feminist blogs

It's no wonder those a-holes in Washington don't give two shits about poor people or the healthcare crisis. They're so far removed from the average person WHO PAYS THEIR EFFING SALARY!

Congress Members Get $4,000 Pay Raise

Fortunately for members of Congress, their pay isn't tied to their approval ratings. Lawmakers in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the pay they have lived with since January 2006.

That 2.5 percent increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100.

The salary figures were published in Tuesday's edition of the Federal Register.

I call BULLSHIT!

(p.s. i don't condone violence. that kitty's shooting blanks. like tom cruise. har har.)

Naturally, the news had to bring in a lyin' ass Republican to counter the Edwards Tour on Poverty. This time around we have RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, your basic evil, entitled white guy speaking from Washington. The first thing he mentions is the haircut. *sigh... Then he says Edwards is out of touch with poverty in America - as statement dripping with such irony it makes my eyes hurt - and starts talking about how big Edwards house is and blaming him for the health care crisis in North Carolina because he used to sue doctors for medical mistakes.

Then, wouldn't you know, he mentions the bible. The Republicans' favorite line in the whole thing is "the poor will always be with us" and he trots it out, implying that we have no obligation to help the poor because Jesus says they can't be helped, and there's the implicit understanding amongst the Republican rich that anyone who wants a job has one, and if you were a good, "god"-fearing Xtian you wouldn't be poor anyway. I'm glad this guy isn't here in KY, because I might have to hunt him down and scream at him. Edwards even used the Gordon Gekko line in saying that the view in Washington has been "greed is good" and he resoundly rejects that. The Repubs don't have a leg to stand on here, put they keep throwing labels at Edwards that more accurately apply to themselves. When you haven't got a conscience, it's easy to lie like that, especially when you have no respect at all for your intended audience. Edwards does have the distinction of having used the "L" word in the debates for 2004. He said of Bush and Cheney "they will absolutely lie about anything." The person who will stand up and call shrub out for being the Liar that he is gets my vote, hands down.

Duncan next hammers the sore spot for this area - liquid coal plants. A lot of people in this area think liquid coal is going to save Eastern Kentucky, but they're only going to do what the coal industry has always done here - make the mine owners rich, get a bunch of miners killed, and destroy our environment. It won't do shit for poor people, even if they're directly employed by such a plant.

This area is still struggling to get plumbing and potable water to our poorest residents. (The coal industry has destroyed our ground water. You should see the sludge that comes out of the faucets in some places - or wells, if they don't have faucets.) The average income in the area Edwards visited today is $12,000 dollars a year. The drop-out rate is the highest in the state and therefore in the country. 1 in 4 people in Kentucky is disabled, and a large part of the population is simply unemployable, even for the most menial jobs because they are illiterate. Yet Floyd county has more millionaires per square mile than any other county in the country, because there are a few VERY wealthy mine owners who maintain residences here. Nowhere in America is the "2 Americas" analogy more accurate.

It's not a visible difference, though. That table full of guys in trucker hats and overalls at the local Dennys might have a combined worth that would make Donald Trump drool. Rich people here don't necessarily look rich, and their houses are hidden up in the hills behind gates and stone walls. The money isn't visible here.

Now here's where I get in trouble with my middle-class family...

The poverty in Eastern Kentucky is in. your. face. I can't begin to describe to you the conditions some people live in here. My best analogy is that Eastern KY is like an Indian reservation, without the sovereignty or government aid. We're isolated geographically and we have no infrastructure, so nobody gives a shit about us. They're trying to create tourism in this area with native arts and crafts, golf ranges, skate parks, ATV trails, horse trails and our new elk population, but tourists need things like hotels and restaurants. Except for fast food and an occasional Chinese smorgasboard or Mexican place, there's no such thing. The best meal in the area is supposedly the catfish at the Lodge at Jenny Wiley State Park. There is some higher culture in Kentucky, including fine restaurants, hotels and art galleries, but it's in Lexington and Louisville on the other side of the state.

Let me tell you about the hotels. There's a former Holiday Inn that one of my many, many cousins redecorated with a gun during a party. He was away for a few years. There's a motel that used to be the home of a satanic vampire cult that made the national news when it's "leader" - who was something like 17, and whose mom was a part of it and having sex with his friends - murdered his girlfriend's parents in Florida. There's one other place that Hillary Clinton got to stay in, which I understand is passable, but not great. So if you're coming to visit, bring a tent. We've got an abundance of open mountain land, as long as you don't mind copperheads, rattlesnakes (like the huge one my dad killed in the front yard last week) mountain lions (like the one my cousins down in hollow saw up on our side of the mountain the other night, so we can't let the dogs out after dark) bears, deer, tics and the aforementioned giant elk. No bees, though, so it's getting hard to grow anything. Don't get me started on the foreign insects and flora that have been brought into the area which all caused greater problems than they might have solved.

A friends husband once said that I lived in the middle of nowhere, but my reply was that I have to drive 3 hours to get to the middle of nowhere. That's why my family had to camp at the hospital in Lexington when my mom had two brain surgeries and couldn't be left alone. There are fabulous hospitals even in this area, though, because everyone is sick. Diabetes, heart disease and lung ailments (from exposure to coal) abound. Then there are the accidents, like the toddler who was burned this week when he dropped his sippy cup on some black powder some boys had been playing with, and the car that went driving down the state highway in front of my place shooting randomly the other night. Did I mention that we are the reason oxycontin is called "hillbilly heroin?" It's the number one form of recreation for our young people. We have the same pervasive problems with domestic violence and rape that are found on reservations, too.

Most people are older, poorly educated even if they finished school, and they're deeply indoctrinated in the local religion which is reactionary far beyond anything justified by the actual text of the bible, but they don't know that because the preachers they listen to are illiterate, too. Not just unschooled in theology, I mean can't read a word at all.

The middle class here is tiny, and even a county employee can be the biggest fish in this pond. The bigger fish get angry that this area is portrayed as impoverished. These are proud people, but frankly, they're in denial. You should see what passes for a newspaper here. It's more like a church newsletter, with columns by paperboys and adults who can't write, or even conjugate a verb. They won't touch anything controversial and there's no "investigative reporting" though we sorely need some for reasons I'll get into later on. I don't usually read it because it makes me want to hurt somebody.

Finally, the government recently decided not to put a bio-weapons lab in London, KY because they wouldn't be able to get anyone to work in it that would actually consider living here. The kicker for me is that people here were upset that they weren't going to get a lab full of anthrax and ebola in their back yards because it would have created jobs. Get that? They'd rather have a job doing scutt work around bio-weapons than live.

Is there really anything left to say after that? More power to you, John. Even if you don't succeed, at least you've got people thinking about the poor.

SiCKO Part 1 of 2
SiCKO Part 2 of 2

(thanks boo!)

I just made the mistake of walking down O'Farrell on my way home from work and was confronted by nine million morons lined up around the block to be the nine millionth moron with a $500 iPhone.

You know, if even HALF of Americans gave even HALF a shit as much about ending the war or violence against women or poverty or governmental corruption or what have you as they do about Paris fucking Hilton and Lindsay fucking Lohan and owning the latest fucking gadget I might have a glimmer of hope for humanity. As it stands, I do not.

Enjoy being good little consumer robots, assholes, but feel free to get the fuck out of my way and stop blocking the goddamn sidewalk!

Happy Friday, y'all! Bzzt.

Remember when Denice Denton, the UCSC chancellor, committed suicide? Well SF magazine did an in depth story recently that gave a lot of information the Chronicle chose to ignore. What led to the chancellor's suicide might not in fact have been entirely due to "a guilty conscience" as some have speculated, but a psychotic break triggered by relentless attacks, lesbophobia, sexism, and isolation.

The scandal, the scapegoats, and the suicide

The paper’s coverage of what was now being widely referred to as the UC compensation scandal was in many ways an impressive display of watchdog journalism. The drama of the revelations triggered an almost Pavlovian cycle in state government and within UC, with each new finding generating a response—hearings, audits, policy reforms—followed by new stories. And the university never disputed the Chronicle’s assertion that it was not being above board in its compensation practices and was even circumventing its own policies. In February, at the first of two legislative hearings, Dynes personally apologized for UC’s failures. Later, he acknowledged its “culture of secrecy” and its history of “trying to get away with as much as possible and disclose as little as possible.”

In mid-January, however, without fanfare, the Chronicle published a story that appeared to backpedal on the financial aspect of the scandal. In a brief, cryptic piece, buried in the middle of the Bay Area section, Schevitz and Wallack reported that UC had by this time provided a full breakdown of the $871 million, and by its accounting, over half of the amount was clinical revenue paid to hospital administrators and health sciences faculty. Another $221 million was faculty pay for additional teaching and research and union pay for unusual shifts. Millions more was attributed to “compensation under special contracts” and speaking honorariums. All of these expenses, UC argued, while admittedly not included in the official wage and overtime budget—and therefore not transparent to the public—were legitimate and standard forms of salary.

UC also complained that the series left readers with an exaggerated impression of how much top-tier executives were getting. Its official report states: “While senior managers at the University have been the focus of the Chronicle’s stories, these senior managers received only $7 million, or less than 1 percent of the $871 million figure.” The $7 million figure did not appear in the Chronicle story, nor did the paper ever respond to UC’s charge that the focus on senior management had misled readers.

[...]

Reflecting on the whole experience, Greenwood finds one reality impossible to ignore: “It’s that three white men are left standing.” (She’s referring to Dynes, Darling, and Rory Hume, who replaced her as provost.) Janie Fouke, provost of the University of Florida and former dean of the college of engineering at Michigan State, goes one step further. She recently got a call from a headhunter representing one of the UC campuses for a job she declined to pursue. “Are you kidding me?” she asks. “Until that system learns civil behavior, I wouldn’t recommend any woman go to UC.”

You should read the whole thing.

from Iraq.

I remember Baghdad before the war- one could live anywhere. We didn't know what our neighbors were- we didn't care. No one asked about religion or sect. No one bothered with what was considered a trivial topic: are you Sunni or Shia? You only asked something like that if you were uncouth and backward. Our lives revolve around it now. Our existence depends on hiding it or highlighting it- depending on the group of masked men who stop you or raid your home in the middle of the night.

On a personal note, we've finally decided to leave. I guess I've known we would be leaving for a while now. We discussed it as a family dozens of times. At first, someone would suggest it tentatively because, it was just a preposterous idea- leaving ones home and extended family- leaving ones country- and to what? To where?
[...]
The problem is that we don't even know if we'll ever see this stuff again. We don't know if whatever we leave, including the house, will be available when and if we come back. There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends… And to what?

It's difficult to decide which is more frightening- car bombs and militias, or having to leave everything you know and love, to some unspecified place for a future where nothing is certain.

I'm so sorry.

rich people caught cheating to get richer!

can you believe it? and here i thought rich people worked their fingers to! the! bone! to earn every penny they send to their offshore tax shelters while greedy immigrant housekeepers and single moms try to steal it out from under them by asking for minimum wage and healthcare. oh the humanity!

Prosecutors Crack Insider-Trading Ring

The defendants included husband-and-wife lawyers, registered representatives, compliance personnel and hedge fund portfolio managers who improperly relied on hundreds of tips during five years of illegal trading.

Investigators have broken up what they call one of the biggest Wall Street insider-trading rings since the 1980s — a sweeping, $15 million scandal that involved power brokers at some of the nation's top financial firms and two lawyers.

In announcing the case Thursday, authorities described a criminal operation that used insiders at Morgan Stanley and Co. and UBS Securities LLC to steal valuable secrets from the companies. Prosecutors also alleged a Banc of America Securities LLC broker accepted cash kickbacks and two former representatives of Bear Stearns & Co. obtained UBS inside information.

"This conduct didn't occur in obscure boiler rooms — but rather at what are commonly considered `top tier' Wall Street firms," said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the Division of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

She said "there is hardly a duty on Wall Street that the defendants charged today didn't breach."

yeah. and they expect us to believe that handing everyone's social security over to wall street is in our best interest. "the market will take care of everything" they assure us. corruption "doesn't pay" and "the market won't bear it" they say. well i think that's the biggest load of horsehit i've heard all day. if "the market won't bear it" and capitalism is so great for everybody, how come extreme poverty is growing in leaps and bounds despite increased worker productivity? oh, that's right - coz most rich people are selfish, greedy motherfuckers!

via David Swanson.
(Goddess bless him, he has been a tireless warrior in the fight against this criminal administration.)

The impeachment movement is uniting and expanding. We're joining with many other organizations to launch Impeach07, a coordinated series of actions aimed at impeaching Bush and Cheney through widespread public protest, creative dissent, media activism, education, and lobbying:
http://www.impeach07.org

Bush and Cheney have misled this nation into an aggressive war, spied in open violation of the law, and sanctioned the use of torture -- among numerous other offenses. Newsweek reported in October that a majority of Americans favor impeachment, and in January that 58% said they wished the Bush administration were over. "Only a great popular upheaval," Howard Zinn said recently, "can push both Republicans and Democrats into compliance with the national will."

We need to end one war and prevent another, and impeachment is the way we will do it.

On March 17, the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, Impeach07 will mobilize for a
March on the Pentagon to demand peace and impeachment. Go here to get involved:
http://www.marchonpentagon.org

On March 18-20, Impeach07 will organize local events for peace and impeachment around the country:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

Impeach07 is also planning:

A "Make Hip Hop, Not War" bus tour promoting peace and impeachment on March 19 - April 21:
http://www.hiphopcaucus.org

A boycott of major corporations that are profiting from the Bush administration's policies, making a killing off of killing, on April 15- 22:
http://www.wearenotbuyingit.org

And a nationwide day of protest:
Impeachment Day, April 28, 2007:http://www.a28.org

Initial participating organizations represent hundreds of thousands of antiwar, military family, peace, youth and women activists and lawyers. They include: After Downing Street, Backbone Campaign, Center for Constitutional Rights, Citizens Impeachment Commission, CODE PINK Women for Peace, Constitution Summer, Consumers for Peace, Democrats.com, Democracy Rising, Gold Star Families for Peace, Green Party of the United States, Hip Hop Caucus, Impeach the President, ImpeachBush.org, Military Free Zone, National Lawyers Guild, Patriotic Response to Renegade Government, Progressive Democrats of America, Independent Progressive Politics Network, Velvet Revolution, and World Can't Wait: Drive Out the Bush Regime.

Organizations that want to join should write to jacob@a28.org

Sorry I haven't posted much in the past few days. I've been lost on Flickr. If you aren't familiar with the site, it's a place where you upload all of your pictures and get to know other people by the pictures they post. It has another, "underground" use, though and that's what I've been doing. There's a collection of artists there showing their work and networking in different ways. I'm particularly drawn to the areas where people post pages from their sketchbooks, and I posted a few drawings from mine. I want to make the most of the service before someone fucks it up the way Google did YouTube.

YouTube gained popularity because it was a place to post snippets of stuff like the Daily show and the Colbert Report. Then Google bought it and unsubbed all the people that uploaded the content that brought people there in the first place. It went from a great underground form of communication to being a commercial enterprise concerned with Digital Media Rights and advertising. Ugh. In much the same way, Flickr has become a place for certain artists to communicate with each other. There are other sites for that purpose, just as you can get Daily Show clips at Comedy Central, but it isn't the same. The sharing aspect isn't there, or it doesn't flow as naturally.

Anyway, Flickr is not fond of the artists. They want strictly photographers. They aren't kicking people off the site, but they are leaving people out of the search engines somehow. Before my usual critics start yelling that it IS a commercial enterprise and they can do anything they want, stop and listen for a minute. This isn't about what they can do and it isn't about rights. It's about the Commons springing up organically in unusual places and how companies would garner more support if they'd ease up and go with the flow. There's more than one way to be in a band - you can be a whiny bitch like Metallica that pisses and moans over every penny, or you can be a laid-back cultural icon like the Grateful Dead and nurture your fan base. Money is only one measure of value. There's something to be said for generosity and caché.

Anyway, I'm having fun cruising people's sketch books and related sites about pens and pencils and Moleskines, and I'm learning a lot about art, about people, about what I like and don't like. I learn from looking at the way others do their art, and maybe somebody will gain something from seeing mine, meager though it might be. It's fun to how differently people can use something as simple as black ink or a box of paint.

I also spent the day watching the HEX marathon on BBC America - damn! Ancient curses, lesbian ghosts, Witches, fallen angels and cute guys... it's everything Buffy should have been but never was. I just hope they don't screw it up - they may have killed one of the main characters already and I'm having flashbacks of the way VANISHED killed my beloved and committed suicide in one swift act of stupidity.

What are you all doing this week end?