monday!

There's actually a lot of coded sexism inherent in this Rush Limbaugh rant against vegetables (See also: the Salad episode of Seinfeld). It hit me, while contemplating how vegetables/vegetarianism are coded feminine and meat is coded male (presumably this is a "caveman" narrative, with the men hunting and the women gathering roots and berries....?), that the very meditation I was in the midst of is a perfect example of why Feminism is dysfunctional, or at least, why it's so difficult to fight what we're up against.

To wit: in order to assume a Feminist worldview, you must accept the fundamental premise that a patriarchy/patriarchal culture exists, and that both men and women are complicit in sustaining it. With me so far? (If not, please please please argue with me on this one, I like where this argument is going and I want to develop it further.) But here's the problem: when you accept the fundamental premise of the patriarchy and you actually start viewing the world through a Feminist lens, you start seeing how deeply ingrained patriarchal values, misogyny and so forth are in our culture, and when you try to talk to someone who's not the same page with you yet about how Rush Limbaugh is heteronormatively biased against salads, you're generally regarded as a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist.

It reminded me of the scene from last season's Mad Men where Peggy is talking to the beatnik journalist about civil rights vs. womens' rights, and he laughs off the notion that people would show up for a Feminist civil rights march--in a sense, it IS laughable to contemplate a march or rally in support of women. We are more than half the population, literally the majority! There are so many of us, how could we possibly allow ourselves to be oppressed? Don't you see women everywhere doing all kinds of things? Etc.

/sermon

***
Some related bonus linkage on the connection between abortion and buttsecks, omg! Also: THIS

We are so fzcking stupid. More here.

What exactly the fzck is going on in Egypt: one, two, three, four

The awesome state of Arizona's Medicaid program. More here.

The #DearJohn Twitter initiative gears up.

Dan Lipinski is a Blue Dog piece of sh1t.

Sinister...?

Here's my new wallpaper. And related.

***
This needs to be a real thing.

Games! I really like the Chiromagica one.

I'm going to make one of these for Tom.

I can only assume by your negative attitude that you have yet to partake in the wonderment that is the StarCrunch.

Watching this was like reliving some of Guthrie's finer kitten moments.

I want to give this kid one million hugs.

Joe Biden continues to be my homeboy.

happy friday!

AWESOME: this Subway is blocks from Tom's office and he eats there at least once a week.

***
Holy sh1t: "For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan."

/headdesk

More follow up on the ACORNing of Planned Parenthood.

Things in England are Strange: one, two

Radical idiots.

No, it really doesn't, but I like it anyway.
 
The Minimalist is retiring! His greatest hits.

The delicate balance between transparency and conspiracy.

Down with this sort of thing.

***
The everything bagel is a bunch of bullsh1t.

I want the Samurai Jack one SO BAD.

Stunning. So freaking pretty and cool.

omg save me!

thursday!

Interesting. I'm mostly in favor of the residency rule. It's certainly a form of protectionism; apparently the original intention was to prevent middle class (mostly white) suburban flight, which is bad because that's kinda racist but good mainly because a vibrant middle class necessarily creates demand for a thriving school system. That said, it is contrary to a merit-based system, mainly regarding teachers (e.g., we should want the best and brightest teachers irrespective of their residence), but c'mon, if we were really worried about recruiting and keeping good teachers we wouldn't be demonizing unions and making all kinds of noise about charter schools. I do think it's a positive and appropriate function of government to incentivize residents to work within their communities, particularly with the police force--when you know the cops and they live in your neighborhood it really reduces the Us vs. Them mentality, and the last thing the CPD needs right now is to widen that divide. Huge sections of the general population distrust law enforcement (often for good reason, because stuff like this is straight up bullsh1t) and that's unhealthy for society. Frankly if I were running for mayor I'd be calling for a return to having beat cops doing foot patrols in more (low to moderate crime level) neighborhoods.

***

"Sometimes I feel like America is just in a holding pattern.  We're basically waiting for all the people who are still bitter about modernity to pass away in large enough numbers that those of us willing to move into the future can actually capture the electorate."

If this works, awesome. I am skeptical.

Paul Broun, d0uche of the day.

Hey, this is fzcked up: one, two

This Chris Matthews clip is hilarious. Calling Michele Bachmann a "balloonhead" warms my heart.

Understatement of the Day. And a runner up.

***
Crap, I need to snuggle a puppy right NOW.

Extreme Elmo-based cuteness. Srsly.

Oooh, I hate the crap outta that guy.

EPIC

wednesday!

WTF (I kinda covered this already but I can't emphasize it enough)

Related: some sweet synthesis between this piece and this one. (Also this and this)

It's 2011 Georgia, we don't burn gay people to death any more. Do I really have to say that?

DAMN this is disappointing.

(insert action movie joke here)

Filthy hypocrites: one, two, three, four, five

File Under: Art, ROI

***

Seriously considering trying to meditate using this.

Wait For It of the Day. (We watched this at least three times)

tuesday!

DO NOT WANT

The GOP wants to seriously fzck up healthcare reform.

The middle class needs an advocate organization, full stop. Unions do that. Which is why they're under attack.

On competition.

Smart, quality thoughts on the fzcked economy. (More economic idiocy here and here)

We are torturing our own.

Michelle Bachmann is a big fat liar.

Hey, fzck you, Mark Kirk.

Yes. Needless to say, I am hugely opposed.

Gross.

/despondent

In light of the forthcoming fetal personhood onslaught, I thought these were helpful.

YAY PAT QUINN

Word of the Day.

***

If you missed the debut of Roger Ebert's new show over the weekend, it's available here. Werner Herzog reads Ebert's review of My Dog Tulip!

Bunny food!

Earth and Space.

monday!

So this is appropriate, I guess, since we just had that tragedy where women ran around flinging fetuses at people in Tucson. OH WAIT....

I think he means another Lost Decade, but otherwise, yeah.

THIS, sweet jesus.

Basically Haiti is a giant fzcking mess.

YUP

NO, and if you do, you're a bad person. Kitties are for petting.

Fzck.


hatehatehate

***

This is a really compelling idea but I can't imagine how you'd keep them from freezing up in winter.

WOLVES

Awesome.

Five solid minutes of an adorable tiny cat snuggling with a golden lab puppy. Deal with it!

happy friday!

All these threats to Social Security are starting to seriously piss me off. We keep proposing to do the exact opposite of the things that would actually improve our problems. Even the grown ups are off the deep end at this point, I don't know what we're supposed to do.

50 Most Loathsome Americans of 2010. Yep.

Fzck that guy, I'll give him some preexisting conditions.

Al still loves us.

"Get off my lawn!" "Respectfully, your Honor, the courtroom does not have a lawn." "You're in contempt!"

Rush Limbaugh, racist idiot.

DAMMIT, you guys. And DAMMIT harder. These things are NOT OKAY.

Perspective. And further perspective. And still more!

Well, obviously. What are *you* going to do about it?

Weiner!

***
These are beautiful and that guy is...something.

Just when you thought American Apparel couldn't get any grosser. (nsfw, naked Real Dolls instead of ladies)

Surreal.

BENNY

nomnomnom

WANT