December 2007 – Page 12

Huckabee wanted to quarantine people living with HIV and AIDS

In case you needed another reason to hate him:

Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”

As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.

“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee wrote.

“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”
…
Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

Actually, I think it’s become astoundingly clear that conservative Republicans pose a far greater threat to public health than homosexuality does.

Thanks to Luther for the link (even if you did make me go through Drudge to get it).

You can be my black Kate Moss tonight

If you can’t find a real live woman of color to model for you, there’s always blackface!

According to one informal perusal of this month’s fashion magazines, there are exactly zero models of color in the fashion spreads. As Dodai at Jezebel says:

So, what have we learned? Black, Asian and models of color are still not “fashionable.” But advertisers use black and Asian models, because they know not to fuck with buying power — Bethann Hardison talked about this at the NYPL conference. Still – -can you think of another billion dollar industry in which blatant racism is tolerated?

Well, yeah, actually, but that’s another post. It is important to distinguish between the ads and the fashion spreads, because they do serve different (if overlapping) purposes. And Dodai points out, advertisers are well-aware of the fact that women of color have buying power, and they don’t want to fuck with that. But when it comes to selling an image — beauty, a look, a lifestyle, and all the other things that fashion designers are trying to do beyond simply getting you to purchase a single product — they want a white face attached it it.

Of course, it is better than taking white models and painting them black. (That’s me, always looking on the bright side).

Here’s an idea:

When you write a book review, make it about the book, not about your petty issues with feminism and “lippy” women.

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Repugnant

Another GOP scandal, this one involving the aide to the Republican Chair of Orange County, CA molesting boys.

A former GOP congressional aide has pleaded guilty to molesting two male teens, including the 13-year-old son of a family with whom the staffer lived while working on Capitol Hill.

37-year-old Jeffrey Ray Nielsen, who has worked previously for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), as well the Republican chair of California’s Orange County, agreed to two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child, reports the Associated Press. A jury had deadlocked at an earlier trial this year — in which Nielsen was accused of engaging in sexual acts with a 14-year-old boy he met on the internet — and prosecutors were prepared to bring additional charges in a retrial.

The plea deal is expected to bring a sentence of three years in state prison, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Your Moral Majority at work, folks.

Thanks to Morgan for the link.

Hey, that’s a girl!

My daughter is watching the StompOutLoud DVD, one of her Chanukah presents, and she just noticed that one of the dancers/percussionists in the opening sequence is a girl.

One of the most painful things about having a daughter, for me, is watching her discover the things that women still can’t or don’t do. She’s surprised when she sees a woman on a construction crew, or a woman police officer, or a woman playing drums. She knows there are no women playing major league baseball, and I still remember the conversation we had when she was 4 and asked me if she could grow up to be a Yankee. It’s as if my own childhood recognitions of the narrowing horizons are playing out all over again.

But then I realize the changes: when I was her age, I didn’t know any women who were doctors, or dentists, or accountants, or lawyers, or financial advisers – she’s met women who do all of that. The astronauts were all men. The first Presidential election I remember is Nixon/Humphrey in 1968; the first one she’ll remember is likely this one, with a woman front and center. My daughter has an aunt who’s a vet, and an aunt who’s a physicist, and the physicist’s sister works for NASA – that’s right, she is a rocket scientist.

When I was in second grade, I had to wear skirts to school, and I wasn’t allowed to climb on the monkey bars during recess. My daughter came home recently with a bruise on her forehead. I asked about it, and she said “I got kicked in the head”. Huh? “Well, you know that thing I do where I flip myself over and jump off the highest monkey bar and land on my feet? Turns out Charlie can’t do that”. Hey, that’s my girl!

Where are all the moderate Muslims?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali has an op/ed up in the Times about “Islam’s silent moderates,” arguing that if Islam is really a religion of goodness then moderates should be pushing that vision, and simultaneously insisting that Islam can’t be a good religion and so there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim. I have a lot of respect for Hirsi Ali — she’s a smart, brave woman, and she certainly has valid personal reasons for disliking Islam. But what bothers me about this op/ed, and other op/eds like it, is that the argument is circular and unfair, and it holds Islam and Muslims to a standard that other mainstream religious groups are exempt from. For example, she starts the op/ed out with this passage from the Quran:

The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with 100 stripes: Let no compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. (Koran 24:2)

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Baby Bribes

I’m a little thrown by this article about “push presents” — gifts given to new moms from their partners as a reward for birthing a baby. There’s nothing wrong with giving your partner a gift, especially after she’s just been through a trying ordeal. There’s nothing wrong with thinking it’s really nice that your partner bought you a present after you just lived through an experience that, as one woman describes, “redefines the meaning of pain.”

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Waiting for Mom

I figure as soon as I start to write something, my mother will pull into the driveway.

Hmm, not so far.

My mother lives about two hours from here – a drive she finds overwhelming, but she’s lucky enough to have money to hire a driver. Since my father died a year ago, she’s come to visit far more often. I’d rather have her visit than spend a weekend visiting her, but I don’t enjoy it as much as I wish I did.

I have a generally good relationship with my mother. I know she loves me, and I’ve experienced and appreciated her support – personal and financial – my whole life.

Well, it worked! She’s here, and when she gets out of the bathroom we’ll head off to the market to shop for Shabbat dinner before we come home and have Chanukah – I’ll likely end up buying at least one thing I didn’t want.

Back later tonight.

Friday Random Ten – the Panic Is Just Beginning edition

1. Refused – Liberation Frequency
2. Can-U – I’d Never Met You
3. Guided by Voices – Everywhere With Helicopter
4. The Mountain Goats – The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
5. Voxtrot – Easy
6. Tom Waits – Don’t Go Into The Bar
7. Jennifer Gentle – Take My Hands
8. Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
9. Guided by Voices – Hot Freaks
10. Les Savy Fav – Blackouts on Thursday

Friday video: One of my favorite Tom Waits tunes.

And in the spirit of Tom Waits love, a great scene from Coffee and Cigarettes:

Finally, the second-best thing to come out of Indiana (this lady being the first, obvs):

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Out there on our own

I keep hearing about “helicopter parents” – you know, the ones who hover over their kids all the time. Helicopter parents don’t let their kids make independent decisions. They shelter their kids from any responsibility; they go from orchestrating preschool playdates to directing college applications without allowing the kid any increase in independence. My friends who teach in local colleges complain about the phone calls from parents asking for extensions or arguing about grades or protesting the patently unfair treatment that must have led to little Alistair’s recent C-. There’s a general chorus of disapproval at the way today’s kids are coddled.

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