RIP Molly Ivins from clancy @ CultureCat - Feminism 31 Jan 2007 9:36 pm
This is terrible. We have lost such a brilliant woman. I don't know what else to say.
UPDATE: Norbizness has a much better tribute.
January, 2007 archives
from Elayne @ Pen-Elayne on the Web 31 Jan 2007 9:13 pm
[Misc]
RIP Molly Ivins
Damn and double damn. I know it was expected, but still. Damn.
In one of the pictures of Ivins my fellow bloggers have chosen to accompany their tributes (and there are many, she was a real hero and inspiration to so many of us), she looks a lot like Leah, at least to me.
Have I mentioned yet how much I tend to despise January, and am glad it's finally behind us?
In one of the pictures of Ivins my fellow bloggers have chosen to accompany their tributes (and there are many, she was a real hero and inspiration to so many of us), she looks a lot like Leah, at least to me.
Have I mentioned yet how much I tend to despise January, and am glad it's finally behind us?
from Elayne @ Pen-Elayne on the Web 31 Jan 2007 9:06 pm
[Misc]
Why Watching
March of the Penguins
at Home is So Much Fun
"...but more than that, this is a story of love..." - Morgan Freeman's narration
"...hot, hot penguin love." - Robin
"...but more than that, this is a story of love..." - Morgan Freeman's narration
"...hot, hot penguin love." - Robin
RIP, dear Molly from Lab Kat 31 Jan 2007 8:56 pm
[Misc]
My god. I'm not only sad, I'm almost sick.
Molly Ivins died today at 62, after fighting breast cancer since 1999. It had recurred twice since the intitial diagnosis and after being hospitalized recently, she was home under hospice care when it happened.
As more people become aware of the news, I'm sure there will be plenty written about her, most better than what I can say here. However, of my three biggest personal heroes - Molly, Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan - I actually met Molly Ivins, eons ago at a writing competition when I was a journalism student. I sat in rapt attention as this brash, funny, intelligent woman spoke to us honestly and amusingly about the journalism profession. Her description of Ross Perot as a "small man with the voice of a chihuahua" still makes me laugh to this day. However, what I remember most is she was the first person who made me really proud to be a writer, a journalist. She spoke of it being a noble profession and never stopped, even recently, calling on journalists to have a higher standard, to report only the facts, to find the truth. When I walked up to her afterward, I felt completely tongue-tied and almost turned around to leave, when she saw me next in line, grabbed my hand in both of hers and asked how I was doing. Although, it came out "Dahlin', how yew duin'?" In the written word, she spun sentences so well written, Harvard graduates wept. In person, she was your neighbor.
I've read just about everything she's written that I could get my hands on. And, she is one person my conservative mother and I can agree on. As my Mom said tonight, "I liked her because, even when I didn't agree with her views, she was never mean in her writing. She was smart and argued that way."
And, although it saddens me she gone, cancer runs in both sides of my family. I know the toil it takes on the person and those around them. Recent pictures of her made me wince. I know the look. She was still funny, but she looked profoundly sick.
She was only 62, younger than my Mom. She was proud to be female, a journalist and a Texan.
I wish her soul peace and the part of heaven with the largest margarita bar.
*bimbles off*
Update: Texas Observer's website memorial for Molly.
Molly Ivins died today at 62, after fighting breast cancer since 1999. It had recurred twice since the intitial diagnosis and after being hospitalized recently, she was home under hospice care when it happened.
As more people become aware of the news, I'm sure there will be plenty written about her, most better than what I can say here. However, of my three biggest personal heroes - Molly, Ann Richards and Barbara Jordan - I actually met Molly Ivins, eons ago at a writing competition when I was a journalism student. I sat in rapt attention as this brash, funny, intelligent woman spoke to us honestly and amusingly about the journalism profession. Her description of Ross Perot as a "small man with the voice of a chihuahua" still makes me laugh to this day. However, what I remember most is she was the first person who made me really proud to be a writer, a journalist. She spoke of it being a noble profession and never stopped, even recently, calling on journalists to have a higher standard, to report only the facts, to find the truth. When I walked up to her afterward, I felt completely tongue-tied and almost turned around to leave, when she saw me next in line, grabbed my hand in both of hers and asked how I was doing. Although, it came out "Dahlin', how yew duin'?" In the written word, she spun sentences so well written, Harvard graduates wept. In person, she was your neighbor.
I've read just about everything she's written that I could get my hands on. And, she is one person my conservative mother and I can agree on. As my Mom said tonight, "I liked her because, even when I didn't agree with her views, she was never mean in her writing. She was smart and argued that way."
And, although it saddens me she gone, cancer runs in both sides of my family. I know the toil it takes on the person and those around them. Recent pictures of her made me wince. I know the look. She was still funny, but she looked profoundly sick.
She was only 62, younger than my Mom. She was proud to be female, a journalist and a Texan.
I wish her soul peace and the part of heaven with the largest margarita bar.
*bimbles off*
Update: Texas Observer's website memorial for Molly.
RIP Molly Ivins from ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES 31 Jan 2007 8:52 pm
[Misc]
Let us praise Molly Ivins. She wrote beautifully, making something very difficult look deceptively easy: the combination of intelligence with guts and humor and compassion. She wrote with an earthy enjoyment and love of all humankind, including its follies, and she wrote with the courage to make any point she felt needed making, and the courage to make it as simply as possible. For all this she will be missed.
----
Picture via Terry.
Outrage and Take Action! from Pseudo-Adrienne @ Pseudo-Adrienne's Liberal-Feminist Bias 31 Jan 2007 8:44 pm
[Misc]
This is just outrageous bullshit committed against a young woman coming forward as a rape victim.
Gee, I wonder how many rape victims will go to the authorities after hearing about this story?
TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A college student who told police she had been raped was jailed for two days after officers found an old warrant accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest.Again, this stories highlights the bullshit behind the supposed exception for "religious convictions." In another words, these religious fanatics would rather protect the "right" of the rapist to spawn inside of his victim, and use her as a incubator-- she's raped all over again. Their belief that women and fertile adolescent girls are mere birthing-chattel trumps their obligation(s) to whatever profession they may occupy. Which is why these assbackward puritans should find other jobs, preferably in the clergy, because there they can freely guilt-trip, indoctrinate, and assault people with their bizarre superstitions all they want. Because perish the thought, they view women's bodies as something other than mere vessels for men-- even if some of them are rapists--, and sperm is more sacred than women's right to autonomy, and being treated as full human beings who have full decision-making power and agency over their lives and their own bodies. Women's and fertile adolescent girls' bodies are simply a means to further their religion's misogynist dogma. Go find a new fucking job or join the clergy! Feel free to take part in Planned Parenthood's 'Take Action' Campaign
While she was behind bars, a jail worker refused to give her a second dose of the morning-after contraceptive pill because of the worker's religious convictions, the college student's attorney said.
The 21-year-old woman was released Monday only after attorney Vic Moore reported her plight to the local media.
"Shocked. Stunned. Outraged. I don't have words to describe it," Moore said. "She is not a victim of any one person. She is a victim of the system. There's just got to be some humanity involved when it's a victim of rape."
Moore said the young woman was not allowed to take the second emergency contraceptive pill until Monday afternoon, a day late, after reporters called police and jail officials.
Tampa Police Chief Steve Hogue said the arrest led to a new policy Tuesday that tells officers not to arrest a crime victim who has suffered injury or mental trauma whenever "reasonably possible." The agency also apologized to the student.
"Obviously, any policy that allows a sexual battery victim to spend a night in jail is a flawed policy," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.[...]
Depressing… from Pseudo-Adrienne @ Pseudo-Adrienne's Liberal-Feminist Bias 31 Jan 2007 8:27 pm
[Misc]
Sydicated columnist Molly Ivins has died at the age of 62, after battling breast cancer.
According to the article she "skewered the political establishment and referred to President Bush as the 'Shrub'."
Requiem in Pace.
Dog-Eating
from Jenn @ reappropriate 31 Jan 2007 8:17 pm
God, when will this joke ever go away? Y’know, non-American eating habits aren’t that funny.
Here is a Mallard Fillmore comic strip from last week (courtesy of Angry Asian Man)
I’m really sick of American entertainment constantly harping on the dog-eating stereotype. Even though I’m not a native-born Chinese, I feel insulted because Chinese culture is a lot more in-depth and complex than the differences between our cuisine and American cuisine. And besides, characterizing Chinese culture as nothing but a bunch of weird, amoral dog-eaters isn’t more than a step or two removed from nineteenth century depictions of Chinese as barbaric rat-eaters (I looked for my scan of a political cartoon and couldn’t find it, unfortunately).
It’s not that Asian cultures don’t eat dogs or cats — it is a practice that is part of many Asian cultures. It’s that Americans use those practices to stereotype Asians as weird and foreign at best, and ammoral savages at worst. Non-Asians may even use these stereotypes to mock and discriminate against Asians in America, trying to get us to feel ashamed of ourselves or inferior to White America.
Yes. I’m really really tired of the dog-eating joke.
Honda Pilot Troll Commercial and American Indian Mascots
from Rachel S. @ Alas, a blog 31 Jan 2007 6:22 pm
While we are on the subject of minstrel shows and blackface, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss how widely accepted “redface” is in American culture. From the moment I saw this Honda Pilot commercial, I was struck by how similar the troll is to American Indian caricatures. In fact, I was watching the commercial when my partner came in and asked, “Is that supposed to be an Indian?” I said, no, but that’s what really bothers me about the commercial.
Below is a pciture of the Honda pilot troll commercial. Now I’m not passing judgement on this commercial by saying it is racist. Instead, I think it is useful to compare the troll to several American Indian mascots.
Here’s the Honda Pilot Troll…
Here’s an “Indian Chief” mascot costume that you can order from anytimecostumes.com
Here’s another costume, which is advertised in the “Animals and Mascots” section
Here are several random caricatures I found on the internet including the infamous Cleveland Indians “Chief Wahoo” mascot.
Bureaucratic rationality #5: A Dream Deferred edition
from Rad Geek @ Geekery Today 31 Jan 2007 6:13 pm
First the IRS ate your Christmas turkey. Now they are coming to crush your childhood dreams, too.
(Via Technology Liberation Front 2007-01-29.)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) - Brian Emmett's childhood fantasy came true when he won a free trip to outer space.
But the 31-year-old was crushed when he had to cancel his reservation because of Uncle Sam.
Emmett won his ticket to the stars in a 2005 sweepstakes by Oracle Corp., in which he answered a series of online questions on Java computer code.
He became an instant celebrity, giving media interviews and appearing on stage at Oracle's trade show.
For the self-described space buff who has attended space camp and watched shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center, it seemed like a chance to become an astronaut on a dime.
Then reality hit. After some number-crunching, Emmett realized he would have to report the $138,000 galactic joy ride as income and owe $25,000 in taxes.
Unwilling to sink into debt, the software consultant from the San Francisco Bay area gave up his seat.
There was definitely a period of mourning. I was totally crestfallen,Emmett said.Everything you had hoped for as a kid sort of evaporates in front of you.
Normally you would think that winning a contest would be the only way that people other than the hyper-rich might have a chance to experience space tourism in the near future; right now the cash price of a space trip is prohibitiely expensive for anyone else. So prohibitively expensive that just paying the tax on that much income would be prohibitively expensive for anyone else, too.
But if the tax bureaucrats didn't make sure that you pay for your once-in-a-lifetime chance a trip to the stars, at a rate assessed according to the current, prohibitively expensive cash value of that trip, then who would? Best to keep the rabble away from a chance at being astronauts anyway; hopes and dreams can be dangerous things.
Bureaucratic rationality, n. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy without permission.