In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Month: February 2005

Busted Monitor

I’m blogging from my ancient laptop, coming in on dial-up at a whole 48Kbps. It always seems that as soon as I take care of a massive bill, another lines up to take its place.

Today’s issue: Sometime during the night, my monitor blew out. If any local bloggers or readers have an extra monitor you can sell for a reasonable price, send me an email. If not, no updates for awhile.

UPDATE:
Someone reminded me about the university salvage center, the place where they take all the outdated furniture, hardware, and the like to sell to the public. I might tool on down there tomorrow and see what they have.

Not-So Tiny Bubbles

The house came with a rarely-used Jacuzzi tub, a bath that leaves one not so much clean as gritty. I’ve tried a million ways to clean the damn jets to keep them from spitting out flakes of soap scum and other goop. Tonight I decided to consult the internet for cleaning instructions.

This is what one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and one tablespoon of Comet will do in your whirlpool tub.

For the spatially-challenged, the bubbles reach an average height of one foot above the edge of the tub, topping out at an impressive two feet at its highest points. I barely missed a flooding catastrophe this evening.

Your webmistress, living on the edge.

Supreme Court To Rule on 10 Commendments Cases

Does the display of the Ten Commandments at a courthouse consistute an unconstitutional government establishment of religion? Well, the phrase “I am the Lord thy God” does a bang up job of that.

My courthouse has no such sign, but there is a mobile nativity scene carried on the back of one man’s pickup truck every Christmas parked in front of the courthouse, initially a protest against the county’s decision to remove the nativity scene from the courthouse lawn. However, this is an expression of his own religion, carried out on his own time using his own money. He neither represents me nor my government the way that a state-sponsored slab of rock declaring who or what my god consists of does when plunked down in front of the courthouse.

What is the importance of displaying the Ten Commandments in front of a legal building?

Supporters of keeping the monument on the Capitol grounds say the traditions of Western law are rooted in the Ten Commandments. America can’t scrub the role of religion from its history, said Kelly Shackelford of the Liberty Legal Institute, which defends religious freedoms and First Amendment rights and filed briefs in support of keeping the monument.

“What they’re really advocating on the other side is a religious cleansing from our history,” Shackelford said. “It should be treated with respect as our part of history, not some new form of pornography that has to be banned from our public arena.”

…Van Orden acknowledges the role religion has played in law but believes most people view the Ten Commandments from a religious perspective, not a historical one.

State Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Catholic who keeps a photograph in his office showing him meeting Pope John Paul II, will defend the Texas monument. “I hope and believe the United States Supreme Court is not going to force agnosticism upon the people of this state and this country,” Abbott said. “The First Amendment was never intended to remove all religious expression from the public square.” Abbott noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s marble courtroom also has a carving of Moses holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

Van Orden rejects that comparison, noting the carving also shows other historical lawgivers, including Hammurabi, Confucius and Muhammed, as well as the secular figures Napoleon and Caesar Augustus.

Alternative methods of finding ways to continue the Ten Commandments displays have surfaced. One such method includes sectioning off a piece of courthouse property to be rented or sold to the highest bidder. But no one can guarantee that the group who wins such an auction is one that will continue a Biblical display. How would we feel if, for example, the highest bidder was a company wishing to display a billboard? Perhaps an enterprising attorney who wishes to advertise his or her services on the property? Perhaps a clever atheist who chooses to set up a hot dog stand?

The Assertive Atheist takes another look at the Ten Commandments. The American Atheist wonders what would happen if we not only allowed the displays of the Commandments, but also honored the Biblical punishments that accompany them.

Terri Schiavo Case May Soon Come To A Close

The Guardian reports on the Terri Schiavo case, as the case goes back to the courts after rulings that gave her husband the right to remove her feeding tubes. Fifteen years after the accident that put Terri into a persistent vegetative state, she remains at the center of a long, angry legal and ideological battle.

A former advocate for Terri Schiavo gets to the real issue in this case.

Jay Wolfson, a University of South Florida medical professor who had briefly served as Terri Schiavo’s court-appointed advocate in 2003, said bringing the case to a close is going to be challenging for the court because of all the legal, religious and political issues that have become attached to it.

“This is hot stuff,” Wolfson said. “The implications of what happens in this case have already affected people. I think they are getting living wills and asking questions about death and dying. We just don’t like thinking about (death), let alone talking about it.”

What makes this case so nasty is the implications of the ruling. Who wins out? Blood relatives vs. spouses. Right-to-Life advocates vs. Right-to-Die advocates. Legal rulings vs. religious ideology.

The saddest part is that Schiavo, almost certainly unknowingly, has become a political pawn and is helpless to change it.

Condi Gets Sexy

And this is news because…?

MSNBC even included an analysis comparing Rice’s new look to that of The Matrix dominatrix style that tittillated and wowed the masses who apparently aren’t familiar with boots and black jackets.

Apparently Rice is sending a message about her sexuality. Really?

Rice’s appearance at Wiesbaden — a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power — was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage — and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.

Perhaps Americans will be more comfortable with a woman of authority who looks as though she could throw you over her lap and spank you dizzy.

Nonetheless, I’m happy Ms. Rice finally got herself a stylist. Maybe someone can do something with her hair – the chickenbutt look is something I think we should all avoid. That, and power suits and The Matrix.

Lil’ Pancreas

One of my friends comes over to my house and calls Pablo every P-name but Pablo. It messes me up for days. I’ll call the kitty for dinner and find myself calling a Lil’ Pistachio, a Lil’ Precious, or a Lil’ Punkin, but never a Pablo.

As you can see, Pablo finds something about being called “Lil’ Pancreas” very pleasing.

Friday Random Ten – The “Where Are All The Aleutian Islanders?” Edition

Do it like your mama told you: Fire up your IPOD, MP3 or other digital media player, set to random play, and list the first ten songs. See list encapsulate your entire personality in ten simple songs.

1) Rockwell – Somebody’s Watching Me
2) Magnolia Electric Company – The Dark Don’t Hide It
3) Three-Six Mafia – Sippin’ On Some Syrup
4) Iggy Pop and the Stooges – Search and Destroy
5) Starland Vocal Band – Afternoon Delight
6) Detroit Cobras – Over To My House
7) The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
8) The Cramps – Strychnine
9) Neko Case – Runnin’ Out Of Fools
10) Public Enemy – 911 Is A Joke

Posted in Uncategorized

Estrogen Week, Continued

• Distorted Dreams suggests an equal opportunity action for lesbian escorts. Factesque posted a related political cartoon.

• Cinnamon writes on gentrification and racism.

Hey, anyone remember when identity politics were regarded as actual politics?

• See Democratic Wings for coverage of stories on women’s rights, foreign policy, civil liberties, and more.

• Ellen Goodman takes on Larry Summers’ teachable moments:

When MIT scientist Nancy Hopkins dropped the dime on Summers, there was a firestorm of criticism. But that was followed by a second round in which he was defended as a victim of political correctness, a poor defenseless seeker of wisdom in the Ivy League madrassas.

George Will tagged professor Hopkins as hysterical, a word which, he failed to note, comes from the Greek root for uterus, thus proving that only women can be hysterical. Other pundits either compared Summers’s opponents to “religious fundamentalists,” accused Harvard of “neo-Stalinist intolerance,” or praised poor Larry for facing down “the gods of political correctness.”

Even The Washington Post editorial page said that if Summers was punished for the “crime of positing a politically incorrect hypothesis” the “chilling effect on free inquiry will harm everyone.” After all, the editorial said, he was “provoking fresh thought on big issues.”

Why didn’t I think of that? The suggestion that women were innately less able to do math and science wasn’t the same old tired stereotype with a sell-by date of 1636, when Harvard was established. It was a cutting-edge fresh thought!

• DED Space takes on the notion that Million Dollar Baby is “an insufferable, manipulative right-to-die movie.” Right.

• Cruella looks at a study that discerns the difference between young women’s and young men’s idea of what makes up a good sense of humor: “for a woman, a Good Sense Of Humor means someone who makes her laugh. For a man, it means someone who laughs at his jokes.”

• Dove’s Eye View points us to Lebanese Politics for Beginners. Also, Leila is a breast cancer survivor. In this post she shows off her beautiful bald head, inspired by Melissa Ethridge’s recent public appearances with no hair. I thought Ethridge looked lovely. Leila does, too.

• At Whirled View, Patricia looks at America, Europe, and the Iranian Question.

• Rowan asks whether rape in the military is a woman’s issue or a man’s issue. I’d posit it a human rights issue.

• Noli Irritare Leones has moved to a new site with WordPress. Welcome Lynn to her new domain.

All this hard politics! I don’t know how the little ladies do it with all the doilies to iron.

UPDATE:
Breaking my goal to only list female bloggers this week (again), this story absolutely cannot be passed up. Lest Blood Be Shed points to a post in which grotesque militarism is showed off in church:

“A guy was asked by his father to attend a ‘father-son’ event and he brought a camera and was really disturbed to see a place of Christian worship being used to promote militarism and warfare. Even though this guy is a Republican and supporter of the war, he was shocked at the visual propagandistic ritual, which reminded him of movies he had seen about Nazi pageantry. Anyway, his account is not the best but check out the photos – you have to see this to believe it.”