If you are going to comment on anything here, especially if you want to just argue without PROOF, then you will be mocked, ignored and banned, not neccessarily in that order. If you drop in on posts older than 6 months old, you will be mocked, your comment deleted and banned again not in that order. This is my little corner of the web, and if you don’t like the rules feel free to leave, just close the door on your way out.
Just so you know…
Posted in PSA, lj-cross posting | Tags: PSA
Would Jesus be a capitalist Michael Moore asked…
I’m a fan of Michael Moore, this is no secret. For those of you who may keep up with his films, he has a new film out, Capitalism: A Love Story. I’ve yet to see it and this post isn’t about the film, but about a question he posits in the film and to his readers of his site. Before you read my inquiry below; keep in mind, I am not bashing all Christians/Catholics/People who don’t believe as I do. I am asking questions of you who do hold these beliefs, and calling shame upon those who do not walk the walk and talk the talk of being “good” Christians/Catholics even though they yell the loudest about how devout they are. I want to head off any, YOU HATE CHRISTIANS wank before it has a chance to start.
“…Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in “Capitalism: A Love Story,” I pose a simple question in the movie: “Is capitalism a sin?” I go on to ask, “Would Jesus be a capitalist?” Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what’s left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother’s and sister’s keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you’d have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.”
Now, I am not Christian, most of you reading this probably know that, and for new folks this might be news to you. The question that Mr. Moore puts out there can apply to most beliefs, but he puts it forth especially to those that share the faith of Catholicism. I’ve always had a problem with those people who are the first to shout I am a Christian! I go to church every Sunday, I pray, I donate to charity. However these are the same people who will be amongst the first to complain about the poor using “their tax dollars” for help, for assistance when those poor should be amongst the first if they are true to their beliefs.
I find it odd that alot of people who are loudest in their affirmation of faith are often the loudest in their protestation of helping those that would need the most help. Isn’t that antithetical to the belief that the least among us shall be the first? What happened to compassion for those who need your help? Isn’t that what Christ teaches you to have for those in need?
I hope those of you reading this can give some clarity on the question that Mr. Moore puts out there… because looking from my non-Christian POV, I can’t understand an answer to his question other than a resounding NO and shame on you who think otherwise.
So, let the comments begin. Remember I tolerate NO bullshit here, You want to have a flame war… do it elsewhere. You start a flame war here you will be banned period.
Posted in lj-cross posting, religion
My smiles are not for you, random man on the street
I’ve had the issue of women being treated as property, as if (some) men think we are here for their pleasure only, as if we are to be honored by your hey baby, how you doin’s as we go about our daily lives, but instead when we ignore you, tell you to fuck off or just keep walking the insults flow freely.
Instead of understanding that women are not chattel, we do not exist to please you… you revert to mental infancy and call us sluts, whores, bitches… ask if we think we’re too good for you, or won’t we just FUCKING SMILE, after all it was a compliment I paid you, damn why you have to be like that. The litany could go on forever but you get my point.
After a post by karnythia on creepy ass man following her and try8ing to intimidate her, and the story of the MTA passenger who just needed some help but instead was asked out for a date by an employee, this topic has boiled over in my head and needs to be let out.
I know men don’t understand that life is different for women, in that alot of us are raised to be leery of unknown men, especially ones that approach us on the street. It’s something that keeps you safe and can save your life, because you never know when a dude is just trying to be a harmless flirt or a serial killer or rapist. I know its harsh, but you (men who think you’re doing us a favor by hollering on the street)don’t know our lives, our stories, what kind of baggage we’re carrying around.
That woman whose arm you try to grab so you can “talk to her” could be a rape survivor, she could be on the way home after being laid off from a job, or getting some other bad news. She could not be smiling because she just found out her grandmother died or she failed a test, or for any number of reasons. You never know what a person has going on in their head, and presuming that she should give you the gift of her smile, her time just because you’re a man is pretty damn arrogant.
Thinking that women should be honored because you deign to throw some two bit line our way on the street, or talk about us as if we’re nothing more than walking tits, ass and vagina’s put on display for your approval and usage speaks volumes about how little you know about women or the real world. I don’t speak for all women, but I think anyone with a shred of self-respect wouldn’t bother with a trifling ass man who thinks the way into a womans heart is to talk about that ass, and how you’d give her what for.
Men, at least the men who think that this is a GOOD IDEA and women should be grateful for your attention… realize we don’t owe you a motherfucking thing. We don’t owe you our time, our energy, our bodies or our smiles.
Lastly, posted this in a comment to an earlier post of mine and it needs to be seen, and reposted far and wide.
Posted in Karnythia, black history, black men, black women, downfall of black culture/society, feminism, livejournal wank, lj-cross posting | Tags: PSA, race, racism, SF Fen of Color
If only this could happen …

Posted in Uncategorized
On Caster Semenya… (xposted from my LJ)
As usual I heart John Scalzi, he cuts to the chase
He gives his $0.02 on the Far Right totally flipping their shit over President Obama having the nerve to tell children to stay in school and LEARN. Oh my GODS, that socialist bastard! He’s telling our kids to…to oh, wait. /snark
For the link phobic, here’s the relevant section of this Whatever Post:
“* Apparently many of the same people on the right who are losing their minds over health care are also currently losing their minds over the idea that Obama’s giving a speech aimed at school kids, because clearly the man is going to indoctrinate the children into his crazy socialist ways, and they’ll come home expecting the government to start providing communal services, and everyone knows that’s just the sort of thing we shouldn’t be teaching in our public schools.
Three things here. First, we’re definitely well past the point where anyone brandishing the word “socialist” for anything relating to Obama might as well have a blinking neon sign over their head that reads “tool.” Please, just stop. Second, anyone who thinks that school children would watch this upcoming speech with anything more than dutiful, glassy-eyed boredom has forgotten what it’s like to be a schoolkid being forced by adults to do things for incomprehensible reasons. I would be no more concerned about Obama indoctrinating kids with a televised speech aimed at them than I was when Bush did the same thing when he was in office; the kids will find it equally lame regardless of who is president.
Third, as it happens, I don’t want my kid watching the Obama speech in school either, not because our president will infect her with socialism, but because it’s going to be a bland, pointless time-waster and I’d rather have my kid spending time learning something.”
Posted in Uncategorized
A memo to the black men out there…
that buy into the idea that women of any color should lower their expectations for your trifling ass… especially anyone who agrees with this Memo to Black women informing us we’ll never get a Barack or Denzel because our standards are too high? Here’s a note from a black woman who sincerely wants to inform you that:
Black women are not required to lower our standards for men like you. They are called standards for a reason. Black women are not obligated to play faux mommy to men like you that can’t fend for themselves in the real world because no one made them grow up and get their shit together as adults.
Black women are not obligated to know how to cook five course meals for you that will be piping hot and perfect when you decide to bring your triflin’ ass home. We are not obligated to be ferocious in bed, pandering to your every sexual whim because you’re a MAN; yet accept the fact that you have no real clue on how to please a woman and be grateful for what little attention you give us.
We have the right to expect that whatever man we end up with is a decent fucking human being and will treat us with respect, love and actually want us because we have a brain in our heads and not just great bodies.
We are not obligated to lower our standards so man-children like you have a chance at a good woman that you can’t handle anyway. So get yourself to a library, school, read a damn book and learn that it isn’t all about you and getting a woman to serve your needs by erasing her own.
concise history of race relations in the US

concise history of race relations in the US
Originally uploaded by bleu_woulfe
I found this online… and it’s about as concise as I can be about the total racial fail found around friends internet spaces lately.
Posted in black history, n-word, race wank, racism
The privilege of having health insurance
I’ve been watching and reading about the “debate” on national health care that’s going on in the US as someone who’s waiting for it to boil out of control or for someone to actually have a debate and stop screeching at the top of their lungs at every opportunity.
I’ve seen the folks who are disrupting meetings no matter what side they land on be it pro or con. This is not the way to get your point across people. It makes the opposing side look at you sideways and secretly signal for security to sweep you out the door.
I titled this the privilege of having health insurance because I was gobsmacked at how much drugs cost when you don’t have insurance yesterday. I say gobsmacked because I’m not someone who has to take meds constantly or has had serious medical issues in the 36 years I’ve been on this planet. I recently decided to get back on the Pill and I’ve always had insurance so I’ve never thought much of the $10, $15 or even $20 co-pay that I’d shell out every month. This time around I switched to Seasonale, a 3 month on, 1 month off extended cycle Pill and the first time I got it the pharmacy gave me the Generic Quasense. That only cost me $35, I went on my merry way for the next 90 days.
This time I asked for the name brand because of side effects and had to shell out $65. What stopped me cold was the cheerful information at the top of the prescription bag telling me I’d saved $195.00 because I have insurance. I had to text my partner because I just could not believe something as essential as a contraceptive could cost so much for an uninsured woman. Who the hell can afford to shell out $256 every three months in this day and age? Maybe a married woman, but she’s likely to have insurance from her job or her spouses job. The average person who is uninsured likely does not have that kind of money for medications, what the hell is wrong on this country when pharmaceutical companies can charge that kind of money for medication that is essential to some women.
But this makes me wonder about the woman who needs the Pill to stave off Fibroids, regulate her cycle or other reasons that aren’t purely for contraception. What about the woman who’s barely making a living wage from a job that may not offer insurance or may not cover something like contraceptives? What about the woman who may need to make the choice that month between the Pill and the electric and gas bills?
It sickens me that the drug industry has gotten to the point where they can charge such outrageous sums of money for drugs that the public needs. As for drugs the public wants, that’s a whole other story. When I read that triple digit number on my pharmacy bag, it firmly cemented the need for health care reform in this country. Those that want to keep the status quo are probably the ones benefiting the most from it.
If you haven’t made up your mind on this issue, I ask you to look into what it costs people who have no insurance for care or medication. Think about what you have and how lucky you are to have it; but also think about how it can be better for everyone in this country to be able to get health care when they need it and not only those with the privilege of being a card caring insured member of society.
What was that about Post Racial Society?
Help Verb Noire get to World Con!
We hate to say it but…
But Verb Noire needs to raise some cash to defray the expenses of WorldCon. We thought we could bridge the gap out of pocket, but money is tight and my kid’s face is expensive. So, we’re hoping book sales, merch sales, and anything else you guys want to suggest can make up the difference. We’re already putting together the second book (an anthology of short stories) and I was vaguely contemplating some sort of naming contest, but if that’s not what gets you excited then please suggest something. We really want to be there, but finding the money for attendance and such is putting a hurt on ye olde pocketbook.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Verb Noire
My Big Fat Opinion (reposted with author permission)
Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen
So I saw Transformers 2 yesterday…the rest of it is under a cut to avoid spoilers
Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized
A message from the Average Black Person by Elon James White (reposted w/Author Permission)
“A Message from the Average Black Person”
Via the Huffington Post (Would love to hear what you guys think – Sorry about the cut IT WONT WORK. And if you enjoy this please DIGG it - http://is.gd/1ev4T – and feel free to pass the link along!)
To Whom It May Concern:
Greetings. My name is Elon James White. I’mBlack.
I write this letter on behalf of a lot of people that fall into the category of Average Black People. (Yes, I capitalize it, as if it were a title.) I do not claim to represent them because that would be absurd. I really, truly don’t. I don’t even represent my circle of friends. At any point in time one of my Black buddies will, in fact, tell me to go to hell when speaking on concepts of race, politics, or religion.
I do, however, qualify as an Average Black Person. I am neither a part of the Black intelligentsia, nor do I fall into the category of your garden-variety street Negro. A lot of folks see Black people in one of these two categories. Normally, let’s be honest, it’s the latter.
I don’t qualify.
I do come from “the Hood.” That’s right. I am a born and bred Brooklynite raised in the middle of Bed-Stuy. If you aren’t familiar with Bed-Stuy, perhaps you have never listened to gangster rap. You’re probably also unfamiliar with Jay-Z, Biggie Smalls, or the thousands of songs that yell out “Brooklyn!” and then give a shout-out to Bed-Stuy. It’s fine. Just understand that Bed-Stuy has a primarily negative connotation and for many years was used in boasts to gain respect or fear because it’s an incredibly violent environment.
In other words, you could get shot, son.
Speaking of which, I am the son of a single mother. My father is in prison. My grandfather was a pastor and I grew up in the church. I, without shame, also enjoy fried chicken, watermelon, ribs, and orange soda. I can have an incredibly in-depth debate on the best five MCs ever. My credit isn’t great and I’ve been shot.
With facts like this I qualify as a stereotypical Black person right?
But I am also a computer programmer. I’ve been known to quote Nietzsche. I, on occasion, host dinner parties where I serve five-course meals, including a specialty of mine, White Truffle Tilapia (it’s delightful). I have the entire John Williams discography and wear a backpack that is emblazoned with the Thundercats insignia.
Those with one half of that story shake their head at the sheer mass of stereotypes I carry. Then those with the other half question if I even understand the Black experience at all. Some refer to me as someone who “made it out.” I currently live in Crown Heights. Some say “You’re not like the others.” Most people I interact with are very similar to me.
I am an Average Black Person.
So, as an ABP, I have a few requests:
Media.
Please stop referring to blacks as a monolith. I can’t possibly express to you the different types of Black people that exist. We neither move as an entity, nor do we move as three or four entities. For every Sharpton, there’s a Steele. And for every Sharpton and Steele there are a hundred folks in the middle. What we share is a past, which on occasion helps shape our view on things. Also? Obama is not a unicorn. Please stop acting like Obama and his family are magical in the Black community. Just because some of you may not have seen a Negro like this doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Lots of smart black folk living with their smart mates and their cute smart kids. So please remember. Obama? Not a unicorn. Black people? Not one voice: I don’t care what the supposed Black leaders try to claim.
Supposed Black Leaders.
Please stop speaking for us as if we were a monolith. This is not the 1960s. We don’t need a Martin Luther King, Jr. or a Malcom X. You speak for yourselves and your view on what’s happening. You also can’t police black people. There isn’t an us. Are there issues within the Black community? Absolutely, but it’s not everybody as much as it is certain groups, most time classes that are in need of help and focus. Hence you can’t speak for “Blacks.” There are people who need your help and don’t want you speaking for them. Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, could you please stop critiquing Obama simply to show you aren’t drinking the kool-aid? I get it. You’re sugar-free. Got it.
Critics Of Obama.
Hey, um…guess what Black people are not? A monolith. We are not holding Obama on a pedestal. Some critique him harshly (and personally I feel unjustly) and others love him. This is the case with every president. Obama is not the spokesperson for Black people. He is a symbol of hope. He is a symbol of opportunity in a land where opportunity for us seemed nonexistent. He’s a symbol of a fight where people cried and died and sacrificed in order for the opportunity for him to exist. But his actions are his actions and have to be judged. Just not four months after he walked in the door with one of the worst clean up jobs in the countries history. You may critique him without critiquing Blacks’ ability to critique him.
The hypocrisy of saying we are not One, and yet speaking for the exact group for which I justemphatically denied exists, is not lost on me. Perhaps there are Black people who absolutely want to be spoken for and referred to as if we were one big team. I acknowledge the possibility, but if this was the majority people like Dyson and Smiley would be way more important, and let’s be honest: they aren’t. I hope that my message is clear. After reading this, the next time you talk to a Black person you can feel comfortable in now knowing with every fiber of your being that you have no clue what they think or feel based on their skin color.
But if they’re wearing a Soulja Boy shirt you may disregard this essay and judge them immediately
Posted in PSA, President Obama, black men, black scholars, black women, end of a troublesome word | Tags: Election2008, Faux news, President Obama, PSA, race
New Bacardi ads show what real ugly looks like, and it’s not the women in the ads
*Note:Links auto play obnoxious music*
Can someone translate this page or get an email address to send a note to them? They are the dipshits behind the Bacardi Get an Ugly Girlfriend ad campaign. I found this via ShapelyProse…
I got no words for this… I’m hoping it’s a poor attempt at satire, or something not sanctioned by Bacardi since the site isn’t even in English but damn am I seeing red over it. Here’s an excerpt from Kate Harding’s post..
“This is how the patriarchy and the beauty ideal collude: we are supposed to see these women and be so stunned that they aren’t thin, white, blonde, able-bodied, and perfectly symmetrical that we can only call them ugly. We’re supposed to look at these pictures and say “At least I’m prettier than her.” We’re supposed to view our female friends as accessories in our true life goal, which is to look hot for men. There are hot women, and there are ugly women, and if you’re not the hottest woman in the room, you’re automatically the ugliest.
The appalling part of these ads is not the women; it’s the blatant misogyny. Once you take off your Patriarchy Blinders (patent pending), the charge of “ugly” doesn’t even begin to make sense. If you saw these picutres without any text surrounding them, what would you think of these women? Even with the pernicious text framing them as objects of derision, this ad doesn’t work on me: these women are straight-up pretty. Pretty, stylish, and flirty even. I guess they have some of that self-esteem that’s been going around lately.”
Posted in Fat Acceptance, end of online civility, feminism
Roger Ebert is my new hero
Roger Ebert is my new hero
I think its a good exercise in critical thinking and people should actually read what he’s written rather than reacting with histrionics about look, another liberal is picking on O’Reilly and Fox news.
*snagged from liberal_talk
Bill O’Reilly has been brought low by the same process that afflicted Jerry Springer. Once respected journalists, they sold their souls for higher ratings, and follow their siren song. Springer is honest about it: “I’m going to Hell for what I do, and I know it,” he’s likes to say. O’Reilly insists he is dealing only with the truth. When his guests disagree with him, he shouts at them, calls them liars, talks over them, and behaves like a schoolyard bully.
I am not interested in discussing O’Reilly’s politics here. That would open a hornet’s nest. I am more concerned about the danger he and others like him represent to a civil and peaceful society. He sets a harmful example of acceptable public behavior. He has been an influence on the most worrying trend in the field of news: The polarization of opinion, the elevation of emotional temperature, the predictability of two of the leading cable news channels. A majority of cable news viewers now get their news slanted one way or the other.
Much has been said recently about the possible influence of O’Reilly on the murder of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder. Such a connection is impossible to prove. Yet studies of bullies and their victims suggest a general way such an influence might take place. Bullies like to force others to do their will, while they can stand back and protest their innocence: “I was nowhere near the gymnasium, Sister!” A recent study of school shootings found that two-thirds of all the shooters were victims of bullying, and perceived themselves as members of persecuted minorities.
What are TV shouters telling their viewers? They use such anger in expressing their opinions. Who are they trying to convince? They’re preaching to the choir. Their viewers already agree with them. No minds are going to be changed. Why are they so mad? In a sense they’re saying: You’re right, but you’re not right ENOUGH! I’m angrier about this than you are! Viewers may get the notion that there’s unfinished business to be done, and it’s up to them to do it.
How can one effect change? By sincere debate and friendly persuasion? O’Reilly sets the opposite example. He brings on guests who represent the “enemy,” doesn’t seriously engage their beliefs, and shouts: Be quiet! I’m right and you’re wrong! I stand for good and you stand for evil! I’m not exaggerating. Sometimes those are the very words he uses.
O’Reilly shouts at Barney Frank
O’Reilly represents a worrisome attention shift in the minds of Americans. More and more of us are not interested in substance. The nation has cut back on reading. Most eighth graders can’t read a newspaper. A sizable percentage of the population doesn’t watch television news at all. They want entertainment, or “news” that is entertainment. Many of us grew up in the world where most people read a daily paper and watched network and local newscasts. “All news” radio stations and TV channels were undreamed-of. News was a destination, not a generic commodity. Journalists, the good ones anyway, had ethical standards.
In those days, if you quoted The New York Times, you were bringing an authority to the table. Now O’Reilly–O’Reilly!–advises viewers to cancel their subscriptions to a paper most of them may not have ever seen. In those days, if the wire services reported something, it probably happened. Today the wire services remain indispensable, but waste resources in producing celebrity info-nuggets that belong in trash magazines. Advertisers now seek readers they once thought of as shoplifters. If nuclear war breaks out, the average citizen of a Western democracy will be better informed about Brittny Spears than the causes of their death.
O’Reilly shouts at Phil Donahue
I remember radio stations that provided variety during the day. News, music, variety shows, soap operas, nighttime comedy and drama, sports. All mixed up together. At night, a sleepy-voiced announcer presided over classical music, jazz, or torch songs. On Sunday mornings, WGN in Chicago had a guy who played pop tunes on a Mighty Wurlitzer. They weren’t concerned about a tune-out factor. Millions of Americans watching Ed Sullivan saw opera singers as well as Elvis and the Beatles. Orson Welles might come out and perform a little Shakespeare before the trained dogs and the acrobats. Ed introduced every act in the same tone of voice–his only tone of voice, possibly. He wasn’t trying to sell us on anything. He didn’t talk like it was supposed to be good for us.
Now it’s “more music and less talk.” Or no music and all talk. Or all news and nothing else. Or all sports talk People aren’t in the habit of searching the dial. Talk radio used to feature talkers who discussed things in general. Now most of them are political. Howard Stern is one of the few smart enough to win listeners who are actually interested in whatever he happens to say. It is hard to conceive of the 38 years during which millions of people “from coast to coast” woke up and tuned in NBC for Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club, “coming to you live from the Tip-Top Tap in the Allerton Hotel, high above Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.” They went to sleep listening to, “From the Cinegrill Lounge of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on beautiful Hollywood Boulevard, swing and sway with Sammy Kaye!” When I got to those cities, I made it my business to visit the Tip-Top Tap and the Cinegrill Lounge. Don McNeil was still in business, still issuing his “last call for breakfast.”
O’Reilly shouts at Geraldo Rivera
Gone. All gone and almost forgotten. And the audiences gone too, those who sought companionship rather than goading. There is little comfort to be had from today’s polarized shouters. They are discontented, and they think you should be, too. They inspire fear and suspicion. There is a conspiracy, and you are the target. Dark forces are at work. There was a time when ordinary Americans would have been deeply offended by the way O’Reilly speaks about their President–any President.
Sometimes O’Reilly is compared with Father Coughlin, a popular far-right radio commentator in the 1930s who fanned the flames against Roosevelt and warned about immigration and “foreigners,” by which it was understood he meant primarily Jews. O’Reilly objects to such a comparison, and certainly there is no reason to consider him anti-Semitic.
But a team of media researchers at Indiana University studied every editorial broadcast by O’Reilly during a six-month period and found a similar nativist cast. Among the findings of their paper published in the Journal Journalism Studies was this one:
According to O’Reilly, victims are those who were unfairly judged (40.5 percent), hurt physically (25.3 percent), undermined when they should be supported (20.3 percent) and hurt by moral violations of others (10.1 percent). Americans, the U.S. military and the Bush administration were the top victims in the data set, accounting for 68.3 percent of all victims.
In their analysis, the researchers concluded:
The same techniques were used during the late 1930s to study another prominent voice in a war-era, Father Charles Coughlin. His sermons evolved into a darker message of anti-Semitism and fascism, and he became a defender of Hitler and Mussolini. In this study, O’Reilly is a heavier and less-nuanced user of the propaganda devices than Coughlin.
What were those “same techniques?” The Indiana team quoted an earlier study:
The seven propaganda devices include:
* Name calling — giving something a bad label to make the audience reject it without examining the evidence;
* Glittering generalities — the opposite of name calling;
* Card stacking — the selective use of facts and half-truths;
* Bandwagon — appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to follow the crowd;
* Plain folks — an attempt to convince an audience that they, and their ideas, are “of the people”;
* Transfer — carries over the authority, sanction and prestige of something we respect or dispute to something the speaker would want us to accept; and
* Testimonials — involving a respected (or disrespected) person endorsing or rejecting an idea or person.
These techniques, first listed in the 1930s, paint an uncanny portrait of what you can see and hear any night on the O’Reilly Factor.
Using analysis techniques first developed in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, [professors] Conway, Grabe and Grieves found that O’Reilly employed six of the seven propaganda devices nearly 13 times each minute in his editorials. His editorials also are presented on his Web site and in his newspaper columns.
I wonder which one of the seven he didn’t use.
A Serial Bully is defined as one who takes behavior first employed in childhood and carries it forward into adult life, at home, in the workplace, or both. Here is what the British website bullyonline has to say:
The serial bully appears to lack insight into his or her behaviour and seems to be oblivious to the crassness and inappropriateness thereof; however, it is more likely that bullies know what they are doing but elect to switch off the moral and ethical considerations by which normal people are bound. If bullies knows what they are doing, they are responsible for their behaviour and thus liable for its consequences to other people. If bullies don’t know what they are doing, they should be suspended from duty on the grounds of diminished responsibility and the provisions of the Mental Health Act should apply
O’Reilly shouts at the TelePrompter
The first technique cited on the Indiana list above is Name Calling. In using this practice Bill O’Reilly reminds me of columns Sydney J. Harris of the the Chicago Daily News liked to write, containing lists of terms headed “You say” and “I say.” Here are some of mine:
I say Liberal. You say Far Left.
I say Far Right. You say Conservative.
I say Biased. You say Fair and Balanced.
I say Democratic party. You say Lunatic Lefties.
I say Right-Wing Wingnuts. You say Republicans.
I say Creationism. You say Intelligent Design.
I say Environmentalists. You say Tree-Huggers.
And on and on and on. If generally neutral terms were used (Conservative, Liberal, Democrat, Republican) every discussion wouldn’t be determined by the terms used to open it. That would lose viewers. Good. It would be healthier for the body politic if they just watched mainstream television.
Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club. A kinescope of a live radio broadcast. Close your eyes. Don never shouted.
Posted in Uncategorized
So sick of the scary black man lie being used as a cover up by stupid white women
… with the imaginary black man kidnapped me tale that’s been used lately. This time? Stupid bitch was $250 short on her drug deal but sent text messages to her family saying she’d been raped, kidnapped, beaten, forcibly shot up with the dopes.
The next time someone tries to sell me the line that we live in a post-racial society? I’m cramming this and every other story about the invisible black man who rapes/kills/kidnaps hapless white women right down their goddamned throats.
Posted in Uncategorized
My $2.00 worth on White Privilege
Proof positive that people have too much time on their hands
For all the people who think POC Fans of Sci Fi didn’t exist until the internet? GTFO of my sci fi you dumbasses
Stolen off LJ from kittie_kattie
I have a new level of non existance: Apparantly PoC didn’t start getting into sci-fi/fantasy until the interent showed us the way. Seriously? What the fuck is that shit?
I am particularly wanting shoutouts from people who do not live in the US and who have still managed to read genre fiction.
I’m tired of people trying to render us invisible unless they have been given a memo about our existences.” ~ delux_vivens.
I’ve failed to effectively discuss RaceFail 09′, and I’m thoroughly, entirely past fashionably late on discussing it, but the sheer stupidity of the idea that POC weren’t fans UNTIL the internet astounds me. Well, not in that I can’t believe it way, but in the someone actually let that come out of their mouth and actually thinks its a plausible explanation? Here’s a newsbite you silly people, just because you don’t see it? Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because you don’t see alot of people of color at conventions doesn’t mean that we are not fans of Sci Fi, etc.
Learn a lesson and realize your validation means fuck all to us. We have been existing and will still exist whether or not you realize it, see it or acknowledge it. I was raised on Star Trek original series, Battle Star Galactica, read comics till I fell asleep, dreamt of traipsing amongst the stars well before some of you probably were around. Stop thinking that if you say something enough its going to become true. Stop thinking we need your hey, I see you there kind of validation to go on with our daily lives.
We don’t need you to co-sign on the fact that black folks like something other than hip hop, malt liquor, soul food and blaxpoitation films.For the last time WE DON’T NEED YOU OR YOUR VALIDATION TO EXIST!
Posted in Karnythia, White privilege, activism, black history, fandoms, omgwtfh, race wank, racism | Tags: Karnythia, SF Fen of Color
New show, I want to save your life is utter tripe and creepy
Did I mention how much I love Kate Harding? Well I do, because I got this link to Feministing’s article on just how creepy that new show I want to save your life is.
I keep seeing the ads for this show everywhere, and frankly it disgusts and creeps me out. This guy is following these women around, watching everything they do, eat, etc and correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that stalking someone?
These women aren’t obese, or honestly all that fat. The woman in the adverts I’ve seen around town seem to be average. Not particularly skinny but not omg you’re gonnna diiiiieee fat either.
I’m so sick of the idea that women are community property to be molded into others image of what’s acceptable, normal and desirable. I’ll be happy when the fashion industry burns to the ground for perpetuating these unattainable “norms” that only silicone, plastic surgery and starvation can achieve.
Posted in Fat Acceptance, activism, advertising, feminism
What is Guerilla Gardening?
Lush is promoting Guerrilla Gardening with Seed Bombs

What is Guerilla Gardening?
The concept of Guerilla Gardening was formed on the mission to transform abandoned lots and neglected pieces of land in the middle of concrete jungles, into something of beauty. Guerilla Gardeners perform random acts of gardening. They target vacant lots, railway land, under used public squares and back alleys – any piece of land that could use a LUSHer environment.
Guerilla Gardeners around the globe are reclaiming the streets one concrete slab and neglected piece of land at a time.
Ready, Set, Grow!
Seed bombs are a great way to reach areas that may not be easily accessible. We encourage you to find these locations in your city and toss a Seed Bomb, watch it grow and make it greener and more beautiful. Unexpected flowers in unexpected places make everyone’s day!
How to make a Seed Bomb:
Seed Bombs are the ultimate tool for any Guerilla Gardener. All you need is clay, soil, seeds, water and a bit of love!
Ingredients:
5 parts* clay
3 parts* compost soil
1 part* seeds (its best to use seeds native to your land)
1-2 parts* water
Large bowl
*Parts refer to any form of measurement size you want, cup, mug, black LUSH pot.
Directions
Step 1: Combine all ingredients, except the water, into a large bowl and mix well until ingredients are combined.
Step 2: Slowly add 1-2 cups water and mix until thick (similar consistently to cookie dough).
Step 3: Roll the mixture into quarter size balls and let sit for 2-3 days until completely hard
Step 4: Toss onto an empty piece of land and watch it grow!
Posted in Uncategorized
Palimpsest Train Adventure kickoff concert
Palimpsest Train Adventure kickoff concert
Life Force Arts Center
3148 N Lincoln Av.
Chicago, IL 60657
$10 – Purchase tickets online.
with S.J. Tucker and author Catherynne M. Valente
More info here: http://sjtucker.com/chicago.php
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: popelizbet, s00j
Promotion Post – Verb Noire
What can Brown do for you?
Karnythia speaks up about the Great SF Race Fail of 09′
A note to those who want to claim.. but I didn’t know it was racist!

For the edification of the few dumbasses who still want to claim.. but I didn’t know (insert phrase/imagery/well known historical fact) had a racist connotation! Really!!!! Here’s some facts for you:
1. Watermelons + black folks = RACIST IMAGERY Saying you had no idea? Makes you out to be a dumbass racist, or at the very least a total dumbass who doesn’t know any history.
2. Monkeys + black folks = RACIST IMAGERY For example.. the now infamous Delonas cartoon in that rag the NY Post
3. Calling a grown man or woman boy, gal, or anything other than their names… racist you fuckwads. Example: McCain calling Obama “That One” during the 2nd debate
4. Wearing blackface… NOT OK, NOT OK, NOT FUCKING OK. It wasn’t ok when it was an accepted form of “entertainment” and it sure as fuck isn’t OK now. Just don’t do it (I’m looking at you JAPAN)
5. Tossing around images of Nooses, bonus points for throwing in the words lynch, lynching, lynchmob. In case you need an example.. the photoshopped piece that went around suggesting a “solution” to the Obama problem.
6. Lots of verbiage that should just stop being used. Nigger obviously, porchmonkey and its variants… coon, coon dog, and the phrase knowing your place. Doing it for a laugh or trying to say well black say it why can’t I will get you a bitchslap for your troubles.
Anything I’m missing?
The first and last bit on that NYPost cartoon that’s causing an uproar
Yes… I heard about the NY Post editorial cartoon. Not posting at length since I’ve said what I’ve got to say all over the internets yesterday. I also don’t want to even conceive of what kind of arguments could be had over it here. Instead I give you what I sent the Post:
To whom it may concern at the NY Post:
I’m sure I’m not the first or last person who will write in outrage over the Sean Delonas depicting a chimpanzee being shot. All I can say without devolving into filth, flarn and filth is that you and your papers higher ups should have known better than to let that garbage sit out for the world to see. You can defend it to the end, and claim it was in reference to the chimpanzee attack in Conneticut all you like, but when the words in the panel talk about signing the stimulus bill, which has NOTHING to do with the animal attack? You’ve failed to be able to use that as an excuse. I’m sure there are Post readers who are defending this trash, but honestly can you not do a simple equation to see where this outrage is coming from? Blacks have been compared to monkey’s in the past, our President is black and he just signed a stimulus package. Hmm, can you see what I see now defenders of this garbage? I’m not going to waste my time trying to persuade you folks at the Post, but I do hope you realize that you have failed to be edgy, relevant or even amusing with this pitiful attempt at political satire. Try again, and try using someone with a higher intelligence quotient than a chimp. It might be funny.
[Initials]
Chicago, IL
That’s all I got to say about it here. I’m not giving it any more press either by linking. Want to see it? Google is your friend.
Drunken Negro face cookies? O_o;;; WHAT!
Baker in NYC sells these cookies and cannot for the life of him see what people are upset about. Are you fucking kidding me? I refuse to post a picture but here’s a link to the story:
LaFayette French Bakery in Greenwich Village is selling Drunken Negro Face cookies.. omg what?
BOYCOTT THIS RACIST FUCKWAD. BOYCOTT BOYCOTT BOYCOTT
or better yet… EXTERMINATE EXTERMINATE
Girl starved, beaten for being too fat?!
OMG What the fucking fuck is wrong with people? Never mind, he’s a sick controlling abusive fucktard. Seen via wondersheep’s LJ and Kate Harding’s take on it for Shapely Prose
The article on his arrest can be read here. What the fuck… he beat her for getting peas and corn!?!! Not candy, not chocolate, not soda… but peas and corn.
I’m so over humanity right now it’s not funny.
Full story after the jump: Read More…
Posted in Uncategorized
Democracy server patch update notes… v44.0
US Democracy Server: Patch Day
Version 44.0
President
- Leadership: Will now scale properly to national crises. Intelligence was not being properly applied.
- A bug has been fixed that allowed the President to ignore the effects of debuffs applied by the Legislative classes.
- Drain Treasury: There appears to be a bug that allowed loot to be transferred from the treasury to anyone on the President’s friends list, or in the President’s party. We are investigating.
- Messages to and from the President will now be correctly saved to the chat log.
- Messages originating from the President were being misclassified as originating from The American People.
- A rendering error that frequently caused the President to appear wrapped in the American Flag texture has been addressed.
Vice President
- The Vice President has been correctly reclassified as a pet.
- No longer immune to damage from the Legislative and Judicial classes.
- The Vice President will no longer aggro on friendly targets. This bug was identified with Ranged Attacks and the Head Shot ability.
- Reveal Identity: this debuff will no longer be able to target Covert Operatives.
- Messages to and from the Vice President will now be correctly saved to the chat log.
- A rendering bug was affecting the Vice President’s visibility, making him virtually invisible to the rest of the server. This has been addressed.
Cabinet
- There was a bug in the last release that prevented the Cabinet from disagreeing with the President, which was the cause of a number of serious balance issues. This bug has been addressed, and we will continue to monitor the situation.
Judiciary
- Many concerns have been raised regarding balance issues in the Supreme Court. This system is maintained on a different patch schedule, and will require longer to address.
- A large number of NPCs in the Judiciary were incorrectly flagged “ideological.” We are trying to identify these cases and rectify this situation.
Homeland Security
- Homeland Security Advisory System: We have identified a bug in this system that prevents the threat level from dropping below Elevated (Yellow). The code for Guarded (Blue) and Low (Green) has been commented out. We are testing the fix and hope to have it in by the next patch.
- Torture: This debuff is being removed after a record number of complaints.
- Item: Large Bottle of Water is incorrectly generating threat with TSA Agents when held in inventory. We are looking into the issue.
- Asking questions about Homeland Security was incorrectly triggering the Chain-Jingoism debuff.
Economy
- Serious on-going issues with server economy are still being addressed. We expect further roll-backs, and appreciate your help identifying and fixing bugs. We can’t make these fixes without your help.
PVP
- Reputation with various factions are being rebalanced. The gradated reputation scale was erroneously being overwritten by the binary For Us/ Against Us flag.
Quests
- The” Desert Storm” quest chain was displaying an erroneous “Mission Accomplished” message near the beginning of the chain.
- The quest chain that begins with “There’s no Cake like Yellow Cake” and terminates with “W-M-Denied” has been identified as uncompletable, and has been removed.
Reagents
- Many recipes that currently call for Crude Oil can now be made with Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Ethanol reagents. We hope to roll out even more sweeping changes in the next patch.
Events
- The “Axis of Evil” event is drawing to a close. Look forward to the “Rebuilding Bridges” event starting in January.
Posted in Uncategorized
We did it, we did, we did. Thoughts on watching history unfold…
Context for those people offended at Dr. Lowry’s comments during benediction
For those folks offended by Dr. Lowry’s words… I can’t change that you are offended that is your right but there’s nothing I can do about it. Don’t come crying to me with your offense at it. If you are so bothered, then take it up him. I’m just giving you some context so you can think about just why you might be offended. I’d posted this in my livejournal but after comment flames I decided to not even try there any more.
For your rememberance, the quote is:
“[W]hen black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”
That is NOT, I repeat and repeat again, is NOT, based on race. Lowry was not talking about white folk, or Asian folk, or Native Folk, or Latino folk. It was NOT ABOUT RACE. That bit? Is based on a popular saying among black people in the 50s and 60s about colorism. It was popular when my mom was a kid, and it was a mean thing. Long story short? It was talking about black people’s variant skin tones and the preference of lighter tones over darker ones. It went as such:
“If you’re white, you’re alright. If you’re red, get ahead. If you’re yellow, you’re mellow. If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re black, get back.”
Basically? The darker you were as a black person, the more you sucked. It’s the kind of shit spawned by the pencil test and the paper bag test and all that other shit that people used to make light skinned black folk think they were better cause they were light. And Dr. Lowry? was playing on that. That’s what the laughter was about.
Posted in Inauguration 09, President Obama, black history, black men | Tags: Election2008, Inauguration 2009, Maligning of the Folk, politics, President Obama
The closing inaugural benediction as given by Reverend Lowry
The closing benediction as given by Reverend Lowry on 20 January 2009 after the swearing in of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand — true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we’ve shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you’re able and you’re willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.
Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around — (laughter) — when yellow will be mellow — (laughter) — when the red man can get ahead, man — (laughter) — and when white will embrace what is right.
Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.
AUDIENCE: Amen!
REV. LOWERY: Say amen –
AUDIENCE: Amen!
REV. LOWERY: — and amen.
AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)
END.
Posted in black history, black men, black scholars | Tags: Inauguration 2009, politcis, President Obama
President Obama’s Inaugural speech 20 January 2009
Now that he’s President Barack HUSSEIN Obama…
I’m so proud right now. So damn proud of our country, it’s people and of our new President. Yes, it was so good to hear Do you, Barack HUSSEIN Obama … and not have them skirt the issue of his middle name. It was good to hear him swear his oath to this country and it’s people. Hell, I’m not going to lie, I’m ecstatic that we are seeing the beginning of a new era today and ending 8 years of oppression based on lies, fear mongering and hate.
Now, the party will go on for a couple of days and we’ll all revel in a new era. However, the real work needs to be started. It needs to begin and continue with the people who mobilized to put President Obama in the Oval Office. This work does not rest solely on his shoulders or Vice President Bidens’ but on every single person in this country.
Whether you voted for him or not, President Obama is now our leader. I would hope that those of you that spent so much time hating, disbelieving and being obstinate in your views of this man, his ideals and the ideals of the party he is with can put aside that hatred to achieve the greater good. Which is restoring this country to the great nation it once was. I’m not saying the US is down for the count now, but we’re going to need some crutches for a while.
I ask those of you who are on the “other side of the aisle” to put down your animosity, your vitriol and join with your brothers and sisters in rejoicing today, and every day that we are starting with a new administration. One that says here, this is what I did today… that says I need you, the people to help me get to the mountain top.
If you cannot do that, it’s your loss and I honestly feel sorry for you. This nation was not built on the ideals that party loyalty means lack of patriotism or less love for this country because we don’t share the same ideals or values. We are all American’s and we all must work to redeem this country in the eyes of each and every person who has suffered, each person lost to war, hate, lack of money, education, poverty … the list goes on.
I do not come to admonish those who do not join me in cheering our new leadership, I come to offer the olive branch of our common humanity and ask you to join me in working together for a better day, month and years to come.
I’m off to celebrate more watch the parade and I hope you can do so with joy in your heart and hope for our future.
Posted in Uncategorized
Taking an inaugural break – Be back later!
Posted in Uncategorized
MLK on the possibility of a black president
I have a dream… and this year it’s coming true
Please help the people of Emmonak. You, yes you can help these poor folks.
LJ’er Karnythia hipped me to this sad tale, and I have no words for the fury rising over the fact that these people may starve to death or freeze to death while their Governor sits on her ass and reviews their plea.
Letter tells personal side of Emmonak fuel crisis
ENERGY CRUNCH: REsident had villagers describe their plight as they make do, or do without.
By KYLE HOPKINS
khopkins@adn.com
(01/14/09 22:12:32)
Don’t read the comments, but read the story about people in this country who are starving and cold and alone.
With a phone and a computer keyboard, Nicholas Tucker has turned a spotlight on his neighbors in the western Alaska village of Emmonak by telling stories of people trapped in a food and fuel crisis.
Earlier this month, Tucker asked fellow villagers to describe what Alaska’s rural energy crunch meant to them. He says he talked to a 70 year-old husband who cries when he’s alone because he can’t feed his family, and a young wife who can’t sleep because she doesn’t know where she’ll get her next gallon of heating fuel.
In a long letter, he spelled out the heart-rending plights of 25 households, identified only by initials. He sent it to politicians, a food bank, a Native corporation and rural newspapers. Alaska Newspapers Inc. published the letter on its Web site earlier this week, and statewide public radio followed with an interview. By Wednesday, the story of Emmonak’s plight was spreading across the blogosphere, and state officials and others were scrambling to figure out what was going on.
Division of Community and Regional Affairs Director Tara Jollie said the state has been working with the community, and that she had talked with city officials there this week.
“I’m not getting the same sense of crisis in the tone of voice, but I am hearing from all parties that it’s a real tough time,” she said.
It’s unclear whether things are worse in Emmonak than other villages in the hard-hit Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, or whether a single eloquent voice struck an Internet nerve.
In any case, by Wednesday Tucker’s phone rang non-stop as churches offered to fly food to the village and strangers from the Lower 48 asked how they could help. The local Native store gave him a calling card Wednesday that Tucker planned to use to call the state.
“Have you heard anything about Emmonak? Is there anyone that can help us,” he wants to ask..
Three factors have hammered the Yup’ik village — home to about 800 people at the mouth of the Yukon River — over the past year.
Local commercial fishermen didn’t make any money from king salmon — a staple of the economy — Tucker said, and an early freeze-up forced the village to miss its winter fuel barge.
Then the cold snap hit.
Tucker says he suspects other nearby villages are hurting in the same way.
Heating oil $11 a gallon?
Jollie, the head of the Community and Regional Affairs Division, said she got copies of Tucker’s letter from the Emmonak city clerk and Angoon Sen. Albert Kookesh.
“We’re working as fast as we can to be thoughtful and responsive. There’s fact-finding that has to happen in any situation,” she said.
A rural subcabinet appointed by Gov. Sarah Palin will review the Division’s findings at a special meeting planned for Friday, Jollie said.
Palin’s rural advisor resigned in October. Palin spokesman Bill McAllister said possible replacements have been interviewed, but as far as he knows, no one’s been selected to fill the job.
Emmonak leaders hoped the state would declare a fuel emergency in the village when an early freeze the kept the barge carrying heating fuel and gasoline from arriving in October. But state officials said such declarations are reserved for natural disasters, such as a storm destroying village fuel tanks.
Heating oil currently costs $7.68 a gallon, according to the Emmonak village corporation that sells the fuel.
But that price could soon rise, because the corporation had to start flying in extra heating fuel last week to make up for the missed barge.
Former Emmonak City Manager Martin Moore estimated in December that flying in the oil could raise the price as high as $11 a gallon.
‘not messing around’
The same day heating oil began to arrive by plane, Tucker put out a call over VHF radio asking people to tell him their stories. More than 20 people replied.
In the close-knit village where some people are embarrassed to have their private lives laid bare, Tucker identified the families by their initials.
He described a single father with five children living off moose meat alone: “Right now, we can’t eat during the day, only at supper time. And, it is still not enough. If there had been no school lunch, our kids would be starving.”
Another passage described a family of six: “(The husband’s) family has been out of food for quite some time now. Their one-year-old child is out of milk, can’t get it and he has no idea when he will be able to get the next can. He has been borrowing milk from anyone he can.”
The next day, Tucker gave his letter to local officials who gathered for a meeting on fuel prices.
It calls for someone, anyone, to fly food into the village over the next several months. “I’m not messing around. If we can get a massive air lift, do it,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“I don’t care how it’s done,” he said.
food or fuel
The Food Bank of Alaska sends food from Anchorage to Emmonak to be distributed through the Emmonak women’s shelter, said executive director Susannah Morgan.
Families can pick up a box of food per month, with the amount depending on how many people live in the household.
Morgan said the shelter currently has food to distribute and that she recently talked to shelter officials. Both sides agreed, she said, that not enough locals knew about the resource.
“It’s not unusual for people who haven’t been used to fighting hunger not to know where the hunger resources are,” she said.
Tucker plans to ask the shelter to increase its orders.
Meantime, Alaska Newspapers Inc. — a subsidiary of the regional Calista Corp. — is launching a food drive for the village.
As Tucker notes in his letter, other villages may be struggling in the same way as Emmonak, said Managing Editor Tony Hall. “I really have to believe this is going on in a lot of other villages too, but we just haven’t heard.”
Tucker said churches in Fairbanks are also planning to send food and money by air, while people from the Lower 48 are calling him to ask how they can help.
A local Catholic church plans to hold a miniature potlatch this weekend — an event where people can bring a few bags of ramen or boxes of pilot bread for their neighbors, Tucker said.
Many of the people he talked to told him they’re choosing between food and fuel.
Tucker describes himself as a longtime advocate for fisheries and social issues in the region.
Asked what started Tucker on his mission, his wife Dorothy described a conversation she had one night with the couple’s 8-year-old son.
The boy told her he was hungry.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry we got nothing. We got no cereal we got nothing, so he went to bed hungry,” Dorothy said.
Later, she talked to her husband.
“I told him I was really sad, and I was thinking of other people too. Some just have one meal a day, save the rest for the next day.”
Daily News reporter Tom Kizzia contributed to this story.
Posted in Uncategorized
Is racism dead?
Would someone put a muzzle on Bobby Rush already!
I am so goddamned sick and tired of hearing clips of Bobby “Everyone’s a racist” Rush flapping his gums about how the vacant (I’m considering it vacant until the DNC allows someone to take it) seat left by our President-Elect has to go to a black politician.
Now Burris is going to DC anyway and will be turned away, further embarrassing himself and the people of Illinois. I’m infuriated that he had the utter fucking gall to claim Manifest Destiny (Lord’s will) in his song and dance at a church yesterday. He’s not the Junior Senator from IL. No one wants you Burris, you were appointed by the dirty, scratch that… filthy Blagojevich and no one wants to allow this to happen. Granted there may be no legal way to block it, but he can’t think anyone will take him seriously or that he can ever have a hand in politics again after Blago gave him the political equivalent of the clap?
I… I’ve got no words for the anger this is invoking in me. I’m so sick of these assholes in our local and state government making the Land of Lincoln a laughing stock around the world I could scream.
Posted in Uncategorized
On Twilight, Romance and Antifeminist ideas, via ShapelyProse
Shapely Prose has a very good article on just how fucked up the relationship dynamic in Twilight really is.
In full disclosure, I’ve never read the books and frankly have no interest in them, especially after reviews and the omg wtf is this shit reaction after the last book in the series was released. But I can relate to the dissection of how fucked up the relationship (if you can call it that) is between the two main characters.
Spoilers after the jump in case there is anyone out there whose reading and hasn’t read the books yet.
Read More…
Posted in Blogroll, Kate Harding, Shapely Prose
Advocate cover – Gay is the new Black, excuse me?!
Gay is NOT the new Black* For Fuck’s sake. Karnythia posted about the Advocate Cover that is generating much talk about it’s idiocy.
*Caveat ahead= Don’t tell me it’s supposed to be a fashion thing. Read the whole cover, subtitles and all and then come back to comment.
I am entirely, totally fucking through with _________ is the new Black (rights movement) just cut this shit out, like 10 years ago. Just fucking stop it.
Posted in black & queer
You know its cold when…

You know its cold when…
Originally uploaded by bleu_woulfe
even the pigeons are huddling for warmth near the eternal flame.
Posted in Uncategorized
Call in Gay to protest prop 8? I don’t think so
Now some brilliant idiot thought up the idea of “calling in gay” to protest Prop 8’s passage.
Seen in LJ Bisexual Community
My personal opinion is its a really stupid fucking idea and will do nothing to help repeal Prop 8. Where was all this energy before the damn thing passed? Where did all of this outrage go when there was a chance to truly campaign against Prop 8?
So sick of this bullshit now.
Posted in Uncategorized
Why defend the Freedom of Icky Speech?
Why defend freedom of icky speech?
This is a bit long. Apologies. I’d meant to talk about other things, but I started writing this reply this morning and got a bit carried away.
I have questions about the Handley case. What makes lolicon something worth defending? Yaoi, as I understand it, isn’t necessarily child porn, but the lolicon stuff is all about sexualizing prepubescent girls, yes? And haven’t there been lots of credible psych studies saying that if you find a support community for a fetish, belief or behavior, you’re more likely to indulge in it? That’s why social movements are so important for oppressed or non-mainstream groups (meaning everything from the fetish community to free-market libertarianism) -and why NAMBLA is so very, very scary (they are, essentially, a support group for baby-rapists.)
The question, for me, is even if we only save ONE child from rape or attempted rape, or even just lots of uncomfortable hugs from Creepy Uncle Dave, is that not worth leaving a couple naked bodies out of a comic? It is, after all, more than possible to imply and discuss these issues (ex. if someone loses their virginity at 14, and chooses to write a comic about it) without having a big ol’ pic of 14 yr. old poon being penetrated as the graphic. I also think there’s a world of difference between the Sandman story-which depicts child rape as the horrific thing it is (and, I believe, also ends with a horrific death for the pervert, doesn’t it?) and depicting child rape as a sexy and titillating thing. I think there is also a difference between acknowledging children’s sexuality, and pornography about children that is created for adults. Where on this spectrum does something like lolicon fall? And, again, why do you, personally, think that it should be defended?
Thanks for reading my ramble, and for being accessible to us, and engaged in things like CBLDF. Mostly, they are a fantastic org., but I’m really on the fence with this case…
Jess
Let me see if I can push you off the fence, a little. I’m afraid it’s going to a long, and probably a bit rambly answer — a credo, and how I arrived at that.
If you accept — and I do — that freedom of speech is important, then you are going to have to defend the indefensible. That means you are going to be defending the right of people to read, or to write, or to say, what you don’t say or like or want said.
The Law is a huge blunt weapon that does not and will not make distinctions between what you find acceptable and what you don’t. This is how the Law is made.
People making art find out where the limits of free expression are by going beyond them and getting into trouble. Read More…
Posted in fandoms, lj-cross posting | Tags: CBLDF, free speech, Neil Gaiman
Seriously… cut this Black Friday shit out right fucking now.
You know why I say that? Because no one should die for a goddamn sale on crap that’s probably left over from last year.
All of you fucking nutcases that trampled this poor guy to DEATH so you could save a few dollars? Get a goddamned grip on yourselves and go home. You all ought to be ashamed, motherfucking ashamed of yourselves.
I’m done with humanity for the day.
Posted in Uncategorized
Neil Gaiman weighs in on the Christopher Handley Manga case…
Neil Gaiman talks about the Christopher Handley trial where a comic reader is being attacked for owning what some perceive as “child porn”. O_o?!
It’s bad enough people want to regulate what can and can’t be sold but now they are going after his private collection of manga? Context on how the case got started is:
Mr. Handley’s case began in May 2006 when he received an express mail package from Japan that contained seven Japanese comic books. That package was intercepted by the Postal Inspector, who applied for a search warrant after determining that the package contained cartoon images of objectionable content. Unaware that his materials were searched, Handley drove away from the post office and was followed by various law enforcement officers, who pulled him over and followed him to his home. Once there, agents from the Postal Inspector’s office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, Special Agents from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and officers from the Glenwood Police Department seized Handley’s collection of over 1,200 manga books or publications; and hundreds of DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks; seven computers, and other documents. Though Handley’s collection was comprised of hundreds of comics covering a wide spectrum of manga, the government is prosecuting images appearing in a small handful.
What I want to know is what prompted that postal inspector to assume he was getting obscene materials? Had he opened packages before? Did he assume any and all things coming in from Japan had to be that cartoon porn? I’m wondering why no one is looking into the motivation of the Postal Inspector to get a search warrant for a package sent to a private consumer?
I hope the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund and Mr.Handley win their case, and I hope this sends a message that adult comics aren’t obscene.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: CBLDF, manga, Neil Gaiman
Olbermann Special Comment on Prop 8
Pass it on
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: lgbt rights, No on 8
Finally done with my first real project!
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