Virginia Slims

I read and loved Dennis Lehane's The Given Day (I can't find a link to the paperback, but I got it a Costco.) I recommend it to you all. The book is about a Boston cop that is forced to go undercover to monitor subversives while finding himself drawn to the power of his own Boston police union. I loved this passage which we all might recognize in some way, but it made me think of Ash in particular:

Mondays and Wednesdays brought another meeting of the Roxbury Letts followed by a boozy gathering at the Sowbelly Saloon. He spent his nights with them and his mornings with a curl-up-and-cry-for-your-momma hangover, nothing about the Letts being frivolous, including their drinking. Bunch of Sergeis and Borises and Josefs, with the occasional Peter or Pytor thrown in, the Letts raged through the night with vodka and slogans and wooden buckets of warm beer. Slamming the steins on scarred tables and quoting Marx, quoting Engels, quoting Lenin and Emma Goldman and screeching about the rights of the working man, all he while treating the barmaid like shit.

Read it.

Do I Even Need to Mention the Fascism Angle?

I was going to write about this Washington Times article that asserts:

The further irony is that the United Auto Workers, which extracted the featherbed contracts a quarter of a century ago that doomed GM and Chrysler, will now hold a majority stake in Chrysler and a slightly smaller stake in GM.

And point out that, while I don't know everything about the UAW and the auto industry, I am very surprised to learn that UAW was negotiating sweetheart deals as late as 1984. If it could be said that any union contract "doomed" GM and Chrysler (but, oddly enough, not Ford) it would be fairer to say those contracts were negotiated more than a half-century ago, but that takes some of the sting out of the idea that the current workers/retirees from the Big Three are to blame for present day ills.

But then I read this comment and I realized that rational argument was not going to matter:

My Dad had a Fiat spyder when he was stationed @ Annapolis after Vietnam. He used to curse as only a Naval officer can about what an abject piece of crap it was. Then, he'd go inside & tell my Mom that since she was Italian, SHE should go out there & start it. It started every time for her. Doubt they've changed much since then. PS. I wouldn't buy LEMONADE from President Nero, let alone a car.

Yes, because your mother succeeded where your father failed, it is pretty obvious that Fiat is a bad car company. Screw Obama.

What Will Court Have to Say About This, Now?

Via Feminisiting:



More interestingly, what would her African women friends say about it?

Some Vindication At Long Last

I remember being yelled at when I suggested that the boys at LGM should do something about the half-naked woman that is advertising "edgy" Democratic whatever. I'm happy to say that the ladies at Feministing seem to agree with me that bloggers have some responsibility for what is advertised on their site.

Get Thee to a Nunnery

I don't usually write too much about celebrity gossip, but it's something I follow. I believe Wobs got me hooked on it. When we weren't trolling the net for Lordi videos, I'd hit up the celebrity sites. So I know what's what.

As I said, don't usually comment on this stuff here, but I had to make note of the Miley Cyrus (or, as I call her, Ciley Myrus) hubbub. For those not inclined to watch The View, read the gossip column in the local paper, or be American, Miley is a huge star with all the kids because of the Disney show Hanna Montana, which I have never viewed, but know all about. Because I'm American.

She has an interview in Vanity Fair wherein Annie Leibovitz took some photos, one of which feature some hot 15 year-old naked back action. You can view it here. Go ahead, I'll wait. Prepare yourself, though, it's pretty shocking. Back? Okay. Breathing regular again?

Apparently, a good portion of the America lives in a world where naked 15 year-old backs are something that should not be discussed, let alone shown to the world. Apparently, we're supposed to be very concerned about her fans. Apparently, every girl between the ages of 6 and 19 are going to be running out and demanding that Leibovitz take portraits of their naked backs. Apparently.

The reason I write about this and the kicker for me is that the fine folks at Disney have gotten into the act. The current "line" is that Miley was somehow tricked into taking these "racy" photos or pressured into by Leibovitz.

A Disney spokeswoman, Patti McTeague, faulted Vanity Fair for the photo. “Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines,” she said.

BOOM! The fine folks at Disney are very concerned that someone would manipulate a young woman in the pursuit of profits! The horror!

And Disney is not stopping a tut-tutting the situation, the are going to put Miley on ice for awhile.

"You won't be seeing her for a while," a highranking Disney employee was overheard saying this weekend at a luncheon in LA, according to Page Six. "The company is keeping her away from events and wants her to keep a very low profile for the next four to six months. They're trying to keep her contained."

I honestly don't know where to go with this.

I want to write about the two Americas -- the one where we thought we were past sending young women to the country to have babies to avoid embarrassing the family (let's call this "Blue America") and the one where even the exposure of 15 year-old back is enough to warrant the country treatment ("Red America.")

I want to write about the fact that if there is a single corporation that has done more harm to the young women of America to a greater extent than Disney, I'd like someone to name it. I was at a Girl Scouts meeting the other day (my only one and I am milking it) and the girls were discussing which characters from a musical or play they would want to be. One of them named "the girl lion from the Lion King." I thought about saying something at that point about how interesting it was that the whole movie was male focused, even though though a lion pride is heavily reliant on female lions to survive, to the point where we couldn't even remember the name of the "girl lion," but then other girls started aspiring to be like characters from Rent and my thoughts were taken in other directions. (Hello, fellow Girl Scout parents. Rent? Are you freakin' kidding me!?)

I also want to write about the exploitation of children for entertainment. Also about really crappy kids shows. About corporate control of female bodies. About teen sex. But I have work to do and other outrages piling up on my desk.

Progressive Eugene

The fine students here at the UO, well the ones in the vaunted "Pit Crew" that attend basketball games anyway, spent the better part of last night's basketball game "taunting" UCLA's center, Kevin Love, with the chants "Love is a faggot" and "Love is a pussy."

Despite my fervent wishes, I don't believe there was any irony intended, this was just the best they could come up with.

I am mollified only be the fact that this was not the most objectionable thing I saw yesterday. Surfing the sphere, I came across this, from Republican operatives.

This is the smallest consolation you can imagine.

The 10 Most Dangerous College Courses

Boffo crazy and high-larry-us.

FSM’s Second Annual ‘America’s Most Dangerous College Courses’

Jason Rantz

It’s been two years since I’ve begun investigating insipid, scary and yes, downright dangerous college courses – sometimes funded by tax dollars – and unfortunately, little has changed. Arrogant professors, protected by tenure and faint-hearted administrators, use their classrooms to spread their twisted views of America and its allies. Sometimes, entire courses are focused on anti-American views; other times, professors take time from non-political classes, such as math or Kinesiology, to complain about George Bush, the war on terrorism, social justice, and whatever it is that happens to bother them at the time of their rants. Consequently, students are not being taught properly and universities and colleges are robbing their students of the well-rounded educations they are paying for and deserve.

Go ahead and check out the courses. I knew it was good stuff when I read about "far-Left Senator Ted Kennedy" and NBC's recent move to the far Left, led by that noted-Trot Chris Matthews.

Wal-Mart Is a Pimp

According to feministing, these are on sale in the juniors section of Wal-Mart.

As Jessica says, "There's nothing quite like telling adolescent girls that they don't need to worry about finances since they have their very own moneypot between their legs."

Contact customer service here and corporate offices here: let them know that preteen vaginas aren't commodities."

I'd like to know who buys these for their daughter? Then again, three dollar underwear? Who cares what they say! Not that more expensive clothes for the pre-teens are much better, but at least not quite so crass about it.

Hardy Har Har

When Republicans forget there are cameras everywhere...



[UPDATE]:

This is how a Fox News website in Colorado reports the story:

HILTON HEAD, S.C. - It was a pointed, and poignant question.
"How do we beat the bitch?" a supporter asked Republican presidential hopeful John McCain during an intimate campaign gathering in Hilton Head, South Carolina Monday.
The "bitch" -of course- being Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner.
The question immediately drew laughter, and a noticeable blush from the Arizona Senator.
"May I give the translation?" McCain jokingly asked.
"I thought she was talking about my ex-wife," someone in the crowd shouted, just as McCain attempted to give a dignified response to the rather undignified question.
McCain responded by telling supporters that a recent poll showed him leading Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head race for president. “I respect Senator Clinton,” McCain said.

Poignant? How the f--- was that poignant?

And you can't search for this quote on the Townhall website because "one or more of these words has been deemed offensive."

Ah, the Good Ol' Days

Have you all seen the latest Coors commercial? I'd link to it, but it's not up on the Youtubes and you have to do a hellva lot of navigating to get to it on the Coors website. I know my crowd and you're way too lazy to find it. Go ahead. I dare you.

Anyway, it features a (white) man, his (white) friends, some (snowy) Rocky Mountains and a (yellow lab) dog. Mostly, it features a song. A song about how the world seems to be changing. Everything is changing. But I'm not going to go changing. I like the way I'm living. I've got my reasons why. I'm not going to go changing.

Now, ostensibly, the commercial is about the fact that Coors has been brewed the same way since nineteen-aught-diddly and they aren't going to change that. I guess the fine folks at Coors seem to think that the loyal Coors drinker might be worried that the Miller-Coors merger might result in some compromises to the fine brew that is Coors. This commercial will reassure them of that, I am sure.

Not-very-sub-textually, of course, is also the message that the fine folks at Coors, like you, are just a little tired of these queers demanding special rights, the blacks getting all uppity, and now the women got one of 'em running for president! Can you believe that! So, if you are a reactionary white male, boy have we got a beer for you!

Is it possible that what Coors is trying to assure the loyal Coors drink of is that despite the merger with Miller, Coors isn't going to go changing their very conservative social policies and "charitable" endeavors?

Yeah, By Which I Mean Fuck You Pig.

An exchange between the announcers during the Women's World Cup:

Female Announcer: Oh, that was a hard tackle. When I see something like that I shudder thinking of that brutal game in '99. I've said my jaw still hurts from one of those hits.

Male Announcer: Do you remember that game in '99? There must have been 23 fouls in that game.

Female Announcer: Yeah.

Male Announcer: I bet you still feel some of those hits.

Female Announcer: Yeah.