boehner's bill

I'm watching the live vote of the House bill. I like watching votes, no matter the bill - I enjoy the adding up of numbers to get to the magic pass number.

It passed 218-210 - one more than needed to pass.

It passed because Boehner agreed to add the constitutional amendment provision: that the debt ceiling cannot be raised a second time UNLESS Congress approves and sends to the states for ratification, a balanced budget amendment.

As if anyone needed any more proof that the Tea Party is willing to hold anyone - even their own party and leaders - hostage to get what they want. Which makes me feel sorry for Boehner, even if just a little. Because I think it's safe to say that without those tantrum throwing Tea Partiers, we wouldn't be on the brink of default. Is that really a risk to take simply to get everything you want?

Especially as it's a futile want, as the bill now heads to the Senate to die?

I understand politics better than most of my friends, but this I can't even comprehend at all.

Oslo

People were asked to leave their roses all over the city.

And they did. And they marched, and they filled their streets carrying makeshift torches. The police estimate that around 200,000 people gathered in Oslo alone.



Some of these images are incredibly beautiful. Some of these images are incredible sad. Some are both.

here, in Norwegian, but the google translator does an okay job with the translation

nice dose of humanity

Okay. The Asian markets are on their own, Boehner seems pretty damned determine to stomp his feet all the way through the crash of the fragile global economy, and things are just not happy in Norway. So I figure we could use a nice dose of humanity. Y'know, the good stuff. Feel-good things are perfectly okay right now.

So here it is:

Cadel Evans wins the Tour de France and holds the stuffed lion he won.

His nickname is also Cuddles.

My google news has Norway, the Debt Talks, and then a picture of a man in a yellow jersey holding a lion. Awww ....

on norway

“Then the devil took him into a high mountain and showed him the kingdoms of the world and said that he would give them to him if he would fall down and worship him. But Jesus said: Get thee hence, Satan. That’s the end of the story according to the good simple Matthew. But it wasn’t. The devil was sly and he came to Jesus once more and said: If thou wilt accept shame and disgrace, scourging, a crown of thorns and death on the cross thou shalt save the human race, for greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus fell. The devil laughed till his sides ached, for he knew the evil men would commit in the name of their redeemer.”

-The Razor's Edge, W. Somerset Maugham.

I find I don't have very many words to say.

Except - that in the face of such extreme violence, and a manifesto of violence, the reaction of the Norwegian government was to say more democracy, more humanity.

There is so much hope contained in those four words; so much promise that violence never has to define us.

another very short letter

Dear Speaker Boehner (Again),

NO YOU DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RESPONSIBILITIES AS THE PRESIDENT.

Are you serious?

You, sir, are not the leader of the free world. You sir, are akin to a four year old brat, stomping his feet and saying 'no' for no other reason than you like how it feels.

I'm not sure I could hate you any more than when I do right now.

Please don't throw the fragile world economy into chaos because you have some grave delusions of grandeur.

Still absolutely positively no love,
me

a very short letter

Dear Speaker Boehner, STOP IT, STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

You are an idiot. A giant, massive idiot.

Absolutely, positively no love,
me

this is just to say-

it is ten pm and still hot as hell.

91F/31C.

But the humidity has fallen to 57% and the dew point is 74.

So there's that.

summer's eve ... wtf

These Summer's Eve ads cannot possibly be a real thing.

They cannot. Because if they were, I would have to talk about how utterly horrific and offensive they are. Especially for how racist they are. Not to mention ...

Why, why, why, why does our society which already over-pressures and over-sexualizes women by telling them what to wear and how thin/beautiful to be, feel the need to tell women how this particular organ should smell?

Groom your hair to silky shiny perfection! Look like a beauty queen with eyelash-lengthening mascara! Do up those luscious lips! Wear this perfume! And this dress! And these shoes! And if you do it, and we think you're doing it wrong, you're either a slut or asking for it! Or both!

Oh, and please make sure your vagina smells good too.

Just ... wtf? What the ever-loving fuck?

These cannot possibly be a real thing. They cannot. I refuse to believe it.

oh Marilyn, what have they done to you?

I'm not going to post a picture of the new Marilyn Monroe statue that is up in Pioneer Court in Chicago. You can Google it. I will, however, talk about how disgusting it is.

Of all of the alluring images of Marilyn that could have been chosen, one that even further sexually objectifies her is the one picked.

Marilyn Monroe is the epitome of sexual objectification. The fact that she died at age 36 and we never got to see her fall from that ill-begat grace, the slow decline of sexual allure, means she is eternally locked into it.

Why, knowing all of that, would you design a statue that will allow people to further exploit her objectification by looking up her panties, or standing between her legs with thumbs up signs, or grabbing a leg with a devious look on their faces, or anything sexual, really. Chicago Tribune has some images you can look at, if you're so inclined. But they are absolutely beyond disgusting.

Many who have seen it in person have been saying the proportions are all off; that the detail on the face isn't great, but every line and crease of her panties is perfect.

Excuse me while I go throw up.

number of the day: 6

That's the number of states that have passed recent legislation banning abortion past 20 weeks - and more states are set to follow. Great. Getting into a discussion about this arbitrary date would be ridiculous, and a waste of my time, but I am just going to gently point out that a FETUS ISN'T EVEN VIABLE AT 20 WEEKS. Not to mention wondering what we as a society are doing when we put the autonomy of a non-vialbe 20week fetus over the autonomy of the pregnant woman. But I digress.

After Ohio's women-killing bill, there is a glimmer of ... something, in Missouri's bill, passed Thursday. Because, see, unlike the Ohio bill, in Missouri, if the life of the woman is in danger, or if being pregnant will cause substantial injury to her major bodily functions, then an abortion is okay.

It's still women-killing, extremist, and, make no mistake, Gov Nixon is a coward for not signing his name to the bill and instead letting it pass without his signature.

But at least Missouri puts some of the rights and health of women above Ohio. Not that Missouri is much better at all. But in this crazy war on women, I have to find something to latch to. Because see, sooner or later we're going to realise, as a society, that you cannot recognise the autonomy of one women who is 20weeks pregnant, and not the other who is also 20 weeks pregnant. This could backfire, and we could have more Ohio bills which scream 'hey, let's kill women', but I'm hopeful that's not the case. Mostly because hope is all I have left.

SB 72

SB 72 was passed in Ohio yesterday. Gov Kasich is expected to sign it into law.

This bill ... I can't get over this bill. When I first heard about it, I got hung up on the section that said a woman can't have an abortion even if she'll kill herself if she doesn't.

don't believe me? Here's the text.

2) No abortion shall be considered necessary under division (B)(1)(b) of this section on the basis of a claim or diagnosis that the pregnant woman will engage in conduct that would result in the pregnant woman's death or a substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman or based on any reason related to the woman's mental health.

This is law! This isn't genital mutilation, or genocide, or women unable to leave their homes, but this is forcing women into situations that will only end in devastation. This? This is the ultimate extremism. It isn't loud and out there, and the devastation it causes will be hauntingly quiet, tucked into the shadows, cowed in shame. This bill will kill women, there just won't be bells and whistles to go with it.

SB 72 passed and I just don't even know what to say.

war of extremism

Could we please stop the nonsense that nothing bad and worthy of talking about is happening to women in the United States? The idea that women in the United States are not seeing a war of extremism raged on them simply because the wars raged on women in other parts of the world are far more concrete is absurd.

Case 1, from Richard Dawkins on pharyngula:

Dear Muslima Stop whining, will you. Yes, yes, I know you had your genitals mutilated with a razor blade, and . . . yawn . . . don’t tell me yet again, I know you aren’t allowed to drive a car, and you can’t leave the house without a male relative, and your husband is allowed to beat you, and you’ll be stoned to death if you commit adultery. But stop whining, will you. Think of the suffering your poor American sisters have to put up with. [...] And you, Muslima, think you have misogyny to complain about! For goodness sake grow up, or at least grow a thicker skin!

Case 2: Miranda Flint at South Dakota Politics

His version of extremism has nothing to do with car bombs or global terrorism. Nor does it have anything to do with female genital mutilation or the problem of gendercide. It doesn’t even have anything to do with greenhouse gasses.

Case 3: Justin Timberlake, a soldier, and Mila Kunis, at oh, everywhere, just google it.

Denying women access to health care is extremism. The idea that several Presidential candidates not only think this is okay, but seem open to the idea that the progress of women should be reversed, is also extremism. The fact that a woman can make an innocuous request not to be accosted in an elevator and then accused of over-reacting, is extremism. A man putting a woman into a situation where it is impossible for her to say no without severe negative consequences? You guessed it, extremism.

All in different forms, but the notion that extremism only occupies one form - one that is violent and easy to identify, is patently wrong, and the sooner we stop thinking like that, the sooner we stop all forms of extremism.

e-verify

Quick! Prove to me you have the legal right to work in these United States, in order to correct an e-verify false-negative.

Drivers license? Are you kidding me? Those things are handed out like candy and don't prove anything.

SS card? Not actually proof of identity. I know, right?

Birth certificate? Well, now we're getting somewhere. Wait. You changed your name? This seems fishy to me ... got anything else?

Passport? Excellent! justsolongasitisnotexpired.

Now. Let's play a game. How many Americans do you think have passports? Don't look it up, that's cheating. Give up? GOA put it at about 28% as of 2008. That's about 86 million passports for 305 million people. The labor force is about 153 million. Applying the same stats, that means about 43 million of the labor force has a passport. Sounds okay, doesn't it? And that's actually assuming that none of those passports have expired. Expired passports don't prove identity. Hell, even with the new outrageous Voter ID proposed amendment, an expired ID counts.

So, AT BEST, less than a third of the current US labor force can prove that they actually can work in the United States. It's a crime not to be able to, for whatever ridiculous reason It's also a crime, fyi, not to change your address w/in 30 days of a move, but under Voter ID, you can still use that as proof of identity, and oh yeah, y'know, VOTE. Under E-verify, an expired passport [or other ID, I am assuming] makes you a criminal. Okay, well, you're not technically a criminal, you just can't prove you're not.

As with Voter ID - these are some really interesting parallels I might have to post about later - the people with the least amount of resources and agency are going to be the ones most negatively affected by this.

And if that weren't enough ...

Let's keep playing a game, okay?
This, I am going to steal directly from Dan Crawford @ Angry Bear

When E-Verify finds an inconsistency between a name and that person's work authorization, it issues a "tentative nonconfirmation" (TNC), after which an employee has several days to contact SSA or DHS to correct the error or risk losing their job. Unfortunately, a significant number of these TNCs are issued in error. (Errors are usually due to clerical mistakes from inputting data, especially with hard-to-spell names or ones that have been hyphenated or changed, as well as errors by the workers themselves when filling out government forms.) In 2010, of the 16 million E-verify queries by employers, 128,000 (0.8 percent of the total) required the employee to go to SSA or call DHS to fix the problem. Of those 0.8 percent errors, 0.3 percent were discovered to be in error and were later corrected. But 0.5 percent -- over half of all errors -- were falsely issued "final nonconfirmations," essentially forcing their employer to wrongly fire them. 0.3 percent may not sound like very many, but with a total American workforce of 154 million, that translates to over 770,000 jobs lost.

That's ... impressive. That is, in fact, beyond impressive. And not in a good way.

Someone tell me why we're even DEBATING e-verify. Someone else please tell me why we thought it was a good idea to make it a crime to not be able to work. I'm pretty sure those rotting fields in Georgia wouldn't be rotting if that weren't the case. In fact, I'm not just pretty sure - I'm goddamned sure there would be oodles of blueberries if it wasn't criminal not to be able to work.

the republic of south sudan

There is a new country in the world, right at this very moment. I find it fascinating that we can have mapped the world entire, and yet new countries can spring forth. This country, like so many of her sisters, was sprung forth from the ashes of violence and hatred, brought on by a scramble for Africa that ignored any and all cultural, ethnic, and religious divides.

But from the peace the people got to choose their own destiny, and they chose independence, a way to move on to a continued peace and a free peoples.

Happy Birthday, South Sudan. Hope it's all you dream it'll be, and more.

"Almost-rape" and consequential silences.

trigger warning: rape

"Keep your head down, don't say anything, get through this. After all, you don't want a reputation." - Advice from my mother on how to work with a man that I stopped from raping a friend of mine.

When Timothy raped me, I had no problems letting anyone who asked what I happened. On the other hand, when Timothy raped me, I had a piece of paper saying he couldn't come within 500 feet of me. This time, there were no calls to the police, nothing formal and legal ever filed, no protection of the truth except by its witness. No, I didn't call the police, I was too busy physically preventing a man from attacking an incapacitated woman. Believe me when I say that during those moments, it was not an option. Thus the greyest of grey areas was entered, the realm of the 'almost rape'.

He didn't actually rape her, but I can see how haunted she is by it. How she avoids events he might be at, how she sits in the corner of the bar to keep an eye on the door to make sure he doesn't 'happen' upon the very same bar; and the subtle hauntings that I can't figure out how to describe, but they're there in the thin layers of vulnerability that sit just under her skin.

It was supposed to be a party, that night. It was supposed to be a party, but the mixers weren't very good, and they ran out of beer fast, so I wasn't really drinking. It was supposed to be a party and it took me a while to figure out what happened, why the bedroom door had latched closed with such finality. It was supposed to be a party, our overlapping circles, social and work both. It was supposed to be a party. Instead it was night of hard choices and even harder consequences.

One of the choices was the silences I chose to keep, the decision on my part not to call the police, and the consequence of him still falling in those overlapping circles. He showed up at the place I'm interning and I hadn't spoken to him in months, but it felt exactly like the day after that party, with the choices hanging in the air between us, and the slow, steady panic of not knowing what to do.

Keep my head down, keep that silence, hold those consequences. Right?