January 2006 – Page 13

Yes, I had the opportunity of saying that this week. Don’t ask.

It’s Friday, people, and you know what that means: Fire up your mp3 players, load up your catalog of songs, and set to random play. List the first ten that it spits out and don’t bother skipping the embarassing songs. It adds character.

1) Rufus Wainwright – Poses
2) David Pajo – Francie
3) Das EFX – They Want FX
4) Too Short – Don’t Fight the Feeling
5) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Black Betty
6) Wilco – Jesus, Etc.
7) Mount Sims – Digital Generation
8) Nina Simone – I Get Along Without You Very Well
9) Suicidal Tendencies – Institutionalized (national anthem of teenage victims of suburban angst, the poor flowers)
10) Nancy Sinatra – Bang Bang

Bonus Track: Wesley Willis – They Threw Me Out of Church

Carnival of the Feminists 7

Carnival of the Feminists 7 will be hosted here at Feministe on January 18th.

The general theme for this installment is feminism and pop culture. All thoughts are welcome, all posts submitted by feminist writers will be included.

Submit your posts to web[at]feministe[dot]us with the subject title “Carnival of the Feminists” by midnight on January 15th.

UPDATE: I would prefer that submissions were made in the period since the last carnival, i.e. in the two weeks preceeding the 18th.

Killed It, Fixed It, Killed It, Fixed It

What I did today. Two times over.

Lighten Up

At what point should rape threats not be taken seriously?

Bill Seeks To Outlaw Abortion in Indiana; Take the Issue To Supreme Court

A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill to make abortion illegal in Indiana, saying if it became law, it could ultimately be a vehicle to get the U.S. Supreme Court with new members to overturn abortion rights.

But Gov. Mitch Daniels said Thursday that his sense was “it would have a very limited prospect of ultimate success.”

The bill by Rep. Troy Woodruff of Vincennes would change Indiana’s feticide law to make it a Class C felony, punishable with a two- to eight-year prison sentence, to perform an abortion. The only exception would be when carrying a pregnancy to term would pose a “substantial permanent impairment of the life or physical health of the pregnant woman.”

Woodruff said he filed the bill Wednesday in part because there will be a new U.S. Supreme Court and a state must pass a law and then appeal it to the highest court to see if the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling would stand.

“Also the people have never had an opportunity (through their lawmakers) to vote on the matter,” Woodruff said…

Daniels said he was a “supporter of the right to live.” But he questioned whether it have any prospect of success and whether any time and money spent on it would lead anywhere.

“Ultimately for this to change, I think, first the heart of the country and maybe ultimately the view the courts take of states’ rights to place some limits would have to evolve,” Daniels said.

This Just In

From Michelle Malkin: Rape is worse when Muslims do it.

Crickets. Chirping.

Education or Educational Smackdown?

Another Lynne asks something that I think is worth entertaining especially as feminist blogs become more prevalent in the ‘sphere. In part,

Where I get caught up in ambivalence is how to address those commenters who claim to know nothing about feminism. Yes, this blog certainly *is* advanced feminism. But still, shouldn’t we be willing to educate someone when they ask us? (Regardless of how facetious they may be when doing so) OTOH, so often this type of “commenting” is really just a way to drag strawfeminists out for them to ridicule and preach the hate, I don’t want to dignify that stuff with a response.

And at what point do we (reasonably) bring the smackdown to this nonsense? If the person is starting from the belief that feminism is *truly* about women being better than men, it takes an awful lot of work to teach them otherwise. (speaking from personal experience).

I’ve made some odd friends out of flame wars and heavy disagreements, but never in the public space of the blog. Usually this requires waiting until after the mess is over, contact through email and clarification of the messier bits point by point with a great deal of humor. While I don’t necessarily expect to change others’ views, I have softened them to the idea of feminism, or at least gain more respect for Jill and I with these contacts. Because my underlying philosophy for this blog is honest communication, as heady or juvenile as it may get, I attempt to operate from this frame.

Yet Another Round-Up

Whew! I had a very demanding day between watching March of the Penguins and knitting. Nonetheless I managed to round up some more excellent links for your perusal.

On Abramoff
If we didn’t know who he was in 2005, we’ll sure as hell know who is in 2006.

Slate provides a list of those who will most likely face legal and/or political trouble due to Abramoff’s deal. The good thing, as Bush et al dump their dirty money, is that we can expect greater compliance to the rules of political contributions (for another two decades if we’re lucky). In the meantime, watch the watchers cover their trails.

Other Business
Sixty Percent of What You Say Is Crap: See O’Reilly fumble on David Letterman.

LETTERMAN: I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling that about 60 percent of what you say is crap (laughter)…
O’REILLY: 60?
LETTERMAN: 60 percent…I’m just spitballing here.

Against the NSA: James Risen appeared on NBC’s Today Show yesterday to discuss revelations from his new book, “State of War.”

The Most Recent Alito Paradox: Though the ABA rating is something Bush pooh-poohed several years ago, it’s a-okay for our friend Alito. More on Alito at “Will Americans be able to figure out what Samuel Alito meant when he said that ‘the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion’?”

David Brooks Rediscovers Women … Again: But I wish he’d forget about us altogether.

Kill Me: Why I’m desperately avoiding an office job.

Mining Tragedy: John Cole is only a few miles from the site, and he writes about some of the insider stuff here, plus updates.

Books, Their Covers and The Consequences: Taking off in part from our wee war today, Lucky White Girl talks about her appearance and its relation to her feminism in different contexts. See also: Amanda’s Do Not Stare at the Blogger, especially the comments.

Battle of the Time Machines: Have anti-feminist arguments changed in forty years? Negative.

Mooning Ruled Disgusting But Not Illegal: This would have been a far better help to me about ten years ago when I was arrested on a city bus for mooning the bus driver, but for the record, I absolutely did not moon the bus driver. So there.

Welcome to 2006: 100 things we didn’t know this time last year.

Laugh Du Jour: Thanks to another “nice guy” thread at Pandagon, we were graced with this lovely piece of poetry by c-minus.