soap opera stars are idolized across Asia.

But while old prejudices may feed the desire for paleness, now it is the beauty industry that is driving the bleaching trend. In recent years, some 62 new whitening products have been introduced in Asia. Among the most disturbing are products that whiten dark armpits and "pink nipple" potions that lighten brown breasts.

It's ironic that my mom just mentioned that she was reading Don't Play In The Sun, by Marita Golden, when I spoke with her last night. With a specific exception, I cannot recall anyone in my family being caught up in that kind of madness and, as a result, I grew up somewhat oblivious to color deliniations and was rather clueless about that pathology until I was quite old. Once I was exposed to people who made constant references to color and/or hair, I basically wrote them off as backwards, ignorant and "country" because I really didn't think that well bred and well read folks thought like that (have to exclude the folks from Louisianna. They are definitely a different breed. The mini-series "A Feast of All Saints" was a good illustration of their illness).

But, once I moved to California nearly 15 years ago, I was aghast to hear Asian and Indian women openly talk about skin color, how lighter was better and how they coveted children born of relationships with white men. I listened to one woman (she was Chinese) squeal about the prospect of our manager's pending child because it would have "an American nose and eyes." Mind you, my manager was an oversized Mexican American (whose features were hardly Euro in my opinion) who was married to a Taiwanese woman. These women were frank about something that even black people who thought it wouldn't dare say it and be accused of being self-loathing. I recall reading something about African and Carribbean women falling prey to the bleaching trend too.

Having been a little black girl who can't recall having a black doll but never internalized Barbie as something that I was or wasn't (in fact, I used to meticulously wash and set the straight hair on my Barbie on teeny, tiny rod curlers so her hair looked more like "mine"), it really saddens me when I read things like this. It saddens me when I see these women fawning over bi-racial offspring - focusing strictly on the non-Asian features. It upsets me that just as black women seem to have evolved and learned to embrace their dark skin and kinky hair, we have a whole new crop of women who are brazenly exhibiting the effects of colonialism and imperialism.

Or Worse

There are a few fools who believe that the NSA warehousing phone call activities from three major carriers is no big deal and strictly for the purpose of trying to track al Qaeda. Because I think that it is preposterous to think that trolling and mining through millions of phone numbers for some pattern that is supposed to jump out and scream "terrorist," I also believe that this administration is up to far more sinister things - which would include tracking "enemies" of his administration. You know ... any one of the millions of people who disagree with him. This latest "leak" from a whistle blower is certainly no comfort to those of us who already believe this administration is as crooked as they come - and definitely not not the press.

ABC News reports that one purpose of the Bush administration's domestic spying program might well be to keep tabs on the media:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we [i.e., reporters] call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

Administration officials, of course, continue to insist that the NSA is using its program only to track "terrorists," rather than reporters or political opponents. And "reasonable"-minded analysts and pundits continue to assure everyone that the NSA doesn't have the time or the resources to intimidate the media or engage in political warfare. But there's every reason to think the officials are lying, while the analysts and pundits are terribly naïve.

Look: The president has previously said that the NSA program was only focused on international calls—before the USA Today story broke and we learned he was lying about the program. John Negroponte previously told reporters that the NSA was "absolutely not" monitoring domestic calls—he was lying too. Dick Cheney wanted to piss all over the Constitution and engage in large-scale domestic spying after 9/11. By all accounts he didn't get what he wanted, but then again, "all accounts" have usually underestimated the amount of law-breaking going on. So yes, it's entirely possible that the administration is spying on the press, or worse.

Nightmare In The Land of Pure Imagination

I'm not trying to get all Willy Wonka-ish but if this doesn't sound like a mis-adventure in the land of chocolate, I don't know what does.

An 18-month-old girl's hand was cut off when it became caught in a conveyor belt at a chocolate factory she was touring with her family, officials said.

The girl's left hand was caught Saturday in a belt at the Menehune Mac Factory Gift Center, fire officials said. By the time firefighters arrived, employees had bandaged the girl and retrieved her hand.

'Our guys just put it in a bag on ice, just to preserve it in case doctors are able to do anything with it,' Fire Capt. Chris Ah Mook Sang said.

She was taken to The Queen's Medical Center, which did not release her condition.

The girl and her family were attending the company's Fifth Annual Mother's Day Candy Making Event, a fundraiser for the Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation.

Menehune Mac President Neal Arakaki said he was investigating.

'We feel so bad about this,' he said. 'This is something truly out of the ordinary. Everyone's just really shook up.'

Arakaki said the factory was sanitized and production resumed in a different area of the factory.

Menehune Mac, founded in 1939, is the oldest existing manufacturer of macadamia nut candies in Hawaii, according its Web site.

Got a "Crazy" Problem, No Problem

The title of this post is totally politically incorrect. But, crazy is exactly what this is if these people think it is acceptable to send soldiers, who've been mentally traumatized and damaged, back into combat.

U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported in its Sunday editions.

[...]

"I can't imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal," said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a New York-based advocacy group. "You're creating chemically activated time bombs."

Commanders, not medical professionals, have final say over whether a troubled soldier is retained in a war zone. Col. Elspeth Ritchie, the Army's top mental health expert, and other military officials said they believe most commanders are alert to mental health problems and are open to referring troubled soldiers for treatment.

Ritchie acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage.

"The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge," she said. "And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers' personal needs."

This is as bad as the story about recruiters enlisting autistic young men. What kind of war is this? What mission in Iraq, or anyplace else in the world, could be worth putting our own through this kind of torture? People keep claiming patriotism and that they support the troops. Is this the kind of support our troops need? It seems perfectly clear that the Army and this "mission" is not only more important than any loss of life or limb, it is more important than the human mind and spirit.

Help Me!

I'm up too early again and watching the Washington Journal call-in show on C-Span.  Did some woman just call in and say that "they" could listen in on our conversations through the cable box and TIVO?  She said she read it on all of her cable disclosure statements. "The computer can do anything you know," she said.

Good Lord!  How do those moderators keep a straight face?

I Hope She's Lying!

I like Nancy Pelosi. She knows how to speak her mind. But, there is no reason to rule out something that may be very necessary.

Trying to kill off a Republican talking point -- and dashing the hopes of a lot of progressives in the process -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is reportedly proclaiming that the Democrats won't try to impeach the president if they gain control of Congress in November.

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly tells the Washington Post that his boss told members of the House Democratic Caucus this week that impeachment is "off the table," and that she's "not interested in pursuing it."

I assume she is trying to say that impeachment isn't the current agenda of the Democrats in Congress if they take over. However, if things keep going the way they are going, there may not be another choice by the time elections roll around.

Why Am I Mad At Shar Jackson ...

for breeding with trash like this?

There Was No Rape Before Feminism

Here we go with yet another thing that is the fault of the big, bad women who fought for and gained the right to control their own bodies and lives. This nut job now claims that feminism has caused the mongrelization of men.

The modern feminist movement is obsessed with one overriding issue – sex. Feminists sought the desire, coming out of the '60s, to engage in sex similarly to what they perceived men were able to do – without consequence. The problem is "hooking up" has a more problematic effect for women because of the possibility of pregnancy. For that reason, taxpayer-provided birth control and, eventually, abortion on demand were advocated for, because consequences totally mess up the idea that "women can have sex just like men."


The argument that there is no difference between men and women replaced the idea that men and women were equal but distinct. And sameness taught both genders to not see the other for the special distinctives they naturally have, but rather for the base impulsive behavior that the other could engage in.


And in doing so, we created a lot of problems – single-headed households, absentee fathers, continued pursuit of sex outside marriage – the list is expansive.


Perhaps the most damning of all is the treatment of little girls went from making them a special princess in our heart, to thinking of them as one of the guys. Coarse behavior replaced manners. Using vulgarities replaced words of value. Men became demoralized and, in many ways, built up resentment and became more aggressive than ever. The problem is that women are now equally aggressive and have taken on the ugliness of that aggression in the workplace.

Of all of the things that so-called feminism accomplished I hardly think that rampant, unrepentant sex was the main goal. Having financial freedom, economic independence and the right to choose when to have children and how many was probably at the top of their list.

Save some sort of homosexual activity, women cannot have sex without men. No one is dragging men out of their homes forcing them to have sex - initiated by women or otherwise. Married men had numerous affairs before feminism. Prostitution was (and is) still rampant. Women and children were raped and violated before feminism (incest is nothing new either). Have men ever really been in control of their lust? Isn't that unbridled lust at the core of he three Abrahamic religions - all three of which cast women as the sorcerer who caused their descent into perpetual sin? Isn't the only diffference now that women have just as much control about their sex lives as men do?


Let's apply this logic to other parts of the world where feminists haven't "mongrelized" men. Women and young girls are raped, brutalized, mutilated and used, generally, as nothing more than dick boxes. The underground sex trade sends Western men (including many Americans) across the globe to indulge in sexual favors from women and children who are as young as five years old. Those women have no power, no alternatives and have no control over their bodies or their wombs. What created the mongrels there?

To Screw Or Not To Screw

I wish The Vatican would make up it's mind.

When it comes to Catholic school teachers and kids, you’re damned if don’t and you’re damned if you do.

In the past, teachers have been fired for being pro-choice, for having kids out of wedlock (I suppose they should have had abortions?), and now a married teacher is being fired for having twins using in vitro fertilization.

After five years trying to conceive, Kelly and Eric Romenesko decided to try in vitro fertilization.

Their twins, Alexandria and Allison, were born last year. It was a joyous event in the couple's life.

"They're miracles. They're precious," Kelly Romenesko said.

The couple were not prepared for what came next. When Kelly, a teacher at two Catholic schools in Wisconsin, told her bosses she had gotten pregnant through in vitro, they handed her a pink slip.

"I was in tears," she said. "I remember asking, 'Is this the only reason why I'm being fired?' They stated, 'Yes.'"

Lovely. And why is in vitro so sinful? Joseph Capizzi of the Culture of Life Foundation says that unless you have sex, no kids for you: "It's not so much that it's artificial that's the problem, instead it's removing the sexual act and procreative act from the context of marriage."

Since the firing, the Romeneskos have stopped practicing Catholicism.

I don't even know why I respond to these things. I haven't been to Mass in years and disagree with many of the basic tenets of the Catholic Church. I honestly thought it was about following Christ's example, being a good person and doing a lot of charity work. All it seems to be about now is who to fuck, when to fuck and how to fuck. That is not the basis of any faith I'd follow. I think there are larger and more important issues in this world and, definitely, in my life.

Make 'Em Pay!

Via Think Progress, the telcos who turned over phone records may have to pay for their illegal activities:

1. It violates the Stored Communications Act. The Stored Communications Act, Section 2703(c), provides exactly five exceptions that would permit a phone company to disclose to the government the list of calls to or from a subscriber: (i) a warrant; (ii) a court order; (iii) the customer’s consent; (iv) for telemarketing enforcement; or (v) by “administrative subpoena.” The first four clearly don’t apply. As for administrative subpoenas, where a government agency asks for records without court approval, there is a simple answer – the NSA has no administrative subpoena authority, and it is the NSA that reportedly got the phone records.

2. The penalty for violating the Stored Communications Act is $1000 per individual violation. Section 2707 of the Stored Communications Act gives a private right of action to any telephone customer “aggrieved by any violation.” If the phone company acted with a “knowing or intentional state of mind,” then the customer wins actual harm, attorney’s fees, and “in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than the sum of $1,000.”

(The phone companies might say they didn’t “know” they were violating the law. But USA Today reports that Qwest’s lawyers knew about the legal risks, which are bright and clear in the statute book.)

3. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act doesn’t get the telcos off the hook. According to USA Today, the NSA did not go to the FISA court to get a court order. And Qwest is quoted as saying that the Attorney General would not certify that the request was lawful under FISA. So FISA provides no defense for the phone companies, either.

Cafferty Was On Fire!

Crooks and Liars has the video and Americablog has some of the key text. Yeah, Jack is about as mad as I am (but he'd better calm down before he has a stroke ... I should too for that matter).

CNN's WOLF BLITZER: ...[some wisdom] from Jack Cafferty in New York.

CNN's JACK CAFFERTY: I don't know about wisdom but you'll get a bit of outrage. We better hope nothing happens to Arlen Specter, the Republican head of the Judiciary Committee, because he might be all that's standing between us and a full blown dictatorship in this country. He's vowed to question these phone company executives about volunteering to provide the government with my telephone records and yours, and tens of millions of other Americans.

Shortly after 9-11, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth began providing the super secret NSA with information on phone calls of millions of our citizens, all part of the war on terror, President Bush says.

Why don't you go find Osama Bin Laden and seal the country's borders and start inspecting the containers that come into our ports?

The President rushed out this morning in the wake of this front page story in USA Today and he declared the government's doing nothing wrong and all of this is just fine.

Is it? Is it legal?

Then why did the Justice Department suddenly drop its investigation of the warrantless spying on citizens? Because the NSA said Justice Department lawyers didn't have the necessary security clearance to do the investigation.

Read that sentence again.

A secret government agency has told our Justice Department that it's not allowed to investigate it. And the Justice Department just says okay and drops the whole thing.

We're in some serious trouble here boys and girls.

Here's the question.

"Does it concern you that your phone company may be providing your phone records to the government without your knowledge or permission?"

If it doesn't it sure as hell ought to.

The man is listening to your phone calls people! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW ?

Trolling My Nerves

You know I turned the channel the minute I saw this lying liar on CNN lying about yet another one of his un-American, unconstitutional, lowlife, sneaky efforts.

President Bush said Thursday the government is "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" with a reported program to create a massive database of U.S. phone calls.

"Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates," Bush said. "The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities."

Bush's comments came after USA Today reported Thursday that three telecommunication firms provided the National Security Agency with domestic telephone call records from tens of millions of Americans beginning shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001. (Read what the reporter who broke the story says)

According to the report, Qwest, a Denver-based telecommunications company, refused to cooperate with the program.

What will it take for the to get rid of this man before 2008? There has got to be a way!

Beloved is Beloved

I think that The Song of Solomon and Sula were my favorite Toni Morrison works but Beloved definitely left the biggest impression. I am not alone. Beloved was selected as the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years.


(hat tip and pic via Feministing)

I Was Shocked Too

It's not as though I liked Chris Daughtry. I've never liked him. I Never even gave him credit for doing a good job even when the rest of the world was raving over him. He was creepy to me and I don't like that screeching he calls singing. But, since he had been pushed as a favorite from early on and because people had all but guranteed him in the final two, it was shocking. I really thought Katherine was a goner.So, I was shocked.

But back to the shock of the booting and how jaws dropped all over America.

"Mine was pretty much on the floor," said Daughtry.

He wouldn't talk specifics, but said, "There's going to be (a) flooding of opportunities and I can"t really talk about them, but there are some lined up. I've got to field all my offers and make sure I'm doing the right thing for me. Everything's going to turn out great in the end."

He said that after the news, judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul were even at a loss for words.

"I think everybody was pretty much speechless. Randy was pretty much saying, 'Don't worry about it, you're going to be fine.' Paula was crying too much to say anything. And Simon was shocked. He said he didn't see this coming and wished me the best of luck and totally believes in me. I think things are going to be OK."

Daughtry got to sit a few for a few minutes after the show and think about it, he said: "It took a while for it to really set in, and I don't think it really has still. I'm just going to make the best of it and use it as time to launch my career."

The thing is that someone had to get Paris' votes and I don't think that her fans were Chris' fans. A lot of people also really pulled it together for Elliott when they saw that, just maybe, he did have a chance. Like I said, I can't say I am sorry but I can say I am shocked.

Bow Down To The Decider

Overturning 750 laws since 2000 ...

Better Never Than Late

Bush's core support is scurrying like a pack of rats. They finally get it and it's much too late. I figured it out long ago because I've disagreed with classic conservatives like Pat Buchanan and George Will enough to know when someone else is not like them. Dubya is definitely not one of them. But the 2004 election was more important than their own ideals and now we are stuck, stuck, stuck with a charlatan who seems determined to be the demise of us all (or at least those who aren't coroporate billionaires).

Disaffection over spending and immigration have caused conservatives to take flight from President Bush and the Republican Congress at a rapid pace in recent weeks, sending Bush's approval ratings to record lows and presenting a new threat to the GOP's 12-year reign on Capitol Hill, according to White House officials, lawmakers and new polling data.

Bush and Congress have suffered a decline in support from almost every part of the conservative coalition over the past year, a trend that has accelerated with alarming implications for Bush's governing strategy.

The Gallup polling organization recorded a 13-percentage-point drop in Republican support for Bush in the past couple of weeks. These usually reliable voters are telling pollsters and lawmakers they are fed up with what they see as out-of-control spending by Washington and, more generally, an abandonment of core conservative principles.

All Up In Your Business

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a Bush fan. So, when it came out that the NSA was wiretapping American citizens, people started calling me, jokingly, and telling me that the President was taping my calls. I'm just your basic, disgruntled citizen so don't think I should be a target. Now, however, I don't know ...

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in
separate interviews.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program

"It's the largest database ever assembled in the
world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about
the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across
town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they
said.

The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret.

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.

I don't know if this man is going to have to shoot his mother in front of the cameras for people to see that he is criminally insane, or what, but he is now, and never has been, up to no good.

Nope! Definitely Not Friends Anymore!

Maybe Dubya was looking at Putin's buttons when he claimed he looked into his eyes and saw his soul.

Vladimir Putin has pledged to build up Russia's military to rival "fortress" America, and insisted the Cold War arms race is far from over.

In an unexpectedly belligerent state of the nation address on Russian TV, the Russian president accused the US of putting its own interests before its democratic ideals, and compared the country to a voracious wolf.

"We are aware what is going on in the world," he said.
...

He added: "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race. It is in reality rising to a new technological level."

Mr Putin's combative speech comes days after Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, accused Moscow of rolling back democracy and threatening its ex-Soviet neighbours.

Last month US senators visiting Moscow said Russia's slide towards authoritarianism and stance on the Iranian nuclear crisis may undermine the country's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

In his speech, Mr Putin said the government would strengthen the nation's nuclear deterrent as well as conventional military forces without repeating the mistakes of the Cold War era, when a costly arms race against the US drained Soviet resources.

Russia's military budget is 25 times lower than that of the US.

"We need a military that is able simultaneously to carry on battle in global, regional and, if need be, several local conflicts," he said.

Wow! In 5 short years, we've managed to make enemies with most of the world and all but dismantle our relationship with the other, former superpower in the world - one who has clear intentions of making a comeback. Now, I can't say I blame Putin. We are looking weak and the whole world thinks we are being led by a buffoon. It's a perfect time for them to start building up arms again.

This Guy Is A Riot!

Part of the rambling letter sent to Bush by Iran's Ahmadinejad was a bit of religious rhetorical questioning. I'm sorry! He's funny! It's not that you want the respect of a crazy person (and I think all zealots are crazy) but it isn't a good sign when they think they can poke and prod you just for the heck of it.

Ahmadinejad, whose Islamic government is suspected by the West of pursuing nuclear weapons, questions whether Christ and other religious prophets would have approved of U.S. policies and actions in the Middle East.

"I have been told that Your Excellency follows the teachings of Jesus (Peace be upon him) and believes in the divine promise of the rule of the righteous on Earth," Ahmadinejad wrote Bush, who has said that Christ is his favorite philosopher.

"If Prophet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishamel, Joseph, or Jesus Christ (Peace Be Upon Him) were with us today, how would they have judged such behavior?" he wrote.

As Ahmadinejad asked Bush to do some soul-searching and atone for past U.S. transgressions, the United States dismissed the letter as irrelevant and devoid of any concrete proposals whatsoever.

God, WWJD in this situation? How on earth can we last until 2008 with our own crazy man running the country?

Explain This To Me Please

I saw a report of this on CNN this morning. I'm still not processing it. Huh?

A dozen schoolboys aged 6 to 8 years old will be charged for allegedly sexually assaulting a female classmate during recess and a teacher who was supposed to be supervising them has been fired, authorities said on Wednesday.

In the Friday incident, the boys surrounded the 8-year-old girl on the school playground and poked at her with their fingers while she fought to keep on her underwear, local media reports said. Another student alerted teachers.

Most of the boys involved were expelled and the girl removed from the 400-pupil school, Columbia Accelerated Community Educational Center. One teacher was fired and another was suspended, the school district superintendent said.

Police referred charges of sexual misconduct and assault against the boys, and prosecutors could bring additional charges, said Kathryn Herman, an administrator with the juvenile division of the St. Louis court system.

"It's quite rare we get delinquency referrals on such young children," Herman said.

Update: I may be updating this a few times. I posted this article on a couple of my yahoogroups basically expecting people to find it appalling but have found almost non-chalant attitudes so far. I was initially being facetious by presenting it the way I did here - as one who needed help understanding how 6-8 year olds could initiate and participate in such behavior.  Not only did I get people responding with graphic, literal explanations,  I seem to have gotten, from a couple of the guys,  the "hit dogs will holler" response.  More to come ...

Man Business?

I'm so tired of being disgusted but there just doesn't seem to be anything that I have come across lately, any where in the world, that isn't disgusting. These folks are supposed to be aid workers and peacekeepers - there to help. But, they are exploiting young girls via a sex for food program.

Young girls in Liberia are still being sexually exploited by aid workers and peacekeepers despite pledges to stamp out such abuse, Save the Children says.

Girls as young as eight are being forced to have sex in exchange for food by workers for local and international agencies, according to its report.

The agency says such abuse is continuing as people displaced by the civil war return to their villages.

The UN in Liberia said it would investigate specific allegations.

The United Nations promised to put safeguards in place after sexual abuse in the refugee camps of West Africa was first revealed four years ago.

But a study by Save the Children, which involved speaking to more than 300 people in camps for people displaced by the war, found that abuse was still widespread.

The report said that all of the respondents clearly stated that more than half of the girls in their locations were affected.

Girls from the age of eight to 18 years were being sold for sex, "commonly referred to as 'man business'," the report noted.

Why are they calling it sex when it is with an eight year old? Why are they calling it sex period. It's called rape and the abuse of power - plain and simple - and it needs to be stopped. NOW!

Next! Keep It Moving!

I cannot take anymore!

Bush Administration officials insist they have no idea how a minute-by-minute schedule for the President's trip to Florida landed in a pile of trash, where almost anyone could grab it, hours before the President took off.

But the White House does admit the document should have been burned not tossed.

The document in question appears to be a White House staff schedule for the President's trip to Florida Tuesday. And a sanitation worker was alarmed to find in the trash long hours before Mr. Bush left for his trip.

It's the kind of thing you would expect would be shredded or burned, not thrown in the garbage.
Randy Hopkins could not believe what he was seeing.

There on the floor next to a big trash truck was a thick sheaf of papers with nearly every detail of the President's voyage.

“I saw locations and names and places where the President was going to be. I knew it was important. And it shouldn't have been in a trash hole like this,” he said.

Hopkins works in sanitation. He's an ex-con, and he's worried about fallout from talking to us, so he's asked us not to say exactly where he's employed. But he also felt it was his civic duty to tell somebody about what he'd found.

“We're going through a war, and if it would have fell into the wrong hands at the right time, it would have been something really messy for the President's sake,” he said.

Can anybody, even remotely associated with this administration, do anything right? Their wiretapping and locking up innocent people but are leaving revealing documents like that around (maybe they assumed some illiterate illegal would be the only one picking up the trash). Lord knows I don't care if Osama gets him but do we really need to give him an itinerary and directions?

All I know is that the janitor who found the stuff needs to read up on the janitor who discovered the break in at the Watergate Hotel. He didn't fare too well afterwards. He's also dead!


(link via Shakespeare's Sister)

Technorati Tags: Frank Wills, Watergate, Randy Hopkins

No Where To Run To Baby, No Where To Hide ...

During one of my many debates about this immigration dilemma, I say it always comes down to the same thing. These folks are here to stay. Not only that, they are breeding (and don't take offense ... that's my word of choice for all procreation these days ... drives my friends crazy) and will soon out number us all.

Nearly half of American children aged under five are from an ethnic minority, according to a new report from the US Census Bureau.


The latest figures show 45% of US pre-schoolers are non-white, with the Latino population growing the fastest.


Of the overall US population, one-third are now from an ethnic minority.


The report comes amid a series of huge immigrant demonstrations protesting against tough anti-immigration measures being considered by the US government.

So if you are paralyzed by the fear of a black planet Latin nation, you either need to pack it up and move or ... suck it up, mijo (mija)!

Dios Mio!

While the Senate is busy trying to pass stupid bills to specify that the National Anthem only be sung in English (and, honestly, are the going to jail someone if it isn't?), they need to be passing legislation to crack down on hateful antics like the "kill the Mexicans" Border Patrol video game and crap like this!

How could Cingular Wireless, known as a national diversity leader, make such a blatant multicultural misstep? Was it an accident? The company, which actively seeks Latino customers, offered a $2.50 ringtone that started with a siren, followed by a male voice with a Southern drawl threatening to deport undocumented workers in English and Spanish.

Cingular became aware of the offensive ringtone after receiving questions from a Brownsville (Texas) Herald reporter. The company immediately withdrew the ringtone from its Web site, where it had been available for download.

I am so over this ignorance and idiocy!

Guess We See What His Problem Is

This guy is such a pig!

BOORTZ: I had a friend that died of leukemia. Never once, never once did they run a bunch of damn counselors into the school the next day to assist me in getting my feelings out about this issue.

SKELTON: OK, I'm going to ask you a question, just a simple yes or no.

BOORTZ: Yeah.

SKELTON: Do you think several years ago in Columbine that they should have brought in counselors?

BOORTZ: No!

SKELTON: Oh, good God!

[...]

BOORTZ: No, I don't think they should've brought in counselors.

SKELTON: You don't think --

BOORTZ: No!

SKELTON: Two students who were ...

BOORTZ: Belinda, it's not hard to understand. Somebody came in with a gun, shot some people, and they died ...

I'll bet he never hugged his dad, got toys for Christmas or cried. What a man he is!

Duke Rape Case Update

This is too long to quote here but it's a good update with some of the current twists and turns.

Wonder No More

I can be quite the sensitive person sometimes so when Dennis Rodman was in his hey day, I figured something had gone drastically wrong in his childhood for him to be so volatile, confused and just plain messed up! This isn't the first report I've seen on his low life daddy (I believe I saw him on an evening magazine show years ago trying to get 15 minutes of his son's fame) but here is the latest.

Dennis Rodman, who hadn't seen his father in over a decade, found himself face to face with the man recently during an exhibition basketball game in Manila. But instead of kisses and hugs between the estranged pair, there were only punches. Before the NBA Legends and the stars of Team Philippines entered the court Monday night, the center of attraction was not Dennis "Bad Boy" Rodman, in whose moniker the exhibition game was named after. All eyes were on Philander Rodman Jr., the father of the former Chicago Bull, as he entered the Big Dome and settled to his ringside seat. He was accompanied by a couple of bodyguards. Philander was hoping to talk with Rodman, who was only three years old when he left their home and never came back. But Philander wouldn't have that opportunity.

According to Rodman's agent Darren Prince, the athlete's dad, Philander, showed up at the game "with a camera crew and an entourage of eight people and two bodyguards - he had apparently sold the rights to get him on camera with Dennis." A fight broke out, and Philander allegedly tried to punch Rodman's bodyguard, but missed. After downing several cans of beer, which were left scattered under his seats, he left the venue, shouting and cursing his son. Dennis was immediately escorted to the dugout by his body guards and the event's security personnel. Obviously, he still harbors ill feelings toward his father.

The feeling, after the snub, is now mutual. "Dennis felt used and was angry as his father has made only one attempt in 40 years to see or talk to him, and that was in 1996 when he wanted the rights to write a book about Dennis," Prince told the New York Post. Undeterred, Philander later went to Rodman's hotel, with camera crew in tow, and was promptly chased away by armed guards. According to Prince, "hundreds of fans" soon got a whiff of what was going on and began chanting: "Get out of here, you deadbeat dad."

This is pathetic! But now you see part of the reason why Dennis acted out so. Hell, he's dang lucky not to be in an asylum or prison. Shoot! Dennis has a bit of change. He can't have someone "handle" his disgusting, deadbeat dad once and for all?

I Don't Think We Are Friends Anymore

Who are our allies these days?

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, today compared the US to a wolf who "eats without listening" as a public spat between the two countries on the best way to deal with Iran intensified.

Washington and Moscow are split on the appropriate action to take against Iran following the announcement last month from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the country had mastered uranium enrichment.

Russia has made clear that it agrees Iran should not have nuclear weapons but questions whether the country is actively seeking a bomb and whether sanctions would be effective.

Responding for the first time to accusations last week by the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, that Moscow had rolled back democracy, Mr Putin said: "Where is all this pathos about protecting human rights and democracy when it comes to the need to pursue their own interests?

"Here, it seems, everything is allowed; there are no restrictions whatsoever. We are aware what is going on in the world. Comrade wolf knows whom to eat, he eats without listening, and he's clearly not going to listen to anyone."

In an apparent reference to suspicions that the US is planning military action against Iran, Mr Putin added: "Methods of force rarely give the desired result, and often their consequences are even more terrible than the original threat."

Gee, Who Saw This One Coming?

South Africa is the rape capital of the world so certainly it is no surprise that a high ranking official would be acquitted of that crime.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's former deputy president, was cleared Monday of charges that he raped a family friend at his Johannesburg home - a widely watched verdict that experts here say is as good for Mr. Zuma's political future as it is bad for this country's millions of rape victims.


Thousands of supporters danced and cheered outside the Johannesburg high court after the verdict - some waving signs that proclaimed "Zuma is our president" - while a jubilant and relieved-looking Zuma led the crowd in the anti-apartheid song that has become his trademark: "Bring me my machine gun."


Meanwhile, women's rights activists criticized Judge Willem van der Merwe's ruling as compounding the nation's severe problem of sexual violence. One woman is raped every 26 seconds, according to People Opposing Women Abuse, an advocacy group here. It's one of the highest rape rates in the world. Mr. Zuma argued that he and the woman had consensual sex.


"I think that the overall conclusion to draw from the case is that our legal system, as it's set up at the moment, does not provide a framework within which victims can really get justice after rape," says Rachel Jewkes, director of the South African Medical Research Council's gender and health unit. "It's extremely difficult to meet the requirements of a rape conviction in an adult rape case unless the situation is very violent."


In Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg, only 1 percent of adult rape cases end up with a conviction, Jewkes says.

So, unless the woman is beaten to a bloody pulp, rape cannot be proven?

In his ruling, which took about six hours to read, Judge van der Merwe had harsh words about the alleged victim's version of events, saying he could not believe that Zuma, who is 64, would rape the 31-year-old woman in his home with his daughter and police escort nearby.


"Only a foolish, overconfident rapist would enter the room of his victim, not knowing if she would shout or scream," he said.


He also said he found the woman's actions inconsistent with those of a real rape victim. She didn't call anyone after the alleged attack, he said. She didn't shower. And van der Merwe said he didn't believe her account that she "froze" when she discovered Zuma assaulting her.


"The complainant's evidence cannot be accepted," he said. "She is definitely not that meek, mild, and submissive person she was made out to be." The judge said that "pressure groups" and activists should not try to use the case for their own motives.


"This sets us a thousand years back," says Sibongile Ndashe of South Africa's Women's Legal Centre. "Now, whenever a complainant lays rape charge against a prominent person, it's not only that the rape charge has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that there's not ulterior motive."

I'd say that foolish is deliberately having sex with a woman who is known to be HIV positive. I'd say that only someone who was totally unable to control their urges (and hence possibly rape) would put themselves at risk for a romp in the sack. I'd also say that, though cultures vary, at 31 I would not have wanted to have sex with the 64 year old friend of my father. But, of course, they are only viewing it from the man's perspective and, naturally, no thinking woman would ever turn them down - no matter how old they are.

Update: I ran across another article on this case and this part is not only maddening, it's downright scary:

Where do we begin? Zuma said that his accuser indicated that she wanted sex by the way she sat while wearing a knee-length skirt - an idea he repeated Tuesday - and that it was his duty as a man to accommodate her. He said he had not used a condom to have sex with the woman even though he knew she was HIV-positive because he thought the risk of catching the AIDS virus was low. He said he had chosen instead to shower after sex to minimize the risk of infection. Mind you, this is the man who once led the country's National AIDS Council.

Unfortunately, Zuma's views and conduct are not rare in South Africa. Health officials say a sense of male entitlement to sex is a major contributor to the country's high rape rates. The first sexual experience is coerced for one in four women. Rape often occurs within families, and there is tremendous family pressure on girls not to report it. In addition, students report that many teachers demand sex for good grades.

Male sexual attitudes also fuel South Africa's AIDS epidemic. Zuma's shower comment, which he justified Tuesday, lighted up the phone banks at AIDS hot lines with callers hopeful that post-coital showering could prevent HIV infections.

I won't even go near this man's pressumed "duty to accomodate" this woman because she had on a short skirt ...

The AIDS epidemic is, what, 25-30 years old and this man thinks he can shower the risk of infection away? Sometimes you wonder if there will ever be any valid hope ...

Delayed Yuck!

I was going to leave this story alone but since it seems to be over all of the wires, I'll just give my standard YUCK!

Britney Spears told David Letterman Tuesday that she is pregnant with baby No. 2.

"Don't worry Dave, it's not yours," the pop princess quipped.

The revelation ended weeks of speculation in entertainment magazines, which have been regularly publishing pictures of Spears' apparently expanding waistline.

Spears, 24, and her husband, backup dancer-turned-rapper Kevin Federline, 28, were married in 2004 and have an 8-month-old son, Sean Preston.

Federline also has two children, Kori and Kaleb, with his former girlfriend, Shar Jackson

What is it that Kevin does, again, that allows him to be able to afford to father four children? Nothing, you say? Thought so!

C'est Une Catastrophe

Morroccan women speak out on the war in Iraq.

Our war, through their eyes, is not a pretty picture. As they see it, war with Iraq weakens the United States and strengthens a mutual enemy -- Muslim fundamentalists.

A small delegation of female journalists and media professionals from Morocco visited Boston to "break the ice between the United States and Muslim countries," as they explained in French, through a translator.

When the discussion turned to war in Iraq, their message was loud and clear, in French or English.

"C'est une catastrophe," said Hinde Taarji, a journalist and author of several books, including one about women and Islam.

"C'est terrible," said Maria Latifi, director of an educational television station in Morocco.

The other Muslim women echoed those sentiments.

They came to the United States, first, to get the word out that not all Muslim women are swathed in veils and burkas, living lives of oppression and misery. Their larger mission is to fight on behalf of those who still struggle.

To that end, they seek a longstanding weapon of mass influence: U.S. moral authority. Yet, to them, that sharp and precious tool is dulled by U.S. policy in Iraq.

Didn't they and other progressive Muslims see the proudly purple fingers of voters in Iraq?

No, said Latifi. They "went completely unnoticed." People see "the mayhem ... the sectarian war. They see a country sinking."

And, as she pointed out, they see it every day, as the United States does, via CNN.

Because of the negative perception in the Muslim world of what is happening in Iraq, the women believe hard-line religious fundamentalists are gaining strength.

This Is Sickening

What kind of sick rationale can one use for enlisting an autistic young man in the military? Is the need for new recruits so desperate that they would take a mentally and socially challenged child? This is bad folks! This isn't Forrest Gump. This is a real human being. I really can't find the words ....

Jared didn't know there was a war raging in Iraq until his parents told him last fall -- shortly after a military recruiter stopped him outside a Southeast Portland strip mall and complimented him on his black Converse All Stars.

"When Jared first started talking about joining the Army, I thought, 'Well, that isn't going to happen,' " said Paul Guinther, Jared's father. "I told my wife not to worry about it. They're not going to take anybody in the service who's autistic."

But they did. Last month, Jared came home with papers showing that he not only had enlisted, but also had signed up for the Army's most dangerous job: cavalry scout. He is scheduled to leave for basic training Aug. 16.

Officials are now investigating whether recruiters at the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Southeast Portland improperly concealed Jared's disability, which should have made him ineligible for service.

Jared's story illustrates a growing national problem as the military faces increasing pressure to hit recruiting targets during an unpopular war.

Tracking by the Pentagon shows that complaints about recruiting improprieties are on pace to approach record highs set in 2003 and 2004. The active Army and the Reserve missed recruiting targets last year, and reports of recruiting abuses continue from across the country.

When Do They Study?

There were some intriguing articles this weekend about college boys and their sexual habits. First we have this one about young men using viagra for viagra's sake.

Aging boomers aren't the only ones using Viagra—college men are, too. In a new anonymous survey of 234 sexually active male students at three college campuses, researchers at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago found that 6 percent have used erectile-dysfunction medications. While about half of the 18- to 25-year-olds said they took Viagra, Cialis or Levitra to treat erectile dysfunction, says researcher Najah Musacchio, others popped the pills because they wanted to "have more sex," "have more fun" or simply "to try it." (For men with normal erections, a drug won't make their erection stronger, though it may shorten the recovery period between sexual bouts.)

This could be a dangerous trend. Not only did nearly all the men get their pills without a prescription (the medicine's available online), but 64 percent mixed the meds with alcohol or illicit drugs, such as ecstasy or methamphetamine. Certain illicit drugs can cause blood pressure to plummet when combined with Viagra. The pills also allow men to have sex when they're in an altered mental state—and are less likely to make wise choices about partners and protection.

Later, I read another article which goes to the other extreme. It seems that sexual equality has rendered many young men impotent. Yes! Because of women's availability and initiative, some men lose their "incentive" and are unable to perform.

... It seems that for a sizable number of young men, the fact that they can get sex whenever they want may have created a situation where, in fact, they're unable to have sex. According to surveys, young women are now as likely as young men to have sex and by countless reports are also as likely to initiate sex, taking away from males the age-old, erotic power of the chase.

"I know lots of girls for whom nothing is off limits," says Helen Czapary, a junior at the University of Maryland. "The pressure on the guys is a huge deal."

Combine performance anxiety with binge drinking and the abuse of drugs on campus and it's no wonder that problems are showing up at college clinics in numbers that give the lie to the adage that impotence is reserved for the old (Bob Dole) or crazy (Jack Nicholson in "Carnal Knowledge"). The younger models who now appear in commercials for Viagra and its pharmaceutical clones reveal that the drug makers know (hope?) what the rest of us don't: Some members of the Game Boy generation are losing their game.

These poor babies. The agressive little girlies scare their little peenies right out of commission.

While I hardly think that women are to blame for men who cannot get it up on command, I do still get a chuckle out of a story from my college days. Okay, I was in college a generation ago but performance anxiety could have been the cause of this little scenario. There was a guy in our circle that we all that was "hot." He had a psycho girlfriend that he supposedly no longer wanted but couldn't get rid of and no other girl could get near him ... because she was crazy and would hurt you! In any case, it seems he was finally able to break away (after I graduated of course) so one of us decided to pursue him. Before that, we were a Life cereal commercial with: "I'm not gonna try it, you try it! I'm not gonna try it! ..." So, the "Mikey" among us got her big chance with the hunk and, I guess in her zeal, he fizzled. Yes, she told us. Yes, we laughed. Yes, we blamed her for being so aggressive and scaring him to death! I think they had a big fight soon after that. They were never a couple but I cannot remember if they even remained friends. I think they both got over it - at least I hope so.

Single: The New Normal

It's certainly normal amongst my friends. Many are even taking the attitude presented here.

"Singlehood is no longer a state to be overcome as soon as possible," writer Jillian Straus quotes one of Broadsheet's favorite social historians, Stephanie Coontz. "It has its own rewards. Marriage is not the gateway to adulthood anymore. For most people, it's the dessert -- desirable, but no longer the main course." And here's the kicker -- this realization comes amid social science research that neither married nor single life is a determinant of happiness. "Much depends on the achievement of meaningful life goals and quality of the relationships you create," writes Straus, who apparently changed her focus after writing about how to have a successful, committed relationship in the recent "Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We're Still Single."

Hurrah! That's great news for the 86 million single adults, who are poised to become the new majority. (Married couples comprise nearly 51 percent of households today, compared to 80 percent in the 1950s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) The article makes the point that although many of us are eventually looking to pair up, we're busy with lots of other good things in the meantime. That means that single people are no longer mysterious freaks or walking tragedies -- but the new normal. The message, then, is that while marriage could be fantastic, it's not everything so you better get happy with yourself first!

Of course, I still do have a couple of friends who are still waiting for a rich knight to save them from their successful careers, own homes and busy lives. The fairy tale still lives in some minds ... just not in mine.

P.S. Today's Oprah is discussing women and marriage and how women lose themselves when trying to be "perfect" wives.

More View Gossip

I don't know how much of this latest gossip I believe. I cannot see Barbara Walters being angry that Meridith accepted a bigger, better opportunity. Even if ABC did match NBC's offer, there is quite a bit of difference between The View and The Today Show. As ditzy as Meredith acts on The View, she es a seasoned news person who deserves the chance she was given at Today.

Sources connected with Barbara Walters and ABC tell TMZ that Barbara Walters is angry at Meredith Vieira for leaving 'The View.' We're told that Walters feels betrayed after giving Vieira such a launching pad over the last nine years.

We're also told Walters is angry at ABC for not matching Vieira's NBC offer. Vieira will reportedly earn $40 million over the next four years for anchoring 'Today.'

Ironically, Walters pulled a reverse Meredith back in 1976, when she left her job as co-anchor of NBC's 'Today' to co-anchor ABC's network newscast.

As for reports that Star Jones will be booted from 'The View,' our sources say it's all but a sure thing. One source says: "Barbara hates Star." The New York Post reports that Rosie O'Donnell, Vieira's replacement, made Star's exit a condition to joining the daily gabfest.

As for reports that Gayle King will replace Star, the television show 'EXTRA' caught up Oprah's good friend, who said: "All I can say is nobody from 'The View' has talked to me about joing 'The View' and I certainly haven't talked to anybody at 'The View.'"

In the interview airing tonight, King told 'EXTRA': "I can't imagine 'The View' without her (Star), I really can't."

As for Star, while I do think there is a good chance that the prospect of Rosie stealing some of her limelight will send her shopping around for a new gig, I cannot see Rosie being demanding enough to ask that Star be let go as a condition of her joining the panel. As I said before, I am really looking forward to seeing the Rosie/Joy dynamic and if Star is lost in the process, oh well! Perhaps it is time for her to find greener pastures but I am not sure there is all of the animosity people claim there is amongst the women.

She Got Fooled Again!

This is making me laugh. Whatever kind of letter Iran sent, it sent was strictly to get the result it did - an immediate dismissal by the US. So we, stretched beyond our limit with our military and without a willing coalition to take solid action, are still arrogantly acting as though the rest of the world still views us as the global superpower. They were baiting us and Condoleezza fell it ploy hook, line and sinker.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's abrupt dismissal of a letter from Iran's president might only strengthen hardline attitudes and mistrust of America, some Iranians warned Tuesday.

As President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a high-profile visit to a key Muslim country, Indonesia, a former top Iranian official said Rice's response will give new justification to those who oppose ties with the U.S.

Iran's former ambassador to France, Sadeq Kharrazi, said the letter - the first from an Iranian head of state to an American president in 27 years - 'could have been a turning point in relations.' But he said Rice squandered the opportunity with what he called a 'hasty reaction.'

'This gives a pretext to those in Iran who oppose re-establishment of ties with America,' he said.

Ahmadinejad's 18-page letter to President Bush touched only indirectly on the hottest dispute between the two countries - Iran's nuclear program. Instead, it focuses on a long list of grievances against the United States and seeks to build on a shared faith in God to resolve them.

Rice told The Associated Press the letter 'isn't addressing the issues that we're dealing with in a concrete way.'

Iranian political analyst Saeed Leilaz said Rice's quick brushoff would fuel anti-American feelings in Iran.

'It could have been the beginning of a new process,' he said. Rice's response 'strengthens the suspicion (inside Iran) that the U.S. is thinking of a military option only and not a political solution' to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, he said.

No Brother, YOU Have A Disconnect!

What kind of BS is this and why is Alfonso Jackson so stupid? We all know that favors are done, palms are greased and that having an inside track can alway help but, to deny a valid contract simply because someone doesn't like the President and then brag about it is totally idiotic.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alfonso Jackson publicly admitted that he canceled a government contract with a business because the CEO was critical of President Bush. From the Dallas Business Journal:

“He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years,” Jackson said of the prospective contractor. “He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something … he said, ‘I have a problem with your president.’

“I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘I don’t like President Bush.’ I thought to myself, ‘Brother, you have a disconnect — the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn’t be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don’t tell the secretary.’

“He didn’t get the contract,” Jackson continued. “Why should I reward someone who doesn’t like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don’t get the contract. That’s the way I believe.”

These clueless negroes Bush keeps hiring need to learn the system or at least realize they don't have the power they think they do.

Sorry! Watch It At Home On TV

Well, they almost had it all. Or at least they almost had more (rights, that is). But, the right to attend a soccer game was revoked before women ever got the chance to excercise it in Iran.

Iran's women will be barred from attending soccer games, a reversal by the president that comes a month before the national team plays in the World Cup.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had ruled in April that he would allow women to go to soccer games and sit in a separate section of the stands. He wanted to "improve soccer-watching manners and promote a healthy atmosphere."

But Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who under the Islamic Republic's constitution has the final say - opposed the move.

"The president has decided to revise his decision based on the supreme leader's opinion," Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said Monday.

Ahmadinejad's decision to allow women into stadiums had provoked outrage among hardline Shiite Muslim clerics, who supported his election last year and who have tightly controlled Iranian society since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran's Islamic law imposes stringent restrictions on women. They need a male guardian's permission to work or travel, and have rarely been allowed to attend public sports events.

Do we really want to get into a military conflict with these folks?

Absolutely No Excuse

As anti-choicers want to keep women perpetually breeding, we obviously aren't addressing the problems we have with births as they stand now.

An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report.

American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland or Norway, Save the Children researchers found.

Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States, which is tied near the bottom of industrialized nations with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births.

'The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but its newborn rate is higher than any of those countries,' said the annual State of the World's Mothers report.

The report, which analyzed data from governments, research institutions and international agencies, found higher newborn death rates among U.S. minorities and disadvantaged groups. For African-Americans, the mortality rate is nearly double that of the United States as a whole, with 9.3 deaths per 1,000 births.

It's About Time

Granted there are still millions of Americans who don't get routine checkups, this is still a step in the right direction.

Testing for the AIDS virus could become part of routine physical exams for adults and teens if doctors follow new U.S. guidelines expected to be issued by this summer.

Federal health officials say they would like HIV testing to be as common as a cholesterol check.

The guidelines for routine testing would apply to every American ages 13 to 64, according to the proposed plan by the U.S. Centers for Disease control and Prevention.

One-quarter of the 1 million Americans with the AIDS virus don't know they are infected, and that group is most responsible for HIV's spread, CDC officials said.

'We need to expand access to HIV testing dramatically by making it a routine part of medical care,' said the agency's Dr. Kevin Fenton.

They Kill-ded Him

Being reminded of these folks trying to pass off this child's death as a result of his sickle cell trait (which I have and there is just no way) is making me mad all over again. But at least they have the truth now.

A 14-year-old boy beaten by guards at a Florida boot camp died because guards suffocated him, a coroner has said.

The findings contradict a first autopsy which said Martin Lee Anderson died from a normally benign blood condition.

The teenager's body was exhumed after a videotape showed guards at the Bay County camp kicking and punching him.

Dr Vernard Adams, who carried out the second autopsy, said Martin Anderson died because his mouth was blocked and was forced to inhale ammonia fumes.

The "forced inhalation" caused his vocal cords to spasm and block his upper airways, the Hillsborough County medical examiner concluded.

"Martin Anderson's death was caused by suffocation due to actions of the guards at the boot camp," Mr Adams said.

He said that while the guards' beating left bruises, it did not contribute to his death.

'Justice is served'

The first autopsy, by Bay County Medical Examiner Dr Charles Siebert, said Martin had died from complications of sickle cell trait.

His findings were disputed by the boy's family, and led Florida Governor Jeb Bush to order an investigation that led to a second autopsy.

Mr Bush said he was disturbed by the findings of the second autopsy and pledged to provide the resources to ensure "justice is served".

The lack of any arrests over the beating of Martin Anderson on 5 January, and his death a few hours later in hospital, sparked protests in the state Capitol.

It forced lawmakers to scrap the military style camps and led to the resignation of the state's top law enforcement officer, the Associated Press reports.

The beating happened on Martin Anderson's first day at the Bay County Sheriff's boot camp for juvenile offenders.

The camp surveillance videotape showed the guards roughing him up and shoving ammonia pills up his nose.

The teenager had been sent to the camp for violating probation by trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.

Justice, however, really won't be served until the people responsible for killing this 14 year old boy are jailed for his murder. So, I'll rest my case when the guards are put away.

A Likely Story

But, whatever.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy announced today he’s checking himself into the Mayo Clinic to try and conquer an addiction to pain medication that he admitted left him wandering Washington in a fog.

Kennedy took to the microphone to make the brief admission as police investigate his crash early Thursday near the Capitol.
“I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions,” Kennedy said in an afternoon press conference.
He added his crash, and his addiction, is not the legacy he wants to leave in the minds of his constituents.
“That’s not how I want to live my life. And that’s not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island,” he said.
Kennedy said he has long struggled with “addiction and depression” and will, for the second time in the last six months, check himself into the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Kennedy said he checked himself into the same clinic over Christmas.
The Rhode Island Democrat will enter the clinic tonight for treatment of addiction to prescription pain medication.
Kennedy walked in alone to today’s press conference and immediately launched into his prepared statement. He remained stern for most of the brief statement but he did break into a smile at the conclusion when he called for passage of mental health legislation.
Capitol Police also cited Kennedy with three motor vehicle violations today, according to a police report.
Kennedy did not, however, address allegations he also had been drinking alcohol before his crash early Thursday. The Herald reported today that the congressman was seen imbibing alcohol at the Hawk & Dove watering hole in the Capitol.
“He was drinking a little bit,” said a woman who works at the Hawk & Dove. She would not give her name.
A political insider also told the Herald Kennedy has been acting “goofy” and “zany” lately.
Kennedy, the son of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), was elected to Congress in 1994. His father, the Bay State’s senior Senator, stood by his son today and applauded his courage to come forward.
“He has taken full responsibility for events that occurred … and he will continue to cooperate fully with any investigation,” the elder Kennedy said in a statement.

What's This About?

This inquiring and suspicious mind wants to know! Out of the blue with no prior rumblings of looking to replace him? There's got to be more to it!

US President George Bush has unexpectedly announced that the head of the CIA, Porter Goss, is stepping down.

No reason was given for the move. Mr Goss has served in the role for less than two years, since being chosen by Mr Bush to replace George Tenet.
[...]
The BBC's correspondent in Washington, Justin Webb, says the announcement came as a bolt from the blue.

While there have been several changes at the top of the Bush administration recently, and more are expected, Mr Goss's name was never mentioned.

Friends of the former Republican congressman said they were hugely surprised.

There has been speculation that Mr Goss was not happy with the reduced access to the president he was afforded after the appointment of John Negroponte to oversee the work of all the intelligence agencies, our correspondent adds.

When he took the job he used to present the president with a daily intelligence briefing, but that task has since been taken away.

However there have also been rumblings of discontent at the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

Several high-level CIA staff have resigned recently.

After the way that former CIA guy went after Rumsfeld yesterday, I expect more loose lips to sink this ship. Too many folks are running for cover for some bomb not to be about to blow sky high.

Can't Get Fooled Again

Be it the Titanic or the Hindenburg, this administration's credibility is evaporating. Yet another traditional Republican is speaking out.

USA Today founder Al Neuharth, once known for his generally Republican views, appears to have seen enough of President Bush. In his column today for USA Today, he once again hits the Iraq war (he is one of the few mainstream journalists to favor a quick withdrawal), then notes the presient's approval rating having plunged from 71% to 34% in the Gallup poll since 2003.

"How low can Bush's approval rating go? My hunch is it's at or near the bottom," he suggests. "That 34% represents mostly unshakeable far-right wingers. Like Bush, Vice President Cheney and company, they are in denial. As were the 24% in the polls who still approved of President Richard Nixon before he resigned in disgrace.

"What happened to the 37% who have switched from pro-Bush to anti-Bush? They finally realized they were suckered by Bush and his buddies back then about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction, his tie to terrorists and his threat to the USA."

Neuharth, a decorated war veteran, concludes: "President Abraham Lincoln was right when he said: 'You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.'"

Keystone Cops Calling A Kettle Black

This is funny to me.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is shown wearing American tennis shoes and unable to operate his automatic rifle in video released Thursday by the U.S. military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of the terror leader.

The U.S. command showed the footage to reporters at a time when it is stepping up operations against al-Qaida in Iraq and making overtures to other Sunni groups. The Americans hope to isolate religious extremists from insurgents they believe are more likely to cut a deal to end the war.

Wait! Hold up! Showing this man fumbling with his rifle is supposed to undercut Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's image? Didn't our President choke on a pretzel and fall out and doesn't he have a habit of tumbling off of his bicycle? Further, is anybody forgetting that small little incident where the Vice President shot one of his friends in the face with his rifle? al-Zarqawi is an illusive figure that I am not even sure exists. Bush and Cheney are the top two leaders of the sole remaining super-power. Who looks more foolish?

Did She Change Her Name or Did He Change Her Name?

While I am one of those people, too, who thinks there is a point where one should drop the kiddie-ness from one's name. I hate calling grown women names like Margie, Katy and Suzy. But, why is Tom Cruise speaking on behalf of his adult, "child-bearing" wife when it comes to her name change?

Actress Katie Holmes has changed more than just her religion since she started dating Tom Cruise last year (05) - she's now altered her first name.

Despite her strict Catholic upbringing, the former Dawson's Creek beauty converted to Scientology when she began her relationship with the TOP GUN heart-throb, and will bring up their baby daughter SURI in the controversial religion.

After discussing the issue with Cruise, Holmes has decided her Christian name 'Katie' sounds too young for a 27-year-old and is now known to friends and family as 'Kate'.

Cruise explains, "Katie is a young girl's name. "Her name is Kate now she's a child-bearing woman"

Nicole Kidman needs to fess up! Who is Tom Cruise?

San Jose and Immigration

I don't live in any of the areas where the marches would have taken place and seem to have missed the recaps on our local news. In anycase, sometimes I feel like I live in Mexico and we had a pretty big one.

Police now say up to 125,000 people attended Monday's immigration march and rally in San Jose, one of the largest in the city's history.

Officers' estimates of the crowd that marched from Story and King roads to Guadalupe River Park ranged from 100,000 to 125,000, Sgt. Nick Muyo said. The march left early from Story and King because so many people had gathered, and when the first marchers arrived at the park, others were just starting to walk.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!

Keep The Wives Competing

Even though I am generally quiet at work and stay to myself, someone should have figured out that there are some things that do not need to be said within earshot of me. Yesterday WB (wife beater, formerly known as the pedophile) was chatting with one of the two guys on his team (the one who drives a big black truck* so high off of the ground that I can nearly stand under it without bending over) about working overtime. The truck guy (and, though he's good looking, he's quite low on intellect and is somewhat of an oversized Barney Rubble) said that his working late was causing him to miss "date night" with his girlfriend. WB responds with "date night? I thought you were married already!" Of course I'd expect that from him. Now that he finally managed to get a wife (I really don't count buying one but whatever), I guess he figures that courtship and quality time are no longer necessary.

Early last week, I heard WB saying that his wife decided to start making him lunch. Today, I hear him over the cubicle talking to his other teammate - an East Indian guy. He was bragging that after his wife found out that the Indian guy's wife made him lunch everyday, she decided she wanted to make him lunch. So the Indian guy laughs and says "Ha! She's competing with my wife!"   So WB replies, "yeah, gotta keep those wives competing!" Barf! Gag!

It's funny. The only other woman in my office is an East Indian lady. She has a college aged daughter but seems to be without a husband (I don't know if she is a widow or what). She asked if I was married and when I told her no and that I wasn't planning on it either, quickly replies: "That's good!  You have your freedom."  She let out such an exhale that I was taken aback a little but I still smiled and nodded along.

(It's funny but we have a new office that opened in another state. The women in that office picked up an odd vibe from WB when they were here for training a few weeks ago and after I relayed some of my experiences with him to them, said they were in total agreement with me over his creepy persona).

* won't go there

Whose Right To Choose?

Despite the momentum that many zealots seem to have gained in state legislatures across the country, most Americans still believe in some semblence of choice.

The percentage of U.S. adults who say women should be permitted to get an abortion under all circumstance (24%) has remained rather stable over the last decade. In comparison, 20% of adults think a woman should be able to get an abortion under no circumstances, compared with 21% a year ago.

So there's been little change in the numbers of people who are firm and absolute in their views on abortion rights. I wonder how those middle numbers would look different if they'd asked, "Do you support your own right (or your wife's or girlfriends' or daughter's) to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy within the first three months?" I also wish they'd asked respondents whether they'd ever personally exercised their right to choose (or supported someone who has). I mean, advertising agencies have picked up on the power of ownership language. I want abortion pollsters to do the same. I'm guessing that numbers would look a little more pro-Roe.

Naturally, I've had this debate on and off line. Most people I know are progressive and pro-choice. Some, who've never really explored life outside of their religious commitments, have a narrow view based on their own narrow experience (i.e. someone who married just out of high school or college and never really dated anyone but their spouse) will have the gut reaction to say they are against abortion. Then, there are others who've undergone some type of religious conversion or epiphany and "evolved" into thinking it is wrong.

Of their "concern" is that some women may use abortion as a means of birth control so, because of the prospect that someone may overexercise her choice, they want to deny all women the option. One woman told me she used to believe in abortion until she met someone who'd had nine - pregnant by the same man each time. Again, she saw the exception as the reason to change the rule for everyone. But, think about it! Would you really want to see a child born to a woman (and man) who'd chosen an intrusive medical procedure - many times - over popping a pill, getting a shot, wearing a patch or, God forbid, using a condom?  To me they don't sound like people who need to be contributing to the gene pool. So, if the option for a 10th abortion arose, I'd err on the side of that.

My point is that every woman should have the right to choose how and when to have children. Efforts to the contrary must be demolished.

If It Were Anyone But A Kennedy ...

Come on now!

BREAKING: IT WAS THE AMBIEN! AND THE TUMMY ACHE! SLEEP-DRIVING JUST LIKE YOU READ ABOUT IN THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!

“Last Tuesday, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress treated me for Gastroenteritis,” a stomach illness. According to Kennedy, the attending physician prescribed Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, which in addition to treating gastroenteritis, “I now know [it] can cause drowsiness and sedation.” “Following the last series of votes Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien, which was also prescribed by the Attending Physician some time ago and I occasionally take to fall asleep. Some time around 2:45am, I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote.

Was his excuse written by the producers of Dateline NBC? It is torn from the headlines

Screw Sex Ed

While I agree with the sentiment of Feministing on this issue, I am over all of this talk about sex education. People (children and adults) need basic lessons in biology.

The Missouri House approved a bill this week that will change sex ed programs throughout the state--and not in a good way.

The bill requires public school students to get permission slips from their parents before taking sex ed, would ban “abortion providers” from providing any class materials, would state that life begins at conception and would have to push for "lifelong monogamous marriage between a man and a woman."

Wow. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Davis (who says that contraception is “a way to have all the goodies and not pay the price"), who originally wanted to ban a requirement that students be taught about sexually transmitted diseases. Thankfully, that requirement was reinstated.

I don’t know about the parental permission for sex ed thing--when I was in school we had to get a note if our parents wanted us taken out of the class. And while we never really learned about abortion, a lot of great information on birth control and STDs was given to us by local women’s clinics. But I digress--this bill has nothing to do with caring about young people and their health. It’s about limiting our choices and our knowledge. Period.

I went to Catholic schools K-Sophomore year in high school. In grade school, I don't recall learning about sex. I recall learning about the reproductive system, menstruation and, biologically, how babies came to be. In high school, our lay gym teacher showed us a movie on venereal disease (STDs). This was in the 70s and it was certainly enough to turn me off or convince me to be dang sure I knew what and whom I was dealing with. I don't recall the nuns harping on abstinence or any lofty rhetoric about marriage. I don't recall an over abundance of information on contraceptives. What I did have, however, was a clear understanding of the reproductive process, how babies were created and how they came out (thanks to a child birth movie where we actuall witness one being born). I knew that douching with soda pop would't prevent pregnancy. I knew that you could get pregnant the first time. I knew that my mother wasn't taking care of any babies that she didn't have herself.

One thing that kills me is that I still hear adults using "it just happened," "accidents happen" rationales. A friend recently gave birth but when she was pregnant (accidentally, of course) I was amazed at how big her eyes got when we told her that she could get pregnant while nursing so she should be careful (she's over 30). I don't think there is an excuse for her not knowing that. So, it is no wonder younger people are confused and, often, careless.

So yes, I say screw sex education. Let's not talk about sex. Let's talk about biology (the process is virtually the same with plants, fish, lower animals and humans beings). Let's talk about simple laws of cause and effect. Let's talk about actions and consequences.

Faulty Libidophobic Logic

This op-ed by Nicholas Kristof points out the idiotic logic of those who claim to be anti-abortion trying to push through legislation and pass laws that will result in the demand for more abortions.

Plan B, the emergency contraceptive, normally prevents pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex — although it is most effective when taken within 24 hours. It is now available in most of the U.S. only by prescription, but the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have both endorsed it for over-the-counter use.

President Bush's Food and Drug Administration has blocked that, apparently fearing that better contraception will encourage promiscuity. But unless the libidophobes in the administration mandate chastity belts, their opposition to Plan B amounts to a pro-abortion policy.

One study, now a bit dated, found that if emergency contraceptives were widely available in the U.S., there would be 800,000 fewer abortions each year. And even though they are generally available only by prescription, emergency contraceptives averted 51,000 abortions in 2000, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

That's one of the paradoxes in the abortion debate: The White House frequently backs precisely the policies that cause America to have one of the highest abortion rates in the West. Compared with other countries, the U.S. lags in sex education and in availability of contraception — financing for contraception under the Title X program has declined 59 percent in constant dollars since 1980 — so we have higher unintended pregnancy rates and abortion rates.

Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have abortion rates only one-third of America's, and France's is half of America's. France has made a particular push for emergency contraception to lower its abortion rate by making free morning-after pills available to French teenagers, without informing the parents. Nurses in French junior high and high schools are authorized to hand out emergency contraception pills.

That broad availability is the global pattern. While American women cannot normally obtain emergency contraception without a prescription (by which time the optimal 24-hour window has often passed), it is available without a prescription in much of the rest of the world, from Albania to Tunisia, from Belgium to Britain.

One thought that paralyzes the Bush administration is that American teenage girls might get easy access to emergency contraception and turn into shameless hussies. But contraception generally doesn't cause sex, any more than umbrellas cause rain.

The reality is that almost two-thirds of American girls have lost their virginity by the time they turn 18 — and one-quarter use no contraception their first time. Some 800,000 American teenagers become pregnant each year, 80 percent of the time unintentionally.

So we may wince at the thought of a 15-year-old girl obtaining Plan B after unprotected sex. But why does the White House prefer to imagine her pregnant?

When You Lie Down With Dummies ...

You start sounding like one. Laura Bush couldn't seem to decide if she was for or against the new Spanish version of the National Anthem. She tripped herself up on Larry King Live.

KING: One of the debates in the country right now is about immigration reform, illegal immigration. One of the controversies is this new Spanish language version of the national anthem. Your husband the president says he thinks it should only be in English. But if you go to the state department website you can find it, I think, in four languages. Secretary Rice says she’s heard rap versions.

MRS. BUSH: Well, we’ve all heard different versions like at the Super Bowl every year. I don’t think there is anything wrong with singing it in Spanish. The point is it’s the United States national anthem and what people want is it to be sung in a way that respects the United States and our culture. At the same time, we are a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of many, many languages, because immigrants come and bring their languages.

KING: Is that an issue you disagree with your husband? He says it should be sung in English.

MRS. BUSH: I think it should be sung in English, of course.

He Was Oh So Funny!

The Washington Post's Cohen doesn't think that Colbert's bit at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner was funny!

On television, Colbert is often funny. But on his own show he appeals to a self-selected audience that reminds him often of his greatness. In Washington he was playing to a different crowd, and he failed dismally in the funny person's most solemn obligation: to use absurdity or contrast or hyperbole to elucidate -- to make people see things a little bit differently. He had a chance to tell the president and much of important (and self-important) Washington things it would have been good for them to hear. But he was, like much of the blogosphere itself, telling like-minded people what they already know and alienating all the others. In this sense, he was a man for our times.

He also wasn't funny.

Well, I thought it was immensely funny, painfully funny and it was about time some people outside of those "like-minded people" heard something other than the sounds of their own like minds. Was Colbert brutal? Yes! But brutal and funny don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Women In Dafur

How could it possibly get any worse?

"The situation (in Darfur) is poor, bad and very alarming and what is particularly sad is to see no progress and a deterioration of the situation," said Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

"I am absolutely persuaded that the sexual violence against women ... is worsening every day," Arbour told Reuters in an interview in Khartoum on Wednesday.

Mississippi Is Still Mississippi

Via The News Blog, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour doesn't want to upset his base by doing the right thing.

Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi acknowledges that Clyde Kennard suffered a grievous wrong at the hands of state officials more than 45 years ago. But he says he will not grant a posthumous pardon to Mr. Kennard, a black man who was falsely imprisoned after trying to desegregate a Mississippi college.

Mr. Kennard moved home to Hattiesburg, Miss., after seven years in the Army in Germany and Korea and three years as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago. He wanted to finish his education at the local college.

But because that college, Mississippi Southern, was reserved for whites, state officials not only rejected Mr. Kennard's repeated applications but also plotted to kill him.

They kept him out of college by convicting him of helping to steal $25 of chicken feed based on what the sole witness now says was perjury. The 1960 conviction drew a seven-year prison term, and Mr. Kennard died of cancer in 1963.

Last month, Mr. Kennard's supporters asked Governor Barbour, a Republican, for a pardon. The state parole board must first make a recommendation, but Mr. Barbour has already said he will not consider granting one.

"The governor hasn't pardoned anyone, be it alive or deceased," said Mr. Barbour's spokesman, Pete Smith. "The governor isn't going to issue a pardon here."

Mr. Smith added that a pardon would be an empty gesture.

"The governor believes that Clyde Kennard was wronged, and if he were alive today his rights would be restored," Mr. Smith said. "There's nothing the governor can do for Clyde Kennard right now.

Perhaps a pardon would be an empty gesture. Not granting one is a huge and telling gesture.

Si Se Puede

So, yeah, Jesse Jackson is Forrest Gumping it again and popping up at yet another spectacular event but I actually think this one is actually something that represents what he used to be about before he became a virtual ambulance chaser. I think he is right about this.

Lower-wage workers in this country -- many of them African Americans -- worry that employers are using immigrants to displace them, to undermine good jobs, force wages down and weaken labor organizing. But the answer to that isn't to turn on other poor workers. It is to raise the minimum wage (frozen since 1997); bolster union organizing and create a card-check system so a majority of workers can choose a union; run a full employment economy, and crack down on exploitative employers and off-the-books hiring.

Part of the anger directed at immigrants comes from workers understandably scared as manufacturing jobs are shipped abroad and lower-paying service jobs take their place. But global corporations, not immigrants, are taking those jobs abroad. The answer isn't cleaning up immigration, but electing leaders who will challenge the corporate hold over our trade policies.

Each wave of immigration inspires hot anti-immigrant anger and rhetoric -- "illegal alien hordes" are pouring across the border taking jobs away from Americans. We heard it in the "yellow peril" that led to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. It was directed against Irish and Italians immigrants at the turn of the century, who were portrayed as drunk, violent, lazy and dissolute. African-American migrants from the South were cursed as scabs on the "white worker." Now Mexican and other undocumented immigrants are said to threaten African Americans and other poor people, not to speak of the entire "American way of life." With hatred comes violence: Last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante received death threats. And a new "Kill Mexicans" video game is piercing its way through the Internet.
[...]
This new immigrant freedom movement is being embraced by African Americans and today's movement for peace and social justice. In today's movement, many undocumented immigrants have already lost jobs, been detained or deported and separated from their families. But like African-American freedom fighters of the 1960s, their minds are "stayed on freedom." As I see it, their rallying cry -- "Si se puede" ("Yes We Can") -- is Spanish for "We Shall Overcome."

Si se puede! I think we all can. I think we can come to a feasible solution to this problem which, by the way, is not going to go away. I've been in multiple debates over the past couple of weeks and, naturally, the first thing out of people's mouths is that these "immigrants" are breaking the law. Thinking people know that the issue is far deeper than that and it is far, far, far too late for a quick solution. When I hear some of the venom that comes out of some black people's mouths, I really get perturbed. I think this is a perfect time and opportunity to unite with immigrants and good working people (particularly the poor and disadvantaged) to fight for a greater share of the pie and the American dream. People with little or nothing do not need to fight against each other, they need to fight together. As it stands, the only people who have been winning consistently are big business moguls and greedy capitalists. Why not fight them? I believe it can happen - and I am sure that scares a lot of folks. So, again, si se puede!

More Low Hanging Fruit

Just what Iraq needs to ensure their freedom .... a bunch of hoodlums and gang bangers

The Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords were born decades ago in Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. Now, their gang graffiti is showing up 6,400 miles away in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods -- Iraq.

Armored vehicles, concrete barricades and bathroom walls all have served as canvasses for their spray-painted gang art. At Camp Cedar II, about 185 miles southeast of Baghdad, a guard shack was recently defaced with "GDN" for Gangster Disciple Nat