Category Archives: communications/media

Misogyny in all forms

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This post has got to be one of the worst I’ve read in a looong time.  The misogyny coming from someone claiming to be a feminist (well, actually, she doesn’t claim it, but the insinuation is there) is something to behold.

As I said in my comment, the vitriol here against women who make the choice to stay home is one of the reasons I no longer call myself a feminist, even though I very much believe in equality.

The feminists in the 70s railed against women staying home…I understand the historical context–their mothers were forced to stay home after WWII, and forcing anyone to do anything will inevitably result in resentment…especially when staying home is characterized as “doing nothing” and “contributing nothing to society…”

Not only that, but the stance that abortions should be allowed at any time–even at the eighth month–are the reasons that feminists lost many women who were against that but believed in equality.

And sadly, that is still true today.  Women who believe in equality but are against abortion or want to stay home are marginalized by feminists such as nonny mouse.

It seems to miss the point that it’s not the staying home part, but how culture values it.  Our culture doesn’t value much of what women do…whether it is at home or in the corporate world.  It’s the culture that needs changing, and that’s not going to happen by minimizing women’s role at home.

As I posted previously, other cultures, such as in Europe, provide support to women. They try to prevent abortions by preventing pregnancy in the first place–the ideal, for me.   And guess what–they don’t have mothers having baby after baby (as the repubs and some dems like to argue.)

Many of those arguments are tenuous at best, but it is the continued reference to European abortion laws that most represent a convenient cherry-picking of facts to support the rollback of women’s rights. Many European countries do indeed regulate abortion with gestational limits, but what SB1 supporters conveniently ignore is that those laws are entrenched in progressive public health systems that provide quality, affordable (sometimes free) health care to all individuals and prioritize the sexual and reproductive health of their citizens. Most SB1 advocates would scoff at the very programs and policies that are credited with Europe’s low unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.

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More here on the women’s right to decide how she will give birth.  I love this–midwives have been targets of a well-run campaign against them since medieval times when they have as good a record of healthy childbirth as physicians.

This will give one moment to pause…when you look at the statistics for the U.S. at the bottom– the maternal death rate in this country is 1 in 2,100.  The article states it’s typically 1 in 7,600.

Pretty sobering in a country that likes to think of itself as such a beacon of healthcare.

Art Speaks

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Faith Ringgold has used art to express her feelings during the 60s Civil Rights protests/riots.  I love the storytelling aspect of quilts and especially the artsy ones, such as Ringgold’s.

Quilts were ingeniously used in the underground railroad to help slaves escape. …or so I thought…now historians are disputing that.  Here is a blog on the controversy.    It is kind of weird talking about yourself in the third person in this way–why not just explain who you are and why you wrote this book?  Anyway, he does have good points about the stories behind quilts.  A commenter said that crazy quilts–quilts that are put together using cloth scraps–were not around when the underground railroad was in force.  But I question that because slaves would have had to use scraps to put together quilts–they would not have had the funds to purchase new cloth to sew with, so it makes sense to me that crazy quilts would have been in use.

More here on the controversy.  A really good page on the history….and if anyone had any doubts that history is subjective, this page will remove that doubt.

These times were steeped in storytelling, so it would not surprise me to learn that quilters wove stories into their quilts.  And then some may not–artistic expression is highly individualistic–different mediums for different folks.

Anyway, I learned something today.  Hope you did, too.

Teacher confronts Weiner

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(hat tip to Diane Ravitch)

Well, now, teachers may be the nation’s punching bag right now….but this one isn’t down with this predator’s actions.    As she said, she would have lost her job if she had done what Weiner did.  Not only that, she would be in jail.

Rochester CSA

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The Rochester, New York CSA has put up a promo video on youtube:

I could have given them a couple of tips on a better sound quality and when asking someone to speak, make sure they’re comfortable in front of a camera.

All in all, though, I thought this was a pretty good piece on explaining about community supported agriculture.    It would be great to have them close enough that one could bike over to either put in their hours of work, or on market day to bring groceries home.  I like the idea of rickshaws, as was previously posted about.  There are three-wheeled bikes out there with a big basket but they’re cumbersome to ride–slow as molasses.  I don’t know if the rickshaws would be any different?  Hmmm…

Here’s another video I thought was interesting–some folks use worms in containers instead of having compost piles.  So I presume this is what this guy is doing although he doesn’t really come out and say it:

 

 

I like these two guys below. Folksy.  They do a better job of explaining what they’re doing and why:

 

 

When they talk of cured horse manure, I’m assuming that they’re waiting a year before using it.  I think a year minimum is the standard that they like to let manure cure, so any bad organisms have met their demise by this time.

 

Boehner lies and investments in Tar Sands companies

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(hat tip to fatster at FDL)

John Boehner, while constantly saying “The American people want, need, demand…” while ignoring what the American people want, need, and demand….has promoted the XL pipeline…while investing in the companies tied to it.

I’m just shocked, shocked, I tell you, that a politician who stands to benefit financially from legislation is…promoting that legislation. /snark

Where have all the good ones gone that did what was right for the country and not for their bank accounts…?

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Also from fatster~~

Related to this is a heartwarming story of a small group of folks protesting the Enbridge pipeline….unfortunately, they’re from Michigan…that will be the day when Hoosiers start protesting Enbridge…

I can’t believe they were charged with felonies.  Seriously?  Like a commenter said on the website, we should be concerned about the crackdown on public assemblies….you know, that First Amendment thingy?

From the comments:

Russell Frege

Enbridge is being disingenuous. No one has come to harm from these non-violent protests. On the other hand, from the Athabasca Chippewa cancer rates to the impacts of climate change, many will be harmed if the tar sands industry achieves its goal of tripling production by 2030. Just imagine Bangladesh flooded by rising sees. That’s millions of refugees in that region alone. We should be working to stop changing the climate. We should have global peak emissions by 2020 then steadily decline. Tripling tar sands production is inconsistent with that goal. These protesters are the modern equivalent of Rosa Parks, who incidentally was hated by conservatives also. As FDR said “I welcome their hatred.” It’s a sign you’re doing something right. Go M-CATS.

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I have to admit a chuckle at the enthusiastic guy commenting on how beautiful state Michigan is…which it is…but then the conservative joker does have a point about him never being in poor Detroit, the dumping ground of the Kochs and anyone else who feels like it.  But let’s say that MOST of Michigan is quite beautiful… NOT the parts that conservatives and DINO’s (Democrats in Name Only) have polluted.

It’s always interesting to me that these polluters will trash one area, and then move to a non-polluted area.  It should be a rule somewhere that if you pollute an area, you must live in that area for the rest of your life…

…not only that, but your children and grandchildren must live in that area, too.   Seems fair, eh?

The Role of Food in American Slavery

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I just love this stuff–it gives so much more of history than just names, places, and dates.  The visual and cultural really brings it alive.  I wish Michael Twitty had brought up a little more in the historical aspect of the recipes and cooking methods.  

I am always fascinated at how wise they were back in the day…the women gathered the nuts, berries, and plants to eat…how did they know which were poisonous and which weren’t?  How did they remember one plant from another?  And the ability to put spices together is truly a gift.   

 

On the Edumucation Front…

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Well, folks, the Bush family just keeps on giving and giving….

…what exactly they’re giving (perhaps the word is *taking*)  is open to debate…

Diane Ravitch has a blog up on the Jeb Bush Miracle .  *cough*

Florida school grades released today are “worse than useless measures of educational quality,” according to a local expert on assessment. Bob Schaeffer, Pubic Education Director of the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest), explained, “Based largely on scores from the low quality FCAT exam, state officials change the grading formula each year to serve their political agendas.”

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National Center for Fair and Open Testing

Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773
cell (239) 699-0468

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And more here on those Lazy Teachers.  Really?  And how many hours have you spent in a classroom?  Or with your own children reading to them or playing with them or asking them about the lessons they learned in school that day….?  Methinks thou art a phony…

The Predator **edited

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Thomas at Yes Means Yes! has a blog up on the criminal activity of Anthony Weiner that is not being prosecuted.  As someone says in the comments (on Melissa McEwen’s blog)–if Weiner had exposed himself to someone on the subway, he would be charged with a crime.  And this happened after his first mea culpa–after begging forgiveness and of course, people wanting to give him a second chance…

…but this is Anthony Weiner, I’m-special-because-I’m-a-politician who has a likable personality….so he will skate by the city jail.

Granted, it is hard for women to confront someone whom has crossed boundaries….we aren’t raised that way.  And, the point was raised that someone in a position of power, be it political or business, can make serious trouble for a woman who stands up for herself.

**edited to correct ADD moment of attributing quote to Lisa Weiss that was the teacher Nobles.  Sorry.  Chelating…so ADD is worse…

Don’t like the NSA? How About Gates snooping into children’s school records?

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Diane Ravitch has this and this up on the continued invasion of privacy…only this time, it’s your kid they are gathering information on.  This critical information gathered by a Foundation that now owns 500,000 shares of Monsanto, .

…and what about Rupert Murdoch getting hold of your family’s records? Especially since the newspaper he owned invaded people’s privacy already…even after a warning about his dealings went unheeded.  

From the first Guardian article:

When the high court last summer ordered the News of the World to pay damages to Max Mosley for secretly filming him with prostitutes, the paper was furious. In an angry leader column, it insisted that public figures must maintain standards. “It is not for the powerful and the influential to run to the courts to gag newspapers from publishing stories that are TRUE,” it said. “This is all about the public’s right to know.”

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Does anyone else see the irony of a paper that is invading innocent people’s privacy complaining about maintaining standards….apparently lying and invasion of privacy are not standards someone should uphold…?

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The Uniparty

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One of the commenters here called the absence of real oppositional parties the “Uniparty”. …yep.

See…the Dems really believe in the Fourth Amendment and the rights of the American public to be let alone…

bwhahahahaha *snort*  bwahahahaha…

Don’t blame me.  I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000.  The first time in all the years that I had been voting that I wrote a candidate’s name on the ballet.  Of course, now Indiana has changed to the computerized system so a voter wouldn’t be able to just write in a candidate.   Supposedly, they have paper ballots at each voting station, but this voter was not told there were paper ballots available, not even when I voted early, nor were there any paper ballots visible so that one could ask for it.

They changed the law so that one had to have 2% of the general votes cast for the Secretary of State in the previous election.  Note the deadlines were repeatedly pushed back in order to diminish the ability to gather signatures during summer events where crowds gather…

I found this page absolutely fascinating.  I had no idea that we had other candidates to choose from, as the write in candidates were not on the electronic ballot.  And being without access to media (no TV antenna in the community room at the time), nor did I have more than an hour per time from the library’s internet computers…so information was limited, as are most poor.  And I would venture a guess that even with cable TV, many middle class were also ignorant of this–funny how the nooz just doesn’t seem to get around to covering important issues like this….they’d rather scare you into getting a vaccine that will likely cause as much harm to your body as any good or tell you not to take Vitamin E because some bogus *study* says it’s bad for you…pfft.