independent alternatives to the malestream media
My friend David Carr lays it out visually in today's NYT:
That's one way of dissecting her rhetoric. But I think he gives her too much credit. Her function in society is actually something more akin to this:
Some people thrive on negative attention the same way my garden thrives when I add ripe compost to it. It' a living, I suppose. But not a very good one.
Moving forward, the best thing to do is simply to ignore her. What impact or significance does she have anyway?
In these early soundings for 2006, Republicans face the potential reemergence of a gender gap that Bush narrowed in his 2004 reelection. While men split evenly when asked which party they intend to support in November, women prefer Democrats by 57% to 31%, the survey found. Democrats hold a commanding advantage not only among single women, a traditional Democratic constituency, but married women, a swing group that broke toward Bush and the GOP in 2004.
I love all of this short, but sweet editorial in last week's Texas Observer. But I'm especially fond of this succinct little summary of the Scorched Earth Presidency:
Consider all that we’ve lived through in the past few years. We’ve got an administration that lied its way to a never-ending war in Iraq (and a wimpy Congress that went along with it); that talks about promoting democracy around the world as it engages in and outsources torture; that collectively went shoe-shopping as Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We’ve got a military budget that tops more than $500 billion a year; an economic policy best described as Whatever You Do, Don’t Tax the Super-Rich; and a ratio of CEO to average-worker pay that puts us right up there with countries we snidely refer to as “Banana Republics.” What else? Oh, yes. We’ve got a brand new domestic spy program, can’t forget that. As James Risen, a New York Times reporter and author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, has written, the Bush presidency “has been the first in modern history in which the Pentagon served as the overwhelming center of gravity for U.S. foreign policy.” In other words, “One of the most lasting and damaging legacies of the Bush administration is the militarization of American intelligence.” (In some circles, that’s what’s known as a golpe de estado or coup d’etat.)
A drive-by commenter just reminded me ... some of our creations from last September were pretty good:
Whither Powerline?
Very simple prediction
They'll blame Bill ClintonNow Tom's defenders
must paraphrase the MC:
Please don't hurt Hammer.Two things that mix well,
Irony and corruption -
The Bugman is stung.Hammer gets nailed
Blames his fate on biased pols
Takes one to know one?
Can you beat any of those?
Unlike last year's April Fool's Day parody, where I was responsible for 80-85% of the content, I contributed very little to Purblind Jism. If it counts for something, I did come up with "fellate my turtle in the ass with a soggy piece of overripe ham." Scott Lemieux concocted most of the rest of that post.
The Heretik, Hubris, Norbizness, Amanda Marcotte, and Chris Clarke all made major contributions. Assitance was provided by Michael Bérubé, Jill Fillipovic, and Patriotboy. Like last year --and like most blogs-- the best entertainment may be found in the comment sections.
Walk outside your domecile right now. Ask the first person you see if they know who Ben Domenech is. Now ask 'em if they've ever heard of Red State.
Okay, then.
This'll probably fall into that category of posts Ezra currently finds ye olde waste 'o' time, but I'm still going to call your attention to "How a Husband Should Handle His Wife's Submission" --an article featured on Focus on the Family's online magazine. Here's a little taste of it:
...a wife is afraid to submit to her husband for two reasons:
- Reason #1: Her husband thinks submission is only a noun, and he uses it as a weapon.
- Reason #2: Her husband has himself not made the choice in his heart to be fully submitted to God.
Okay, okay! I know that God did not say a wife needs to submit to her husband only if he proves to be worthy. Submission is a matter of trusting in God more than trusting in man. But a wife will more easily make the choice to submit to her husband if she knows that he has made the choice to submit to the Lord. It will be a sign to her that it is safe to submit to him. And the goal here is to help her, not force her, into proper alignment.
Many a wife has a hard time trusting that her husband is hearing from God if he doesn’t appear to be submitted to God in the way he treats her. Wives know that after the verse “Wives, submit to your own husbands” (Ephesians 5:22), the Bible says “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (verse 25). Christ doesn’t neglect, ignore, demean or abuse the church. He doesn’t treat her rudely or disrespectfully. He never acts arrogantly or insensitively toward her. Nor does He criticize her and make her feel she is not valuable. Rather He loves her, protects her, provides for her, and cares for her. So while God gives the husband a position of leadership in relationship to his wife, He also requires the price of self-sacrifice from him.
To be fair, the author of the article draws an important distinction between "submit" and "obey" and notes that a husband's demand for "submission" no longer makes it a true "submission." Still, I'm a little confused, as the article does not give a concrete example of what an act of "submission" might be. Is "submission" voluntarily crawling on the floor and barking at the moon (and being at peace with that) BEFORE your husband bashes your head in to make you do it?
[via Kriston Capps]
Has the War on Christmas put a cramp in your month-long spending orgy? Well, if you're looking for unique CHRISTMAS gifts, you could do worse than shop the virtual giftshops of any number of GOVERNMENT websites. That way, you can avoid the horror of being wished a secular Happy Holidays greeting.
The Library of Congress has quite a nice selection of Christmas-themed prints. I'm particularly fond of this already-framed chromolithograph. I'm also thinking of sending a few friends these exquisite Christmas cards. Collectors may also enjoy the 2005 Library of Congress Christmas Ornament.
Searching for an old-fashioned Dickensian Christmas? Generations of Californians (my family included) have enjoyed the annual Bracebridge Dinner at Yosemite National Park's Awahnee Inn. Christmas festivities are also held at Grand Canyon National Park and dozens of other U.S. national parks.
Shop PBS has a rather large selection of Christmas-related items, including:
Foodies planning on cooking and shipping yultide goodies will find a set of useful tips from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And a terrific set of Christmas Day recipes may be found here, courtesy of the State of Michigan.
If you're searching for something else, FirstGov points to several other government Web sites that sell Christmas gifts and treasures.