Angry for a Reason

Remember them

2011-12-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student

Died December 6th, 1989

Angry

2011-05-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

So Canada voted in a Conservative Majority despite what would be best for the country so I went to drown my sorrows in one of the two bars I frequent in town. Upon arrival I was told that I had to go outside because my dog was not allowed. I tried explaining that she was a service dog, even producing her papers which were pushed aside and not even glanced at, and firmly told that it didn't matter that they can refuse service to anyone. I asked if they would say the same if I were blind to which they replied again "we can refuse service to anyone."

Having already bought a drink I went outside, but I went back in to ask when I could speak to the owner. They said I could speak to the manager tomorrow at 4. I plan to and if he does not understand the law I am contacting the state disability board and a civil rights lawyer. I have been to this bar many times with Sadie and do not understand why this time was a problem. To top it off there was another, non-service dog in the bar, but apparently that dog is a-ok (he said it's the only dog allowed in the bar).

Yes I cried. To deny my dog is to deny me. I may not have a visual disability, but I have one and I require a service dog to function "normally." To deny me a service because I require outside assistance is just as bad as not having a ramp for wheelchairs. So fark you Overtime in Clemson, SC. I'm going to fight for my right to frequent you then you can kiss my white butt because you will never get my business again.

My PTSD Dog

2011-02-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

This post is brought to you by the anxiety attack that the Super PTSD dog Sadie interrupted last night.

So I am obviously still training my dog, but her medical training is all complete. She does amazing things for me (listed below), now if only I could get her to do the "little" things. LOL. She's a perfect example of a service dog, walking with me, sitting next to me, doing her medical duties, etc. But when not wearing her vest she doesn't always listen. *sigh* We're working on that.

I felt as though I should share her story with you as I love sharing her story. From scared abused dog who had to be carried into the yard to go to the bathroom to dog who walks proudly around campus when she has her vest on (without her vest I doubt she would).

She is a 3 year old abuse rescue American Pit Bull Terrier. Because she has PTSD and her momma has PTSD we got her a patch for her vest that says "PTSD DOG." :D Surprisingly I don't mind telling people that yes I do have PTSD, but I do get persnickity when they ask me how I got it. The patch on top of her back says "Service dog access required."

I originally just rescued her because I knew what an abused dog needed and I love pitties. But when she interrupted my first anxiety attack I knew that she may be able to help me in other ways with my PTSD/Bipolar/Depression. Here's what she did during my first and subsequent anxiety attacks: if I'm sitting or lying down she'll put her paws on my chest and paw at me until I make eye contact with her and start interacting with her. This brings me back to the present and out of whatever hell hole of the past I am stuck in. If I'm standing she paws at my legs and stands on her hind legs leaning on me (which she has been trained not to do) until again I start to interact with her - not just brush her off, but really solidly connect and interact with her. She knows when I'm about to have an anxiety attack (I don't know how, but she does) and she knows when I'm just going through the motions of interacting with her and when I'm really connecting with her and being pulled out of my head.

Since I realised she could do this, she has been taught to bark when it's time to take my meds, she nudges me in bed in the morning when my alarm goes off to get me to get out of bed at least to walk her which usually prevents me from staying in bed all day, and she comes out with me in public (we're still working on socialisation - that part takes about 6 months and she's strides ahead of where an abused dog should be, I've only had her since August). I feel like I can go so many more places now - I'm not scared to go out in public.

I ***HIGHLY*** recommend a service dog for people with PTSD. Here's a story of a PTSD dog. Let's just say I see my Sadie in there.

P.S. We went to the American Bully Kennel Club show on January 29th in Tampa. It was so fun being around all those pit bulls and pit bull lovers! Plus SADIE WON 1ST PLACE FOR BEST RESCUE:

I don't know what I'd do without her - she makes my life so much more liveable.

Sea of Green

2009-06-18T01:56:00.000-07:00

Day 5 and indeed the protest is picking up steam. People have asked me, since I have friends in Tehran who (surprise, surprise) are highly political and were around for the 79 revolution if this protest is different then the last round in 99 which eventually fizzled. Indeed it is. It is not just students and it is not just the highly educated. It is spreading to everyone. Women in Chadors join Iran's opposition.

Boorghani is typical of the young reformists who initially backed Mousavi — but that support is growing to include grandmothers, government employees and hotel clerks.

The last time Iran was engulfed in similar anti-government action was a decade ago when a deadly raid on a Tehran University dorm sparked six days of nationwide protests. At the time, they were considered the worst since the 1979 revolution that toppled the pro-U.S. shah and brought hard-line clerics to power. But the student-driven movement eventually fizzled, leaving many people more bitter but the system intact.

This time, though, the protesters are not just affluent students and youth. The middle class is also flooding the streets and even conservative religious Iranians are joining the Mousavi supporters.

.......

"This (the Mousavi opposition) is completely different to 1999. That was between the students and the government. This is between the people and the government. This time it is all of Iran. This is a historic movement," Boorghani said.

Today at 4pm Tehran time there will be a silent march in honour of all the fallen protesters of the uprising. (That link gets updated with names as they become available. Dead bodies are taken from hospitals and thrown into the back of trucks and driven away before names can be taken so there are many unknown.)

A letter from an Iranian medical student:

Hello,

It’s painful to watch what’s happening.

I don’t want anything to do with what has been said this far, as I neither have the strength nor the resilience to face all these unfathomable events.

I only want to speak about what I have witnessed. I am a medical student. There was chaos last night at the trauma section in one of our main hospitals. Although by decree, all riot-related injuries were supposed to be sent to military hospitals, all other hospitals were filled to the rim. Last night, nine people died at our hospital and another 28 had gunshot wounds. All hospital employees were crying till dawn. They (government) removed the dead bodies on back of trucks, before we were even able to get their names or other information. What can you even say to the people who don’t even respect the dead. No one was allowed to speak to the wounded or get any information from them. This morning the faculty and the students protested by gathering at the lobby of the hospital where they were confronted by plain cloths anti-riot militia, who in turn closed off the hospital and imprisoned the staff. The extent of injuries are so grave, that despite being one of the most staffed emergency rooms, they’ve asked everyone to stay and help–I’m sure it will even be worst tonight.

What can anyone say in face of all these atrocities? What can you say to the family of the 13 year old boy who died from gunshots and whose dead body then disappeared?

This issue is not about cheating(election) anymore. This is not about stealing votes anymore. The issue is about a vast injustice inflected on the people. They’ve put a baton in the hand of every 13-14 year old to smash the faces of “the bunches who are less than dirt” (government is calling the people who are uprising dried-up torn and weeds) .

This is what sickens me from dealing with these issues. And from those who shut their eyes and close their ears and claim the riots are in opposition of the government and presidency!! No! The people’s complaint is against the egregious injustices committed against the people.

Today the Iranian football team wore green wristbands in a show of solidarity. They were forced to take them off at half-time.

Persianq is broadcasting live & recorded footage from the streets.

Tehran Bureau is an excellent source of information on what's going on in Tehran. You can also follow them on twitter at @TehranBureau.

If you're tweeting make sure you check Twitspam for a list of bad accounts, liars, gov't spooks, and people posting goatse in the #iranelection and #gr88 channels.

If you read Farsi better then I do here's a list of reliable bloggers and news sources in Farsi that are updating semi-regularly.

Youtube has finally buckled to pressure from the masses and relaxed it's standards in re Irani protest videos and has organised a channel dedicated to videos coming out of the Irani protests.

The Pirate, excuse me, Persian Bay has created a secure forum Why We Protest for Iranians and supporters to gather and talk.

Another pretty good site rounding up info and info on solidarity protests in various cities.

Reliable sources say that the Basiji are randomly attacking people in the street now and that they can be heard speaking Arabic and not Farsi. Rumours that the police and the militia will not attack their own people are true. Only foreign calls are allowed from gov't monitored landlines - will probably not get to talk to my friends, at least not about what's going on.

On Friday Khamenei will preside over Friday prayers. Iranians are calling for global day of solidarity. There will be a march in Tehran with Mousavi.

"Loyalty to one's country, always. Loyalty to one's government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain.

Let the revolution be here and the 30 year reign of terror in Iran be ending.

SEA OF GREEN! SOLIDARITY WITH IRAN!

(I'm too tired to continue - I was up to see the Iran/S. Korea match at 0400 my time this morning. UGH. More as I come upon it.)

This blog has gone green for Iran

2009-06-16T20:21:00.000-07:00

So everyone should be aware that the protests in Iran are not stopping and in fact in many ways have picked up steam. At the protests on the 15th flyers were being circulated with a list of demands:

7 point statement distributed among the protesters in Tehran today:

Dismissal of Khamenei for not being a fair leader
Dismissal of Ahmadinejad for his illegal acts
Temporary appointment of Ayatollah Montazeri as the Supreme Leader
Recognition of Mousavi as the President
Forming the Cabinet by Mousavi to prepare for revising the Constitution
unconditional and immediate release of all political prisoners
Dissolution of all organs of repression, public or secret

Ayatollah Montazeri has released a statement saying that no sane person should accept these results. There have been several reports from trusted sources that the night before Ahmadinejad's victory announcement Mousavi was called and told that he had won with a 57% majority.

Translation: "We write Mousavi, they read Ahmadinejad"

All sorts of communication: SMS, cell phones, texts, internet (twitter & facebook & the like), etc, are all being blocked by the Iranian government. They are also searching for the IP addresses and locations of twitterers and bloggers. If you want to help by setting up a proxy go here for instructions in Windows and a link to instructions for Linux, and here for instructions for Macs. There's instructions to get your IP info to people tweeting/blogging from Iran. I used mine for my friends I met there when I visited way back in the 90s. Whoever they share it with I trust. If you do this do not publish it anywhere public. Also if you are on Twitter please change your location to Tehran and your local time to GMT +03:30. Flood them with targets to hide the actual twitterers.

To follow on twitter the hashtags are #iranelection (which we know is being monitored so be careful - don't RT using the names of any Iranian tweeters), and #gr88 (which we should assume is being monitored as well). I recommend following @persiankiwi as well.

Best of Tweets live round-up
Live-blogging the Uprising (huffpo) Best place to find videos and stuff
A comprehensive breakdown of the current situation in Iran including timeline
Pictures showing that candidates lost votes as the day went on
Why We Protest.net Links for rallies around the world, info, etc.

Rally in Tehran

Also people are pressuring Google to follow in the BBC's footsteps and go green in support of the protesting Iranians. Do what you can. If I have anything that I think is not publicised well enough I will post it here.

Protesters take on the police:

(now this is what you do. They were outnumbered, but they didn't let a few police stop them.)

Wear Green, show your support. The BBC went green (for some reason they have since reverted).

WARNING: This is a video of a man being beaten by the police.

Hopefully the genie is out of the bottle and the revolution and overthrow of Ayatollah Khomeni and his religious thugs will occur. To everyone in Iran: stay safe. To my friends in Iran who will probably not get to read this: you are constantly in my thoughts and in my heart I am there standing by your side on those streets.

I'll be back soon, but in the meantime

2009-05-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

All you British Colombians:

You need to vote on May 12th. First off, Campbell's an ass whose very image induces a blind rage in me, but even if you're not interested in that, we need you to VOTE YES ON STV!

Here's some propaganda:

See you all soon - APS meeting this weekend, and I'm printing the poster Tuesday (the day you should all be voting) so I'll have that time stuff.

They'd never show that this side of the pond

2009-04-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Keira Knightley's Domestic Violence PSA (it may be triggering)

Got my first acceptance letter

2009-03-30T01:08:00.001-07:00

It's from Clemson University. WOO WOO.

Still waiting to hear back from my first and second choices: SUNY Stonybrook and UH Manoa.

Also starting in on crunch time for my research. The APS meeting is the weekend of May 12th/13th and I will be presenting then. I've got some great stuff about how to improve teaching methods and retention rates for women in STEM from various studies and C.M. Steeles' work on stereotype threat. More on this later.

A little late, but here's something for Int'l Women's Day

2009-03-10T22:18:00.001-07:00

I wrote it as an assignment for a math history class. I could have kept writing. Sophie Germain ROCKS! (and it's written for non-math people to read so if you want to read about a brilliant woman from Revolutionary France here you go!)

Sophie Germain – Revolutionary Mathematician

The streets of Paris were bustling with people. Marie-Madeleine Gruguelin was on an outing to the market with and her two oldest daughters, Marie-Madeleine and Marie-Sophie (just “Sophie” to avoid confusion with all the other Maries in the house) were on an outing to the market. Marie-Madeleine was reticent about taking the girls out, as the air was electric. There had been bread riots occurring with more frequency lately, the King was bankrupt, and the Estates Général had been called for the first time in a hundred and fifty years. Her husband, Ambroise-Francois Germain was asked to serve in the Estates Général, a group composed of what were called the three estates: the clergy, the 1st estate, the nobility, the 2nd estate, and the middle class, which included her husband, the 3rd estate. Everywhere people were writing pamphlets and petitions on their plights to the King. Many were unhappy with what they perceived as a lack of representation in the Estates Général. Marie-Madeleine had to concede that they would always be outvoted due to the structure of the system.
The price of bread had gone up again and Marie-Madeleine feared another bread riot. The women of the working class would instigate these whenever the prices got too high. It didn't affect her family that much as her husband had done well as a silk merchant. There was an assembly outside the Church of Sainte Geneviève; the working women saw her as their own saint. They were there in support of the Estates Général and inadvertently her husband. They were here some days and in front of City Hall other days.

“Maman, why are there so many people here?” Marie-Madeleine asked.

“They're here supporting your father,” her mother replied. “Move along, we've got to get home soon. Your little sister is waiting.”

They made their way down La Rue Clovis back to their apartment. Marie-Madeleine was taking her daughters out less and less these days and refused to take her youngest out at all. There were groups of people amassing on every street, and there were more people begging for food, for work, for money. Food prices were going up, as were taxes. There was so much unrest among the people and many with an overabundance of time on their hands due to the lack of jobs. There were often meetings held at their house. Her husband was among one of the liberal social reformers and he invited many like-minded people over for meetings. Ambroise frequently held meetings in the house with other like-minded individuals. She would continually find Sophie eavesdropping in on the meetings, entranced by what was going on. After a few tries she gave up on trying to keep her away – Sophie would always find a way to sneak back to them. None of her other daughters took any notice of the meetings except to complain that they couldn’t use the front room during these times. Sophie, despite her age, had a keen interest in the tumultuousness happening on the streets of Paris. And she had the opportunity to get the latest news from her father often in these meetings. Ambroise found it amusing that his 13-year-old daughter took such a keen interest in politics. At least this was all she was doing, Marie-Madeleine thought. After all, she could be taking to the streets to find her information and the meetings in the house were much different then those in the street. The air was becoming more desperate and Marie-Madeleine hoped for change to come soon and come peacefully, but she feared the worst. It would only be a matter of months before the Germains would be keeping their daughters inside continually.

In July of 1789 Marie-Madeleine's fears of a violent uprising came to fruition. That afternoon a group of armed people stormed the Bastille, which led to a day of bloody combat and several assassinations. Though they were part of the Third Estate, Marie-Madeleine and Ambroise-Francois felt that it would be best if they kept their children confined to the house until the city calmed down. The children did not react well to this decision. What would they do imprisoned in this house day in and day out with no end in site? Sophie took to her father's immense library to stave off the boredom. She read through everything she could.

It was here that she found a book by J.E. Montucia, History of Mathematics, and in it the story of a man named Archimedes (Osen). Sophie delighted in the odd stories of this man and his inventions, his refusals to take baths, and his obsession with mathematics. But this was not the best part of the story. It was not until she read of Archimedes' demise that she became engrossed with mathematics. The story of Archimedes' death was that as the Romans were capturing his city he was engrossed in a math problem and when engaged by a soldier he ignored that solider, enraging the soldier and prompting him to stab Archimedes. This man gave his life for geometry, for mathematics! This must be one interesting subject indeed. At that moment Sophie put down her book. What could be so interesting about mathematics that someone would give his or her life for it? She sat silently contemplating the subject until she was summoned for dinner. That night she lay in bed thinking of his circles, his diagrams, and his gadgets. Eventually she fell asleep, her mind still racing over the story of Archimedes.

The next day Sophie searched her father's library and found several books on mathematics. Many were older books, but she devoured them voraciously. She found that she would have to learn Greek and Latin in order to study Euler and Newton. Luckily her father had plenty of books on those subjects as well. Every day she spent with her father's books learning as much as she could: Latin, Greek, and about mathematics. She would work through the problems on paper, marveling in their intricate beauty. This went on for some time until one day her parents discovered how she was spending her days. It upset her mother that she was spending her days studying mathematics – this was not something that a young girl did. After dinner one night her upset parents sent her to her room without a book. She sat at her door listening to their conversation.

“This is all she does day and night! How can we keep her from this? It isn't OK for a young girl to study mathematics, especially not this obsessively,” her mother exclaimed.

“We'll just have to watch what she reads. Perhaps we shall no longer give her unfettered access to the library during the day that way we can monitor what she reads,” Ambroise-Francois replied. “There are many other places where she can sit and read since that is how she likes to fill her days. We do not have to keep such a close watch on the other children. When I am not here, if we limit her access to the library, it should not be too hard for you to make sure that she is not reading mathematics books.” The Germains were in agreement: they wouldn't let Sophie into the library on her own during the day and they would then be able to make sure that she did not continue her study of mathematics.

Sophie softly closed her door and tiptoed away from the door. She sat down and thought about ways in which she could sneak the books away from the library without her parents noticing. Surely they would keep close watch on all the books and would notice if they went missing. In that case hiding them in her room was not an option. Sophie decided that she would wait until after everyone went to bed and then go into the library and continue her studies. * Why her parents wouldn't understand her love of mathematics confused her, after all Archimedes gave his life for it, this was obviously a very important subject.

Sophie spent many nights in the library. Then one night, while she was consumed with a geometry problem, her father saw a light coming from the library. He opened the door and discovered his daughter poring over one the books that they had forbidden her to read. He immediately sent her back to her room and removed all of the candles from her room. And so it began. Sophie's parents tried everything: stealing her candles, her clothes, even cutting off the heat to her room at night. No matter what she always had a stash of hidden candles and quilts that she would wrap herself in and continued her studies. Despite all their efforts they continued to find Sophie curled up next to her books morning after morning. At this point the Germains realized that Sophie's love of learning mathematics could not be willed away or forced out of her and they allowed her free reign of the library once again. She was allowed to study mathematics freely during the day and with all her clothes.

In 1794 the École Polytechnique opened in Paris. It's mission statement was to “train mathematicians and scientists for the country”(Perl 64). The school did not admit women, but as with her earlier studies, she didn't let this obstacle stop her from learning even though she could not physically sit in on the classes. She was able to obtain the lecture notes from students in the classes and would send comments to the professors, which would at times include original notes on mathematics problems, but unlike other students she had to use a pseudonym to disguise her femaleness. And so Sophie became M. le Blanc.

During this time she became especially interested in the work of one professor, Joseph-Louis Lagrange. Lagrange was so impressed by her work that he insisted upon meeting the student who had produced it. * Upon discovering that it was a woman who had created it he was surprised, but not put off by it. He praised her for her analysis and would continue to support her and her work, becoming a mentor and a friend. Such encouragement from such a prominent mathematician energized Sophie and gave her more confidence in her work as a mathematician. With this newfound confidence Sophie moved from solving problems in her course work and into studying unexplored areas of mathematics. It was at this point that she became aware of Fermat's Last Theorem**. Fermat's Last Theorem continues to puzzle mathematicians to this day. It states that there are no solutions to equations of the form x^n+y^n=z^n where n ≥ 3.

After many years of work she believed that she had made a breakthrough in Fermat's Last Theorem. She felt that at this time she would need to talk to a fellow number theorist. After reading Gauss's Disquisitiones arithmeticae, a work on the theories of cyclometry, having to do with measuring of circles, and arithmetical forms she became obsessed with the works of Gauss. Using her alternate identity, M. le Blanc, she then sent Gauss the results some of her of work in number theory in 1804. Gauss was impressed by her findings and this began a correspondence between the two. She approached the theorem in a way that no other mathematicians had, possibly owing to the self taught nature of her education. She used a far more general approach then any of the other mathematicians of the day and this intrigued Gauss, whose contempt for Fermat's Last Theorem was well known.

In her letters she showed that she was not trying to prove that there was no solution for each equation one at a time, but instead she approached the Theorem holistically and tried to make a general statement that would cover all the equations. She focused on the equations in which n was a prime number. A prime number is a number such that itself and the number one can only divide it without leaving a remainder. For example 7 is a prime number because only 1 and 7 divide 7 without leaving a remainder whereas 9 is not since 1, 3, and 9 all divide 9 without remainders. Sophie was only interested in a particular brand of prime numbers, p, which were such that 2p+1 was also a prime number. For example 3 is a Germain prime because 2*3+1=7 and 7 is also prime. But 7 is not a Germain prime because 2*7+1=15 and 15 can be divided by 1, 3, 5, and 15 without remainders. She used these numbers to show that it was highly unlikely that any answers existed for the equation x^n+y^n=z^n, when n = p, with p being a Germain prime (as described above)**.

Had it not been for Napoleon's soldiers marching on Germany and Sophie fearing for Gauss's safety we may never have known that she was responsible for this breakthrough. We might know these numbers as le Blanc primes. Though Sophie and Gauss had been corresponding for 2 years by the time Napoleon invaded Germany, Gauss had no idea that M. le Blanc was actually Sophie Germain. Just as Archimedes' death inspired Sophie to begin her studies, so too did it weigh heavily on her mind as she thought of Gauss in Germany and the French army marching through. She worried that Gauss may suffer the same fate that Archimedes did and contacted a General friend of hers, Joseph-Marie Pernety, and asked him to guarantee Gauss's safety (Osen 85). True to his word General Pernety sent an emissary to Gauss's home to make sure that he was safe while they were in nearby Breslau, but confusion arose at the mention of Sophie's name. He did not understand why this woman was making inquiries about his safety – he had been corresponding with M le Blanc! It was after this that Sophie was forced to reveal her identity to Gauss. Upon learning of her true gender Gauss's respect and admiration for Sophie grew. For a woman to study mathematics at this time, and at this level required a high level of determination. He writes:

“But how to describe to you my admiration and astonishment at seeing my
esteemed correspondent M. le Blanc metamorphose himself into this illustrious
personage [Sophie Germain] who gives such a brilliant example of what I would
find it difficult to believe. A taste for the abstract sciences in general and above all
the mysteries of numbers is excessively rare; one is astonished at it; the
enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves only to those who
have the courage to go deeply into it…Indeed nothing could prove to me in so
flattering and less equivocal manner that the attractions of this science, which has
enriched my life with so many joys, are not chimerical, as the predilection with
which you have honored it.” (Bell 1937, pg 262)(Osen, 86-87)

Sophie and Gauss would continue to correspond throughout her lifetime, though they unfortunately were never able to meet face to face.

Though Sophie's work with Number Theory and Germain primes would prove to be her most famous work, she became consumed with the work of Ernst Chladni. Chladni was a physicist who was interested in the mathematics of the vibrations of elastic surfaces in two dimensions. Chladni observed that figures would form when a bow was dragged across the edge of an elastic surface covered in fine powder. Lagrange declared that the current form of mathematical thinking would not be enough and that a revolutionary new form of analysis would be the only way that this problem would be solved. So in 1808, by order of Napoleon, the French Academy of Sciences issued a challenge for all mathematicians and scientists:
“Formulate a mathematical theory of elastic surfaces and indicate just how it agrees with empirical evidence. (Perl)”
Sophie, despite being wholly unschooled and up against highly trained mathematicians found the problem challenging and took to the task of trying to solve it with the passion that marked all her endeavors. In 1811 she submitted her first attempt in an anonymous memoir. Her mentor, Lagrange, was part of the commission that evaluated the submissions and had written that her method of jumping from a line to a surface did not seem complete or accurate. Her work was rejected, but that did not stop Sophie from working on the problem. In 1813 another competition was held. This time Sophie's memoir won her an honorable mention. As you should know by now, this was not enough for Sophie. She tried again in 1816 and this time her work Memoir on the Vibrations of Elastic Plates earned her the prize. But her win did not come without immense criticism. She had won, but the commission had not been completely satisfied with her entry, and Sophie admitted that her connection between the theory and the observation was not rigorous. Many mathematicians for this criticized her, but one may wonder if that is because they themselves could not come up with something better.

Despite this criticism she had an impact on those around her. One of the judges, M.H. Navier wrote on her paper “it is a work of which few men are able to read and which only one woman was able to write.”(Perl) Her win also thrust her into the world that she belonged to. She was welcomed into circles with other noted mathematicians of the time, and able to talk with her peers openly and not have to hide behind letters and the fictitious M le Blanc. She was not one of the most noted mathematicians in the world, and her work would finally be known as her own. She was now able to attend sessions at the Institute de France with other prominent mathematicians, and was the first woman who was able to do so.
Sophie continued to publish papers on elasticity, including one on the nature and extent of elastic surfaces. She also continued to try and perfect her theory that won her the prize in 1816. One of her papers drew heavily from the works of her mentor, Gauss, though it was widely criticized for not thoroughly understanding the potential of Gauss's theories.

In 1829 Sophie developed breast cancer. Though this became her biggest battle she continued her work in mathematics until her death at the age of 55. At Gauss's urging Sophie was granted an honorary PhD from the University of Gottengen (Osen 89), but unfortunately died before she was able to receive the award. Though she made great strides in elasticity and was one of the leading minds of her time, when the Eiffel Tower was erected and the engineers inscribed the names of those who contributed to the study of elasticity of materials of the 72 people listed her name is conspicuously absent (Osen 89). So too in her death certificate was her membership to the French Academy of Sciences overlooked as she was designated a rentière-annuitant (a single woman with no profession) and not as a mathematician.

Her work as a woman who defied the expectations and restrictions of her time is one of the most lasting parts of her legacy. Sophie Germain was not only one of the most brilliant minds of her time, and she excelled almost only through her own devices. Without any formal training and guided only somewhat through her correspondence with leading mathematicians she snubbed societal conventions and changed mathematics in lasting ways. The child of revolution, she gave us a revolution all her own and that was by following her passion and not letting the mores of the day or the obstacles that she faced dissuade her from following her heart. And mathematics is a richer field for that.

Bibliography
Osen, Lynn M. Women in Mathematics. Cambridge: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1974
Perl, Teri. Math Equals: Biographies of Women Mathematicians + Related Activities. Menlo Park: Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1978.
*http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/germain.html
**http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/proof/germain.html

WOOT WOOT I'm going to the Spring APS meeting

2009-02-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

So my research prof has asked if I would be interested in presenting my research into differences in performance between men and women on the Force Concept Inventory, a test of basic understanding of Newtonian principles administered at the beginning and end of algebra and calculus based introductory physics courses, at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Section of APS.

While I'm not interested in going into Education Research and I'm not doing this as a Senior Project (or actually getting credit at all for this this quarter) it is something that I approached him and the other prof who is working on Physics Education research with at the end of last quarter and am highly interested in. I actually chose to get into Physics partly because my dream job is working for the NSF on working on increasing accessibility and retention of women and girls in STEM fields, so it kind of makes sense that this is what I am now doing. (Even though I am now in the mathematics department and in love with group and field theory and research I would never turn down a job at the NSF doing that.)

I am really excited and may be paying out of pocket (since I will have graduated at the end of this quarter) for one credit of independent study to work on this and to get departmental funds to present this at the APS conference. We also talked about me presenting it at scholar's week since it comes after the APS conference and I will already have everything put together. Also, even though this is not a senior project and I'm not officially a physics major I agreed to present my findings to the Physics Department as studies have shown that non-traditional teaching methods, i.e. those that incorporate interactive sessions, show greater improvement in women's scores then in men's (men's scores generally improve well no matter what teaching method is used.)

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I have to work on my presentation skills. Hopefully I will be able to post some of my findings here as I work on them more. I just received some new data so I'd like to add that first before I start talking about it publicly.

Reasons I shouldn't teach

2009-01-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

I might turn out like this:

Chicago reawakening

2008-12-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

Chicago Compass
Originally uploaded by union_clown

I remembered a part of myself today, a part that went missing years ago that I didn't notice among all the clutter of trauma and flurry of running. It is a part of me that once reawakened caused me to mourn it's absence even though I never noticed that it had gone. It came back to me during my trip to The Field Museum with my dad (though I was left to myself most of the day as I "take too long" to go through an exhibit) where I spent the day wandering amid the relics of civilisations past and dinosaur bones, including the dinosaur that for the first half of my life was my beloved brontosaurus (now apatosaurus (I don't know if the Field Museum was calling it an apatosaurus growing up, all I know is that I called it a brontosaurus and had a brontosaurus lunchbox) Sidenote: brontosaurus shows no red squiggly line of bad spelling whereas apatosaurus does. Hmmmm).

Amid the carvings and the idols of the ancient Aztecs I remembered that child like quality that I had lost for so many years: my need to experience things tactilely. When it was gone I do not remember. I do remember walking through Chicago and having to run my hands over every different kind of stone surface that I would meet. To not just see the buildings and hear the city, but to touch it, to know it, to feel it. I remember, back in art school, asking to run my hands over paintings that were not flat, always liking those with texture more then the others (and making them that way myself). To feel the complexity of emotion, the hidden layers where mistakes and old feelings were hidden away beneath a new coat of paint. To interact with something that was not just flat, and to me that makes it flat in more ways then one-funny for a printmaker, but rich and complex and layered. Knowing that whatever was buried there was just a few scrapes away from exposing itself to the world.

It came to me staring at the first piece in the Aztec exhibit which was a statue of some unknown stone pockmocked with tiny craters. I knew that if I could just touch it my experience would be fuller. That I would somehow understand it more; that I would become more involved in the exhibit. So I did all that I could do: I imagined what it would feel like. I flipped through every single piece of rock that I had ever touched until I came across something that resembled the one standing in front of me. I recreated it's features, even the pieces that had succumbed to age and had fallen off and especially those that were crumbling. I continued to do this throughout the rest of the exhibit. Through the rest of the museum. Imagining what the ancient papyrus in the Egyptian exhibit must feel like, at one point actually getting to feel hieroglyphs. Touching the models, knowing that the texture was wrong but the topography right in my journey from the beginning of the earth.

I missed this. I'm realising as I type this that I have been doing this to a small extent as I have visited my ancient old growth stands, but that is more like caressing an old friend. But these streets, these buildings, all these things that I encountered...they can be friends too. Possibly just acquaintances for a brief time, telling me their story and moving out of my life forever, but at least there will be that.

Calling all Scientists

2008-12-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm doing some research on the Force Concept Inventory and gender differences in performance on the FCI. I have also been in contact with Laura McCullough and will hopefully be receiving a copy of what they used for research, the "Gender Force Concept Inventory." (In which there seemed to be a marked improvement by both sexes except on one problem.) We're (hopefully) going to give the GFCI & FCI (randomly) to both the algebra and calculus based classes next quarter.

Anyone have any resources, articles, etc on this subject? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The cool thing is that J & A approached me with this idea for a research project.

I'll actually post more on what I'm doing later. There's more to what I'm doing, because what J & A are trying to do is figure out how to fine tune inquiry based physics education. J's original proposition was that he wanted to find of if inquiry based classes worked better for men or women, so that's the bigger picture and of course working on IB learning betterment regardless of gender. We're thinking that the FCI is a good place to start, but of course if the questions are crappy then we're never going to be able to accurately gauge how well the class is doing.

Indecision Oh Eh?

2008-12-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Canucks watch here

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Provinces in Peril

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Provinces in Peril

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

A moment of silence please

2008-12-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 19th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre.

The shooter, who claimed that feminism had ruined his life came into a classroom and separated the nine women from the approximately fifty men and ordered the men to leave. Speaking in French, he asked the remaining women whether they knew why they were there, and when one student replied "no", he answered: "I am fighting feminism". One of the students, Nathalie Provost, said, "Look, we are just women studying engineering, not necessarily feminists ready to march on the streets to shout we are against men, just students intent on leading a normal life." Lépine responded that "You're women, you're going to be engineers. You're all a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists." He then opened fire on the students from left to right, killing six, and wounding three others, including Provost. Before leaving the room, he wrote the word shit twice on a student project He killed 14 women. Here are their names:

Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student.

OH NO! Canada's going to split into tiny pieces!

2008-12-02T22:52:00.000-08:00

BRING IT HARPER. BRING IT!

To those of you who don't pay attention to Canadian politics, you really should right now. This is one of the most interesting times in Canadian political history. Right now 2 of the national parties, the NDP and the Liberal Party have forged a coalition deal that would, when the confidence vote fails (it's only a matter of time Harper, just deal with it) create a coalition government led by the Liberals. (You can read the accord here.) The Bloc Québécois is not formally part of this coalition, but has pledged their support for the next 18 months. (If only we could have Gilles as PM. *sigh*). Not only that, but Green Party leader Elizabeth May has also lent her support to the coalition. That means that 4 of the 5 major parties are UNITED behind this effort. And they have all made concessions. (As one does when one makes alliances like this. And also as one does to actually get shit done in government.)

Let me take a step back. Besides being evil, or as Gilles Duceppe likes to do let's just say that Harper is the Canadian Bush, Harper did a few things to bring this on. He did what every politician does and said that he would make an effort to work with the other parties, then he calls an election (which he said he would not call, btw) and the first thing he does is spit on the other parties. (Well, more accurately poke at them with a sharp stick.)

This is in no particular order, but has a common theme.

1) Proposes to take away public subsidies of political parties. As it stands now, each vote earns the party $1.95.

But because the Conservatives have such a strong fundraising base, their subsidy represents only 37 per cent of the party's total revenues.

By comparison, the subsidy amounts to 63 per cent of the Liberals' funding, 86 per cent of the Bloc's, 57 per cent of the NDP's and 65 per cent of the Greens'.

So who gets hurt? Every single party in opposition to the Conservatives.

Well there are several points in this one link so here's the link and here are the points:

2) Cutting public service pay

3) Suspending the right to strike for federal employees

4) (My favourite) PAY EQUITY! Who needs it!

And he would put a crimp in pay equity – a program that requires Ottawa to pay women equal wages for work of equal value – although there is no evidence that the current system is either iniquitous or expensive.

And then there's the Tories taping a private caucus call of the NDP. (Hello, ever hear of Watergate?)

The Prime Minister's Office handed out copies of the recording to reporters on Sunday, claiming it showed the NDP and the Bloc Québécois had long conspired to topple the Conservative government.

And there's also that whole thing where Harper and the Tories like to insult the Bloc at every opportunity. (Because they're evil and THEY HATE CANADA AND ARE TRYING TO DESTROY THE COUNTRY! HIDE YOUR CHILDREN! THE QUÉBÉCOIS ARE COMING!)

One poke too far? Did he seriously think that a *larger* minority in Commons would somehow make the opposition go against the Charter of Rights? That they would let you bulldoze through them doing whatever the hell you wanted? Yet he continues to show that he thinks that getting several more seats for the Tories makes him able to do whatever he wants without the confidence of the Commons. There was supposed to be a confidence vote that Harper put off until the 8th trying to stave off the inevitable. What happens now is up to the Governor-General. She has several (historic) options: If Mr Harper asks her to prorogue (all bills, motions, etc are expunged and the parliament is in recess), her likely response is to ask him to prove that he has the confidence of the House. He can’t do that, so he’ll either have to ask for an election or resign. If he asks for an election, she can’t really grant it to him given that she has a letter from the coalition - according to convention she pretty much has to allow the coalition an opportunity to demonstrate that they can govern. An election will be the last resort. This is what I'm hoping for and this is what historically happens. But we shall see, not won't we.

To see *exactly* what's been happening may I suggest CPAC (It's the Canadian CSPAN). December 1st's Question Period (I hope this works as a direct link to the video if not just search) is rather good and December 2nd's is even better. It was all over the news as this is a rather historic time in politics and times like these have never been seen in Canadian Parliament. (At least not broadcast.)

BRING IT HARPER!

Of course they want the prorogue, because it would give them more time to spread their lies. They're calling the opposition alliance and possible unseating of the Tory government an undemocratic, illegal coup. As one expert said Harper either doesn't know parliamentary politics or he's lying. I know which one my money's on. They're also saying that the separatists are going to be running the nation. Um, well, no, the Bloc is not part of the coalition and Duceppe already said that he pledged to support and do what's best for CANADA during the next 18 months under the coalition government. Again I say OH NOES! THE SEPARATISTS ARE RUNNING THE COUNTRY! OMG CANADA IS DOOMED! During the 12/1 Question Period session Harper kept saying that they refused to sign the Coalition Accord in front of a Canadian flag when there's a lot of footage of them IN FRONT of a Canadian flag. The guy just can't stop lying. Here's to a new government and soon.

But for some brevity (and common sense) in this situation may I suggest Canadian Cynic and Bloodless Coup!.

Vote for real change!

2008-11-02T22:10:00.000-08:00

Vote Cynthia McKinney! 5% is a win: 3 words: public campaign financing.

I got tagged with the song meme

2008-10-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

and since I have a stupid programming class that takes me about 30 hours a week per assignment, a really hard mathematical modeling class, and the Putnam Competition training class, which means an extra hour and a half uncredited class each week with ridiculously hard homework (questions from past tests, and this is a a test that over 50% of the people who take it get a 0/120 on), this is about all I have time to write about right now. So here we go:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 37 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Check off the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own.

1. "One-two one-two in the place to be, yes indeed/As we proceed to give you what you need/Always smokin that 'dro weed, we have......(band name)"

2. "How many tears do you cry if love should break your heart in two?"

3. "Some guy tried to rub up against me on a crowded subway car"

4. "I'm gonna make a change, for once in my life."

5. "Take a trip with me in 1913 to Calumet, Michigan in copper country."

6. "I fell in love again, all things go, all things go."

7. "It was a thrilling ride. Ya you turn me on..." (the begging was too

8. "You asked me so where have you been"

9. (this is not the first line since that is the name of the song..this is the next line) "Two days not hungover in a bar up on high kiss the smugness goodbye with two bourbon decays and wine."

10. ".....Cruelty makes its holes, but on the shoreline time will hold its promise." (...-song title)

11. "...feel the pressure. Yo, you better plan ahead, gather your thoughts."

12. "...love might bring us back together, I feel so good.."

13. "Butterfly searching for a relax, pulling from the jazz stacks cause it's Sunday." (alright, you better know what band this is or don't talk to me ever.)

14. second line: "And the grief it's caused no one will ever know."

OK, I'm skipping one, because it's like ALL the title to the song. You can check it out if you don't believe me: "Drinkin Lum Y Alla" by Leadbelly.

15. "Well sit by my side if you love me."

16. "All the time we spent in bed, counting miles before we said fall in love and fall apart things will end before they start."

17. "I am a tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tough tough guy"

18. "Je me balladais tranquille, sur une ile sans le moindre style." (I'll love you forever if you know this.)

19. "Dressin my voice up on the phone, underneath the envy rotting in my bones."

20. "When an early autumn walks the land and chills the breeze and touches with her hand the summer trees, perhaps you'll understand what memories I own."

21. "...Oh I want to be in that number..." (now you have to figure out WHICH singer since this is the easiest one EVER)

String of Coltrane and Thelonius Monk (i.e. NO lyrics), Glenn Miller singing in German(?) and I couldn't find the lyrics online so I'm skipping it instead of guessing.

22. "Planets be the champ of this amplified sound, swimming in this art of up the boogie down."

23. "Now I'm just a boy, I watch too much TV (no body knows, no body knows)."

24. "Back in the days, my pops said right on."

25. "There's a port on a western bay and it serves a hundred ships a day."

26. "They tell you to do it, grow up and toe the line"

Coltrane

27. 3rd line: "Act like ya know, not now but right now"

28. "Who is it? Who’ll get the sting, who’ll get the stripes?"

29. "Just one more drink and then I should be on my way home."

30. "I'm saying something very curious, I swear to god nobody listens to me."

31. "It isn't by chance I happen to be a boulevardier, dear, the toast of Paree."

32. "Here am I with my desire, I feel it burning just for you."

Miles

33. "It was late last night I made my rounds."

34. "See it coming at my head."

35. "I'm so lonely because I live on a ..... in the heart of a city." ....: song title

36. "There are holes in what we knew."

37. "Look in the mirror time to face up"

It took me 47 "songs." (Some of them were my Pimsleur Arabic lessons). It kept playing no lyric jazz as well. I tried to note the music stuff, but I guess I could have just kept it too myself. My player also apparently favoured similar songs today. If I had done this on Tuesday it would have been 90% oldies

Canadian PM Debate drinking game

2008-10-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

This list was compiled from rules from the last PM election cycle and from the "Canadian Indecision" group on my knitting site Ravelry.

Take a drink whenever Duceppe:
Starts talking about things not releated to the question
Takes over Layton’s turn to speak
Speaks french for no apparent reason

drink whenever layton mentions boardroom tables and/or kitchen tables.
drink whenever harper infantilizes/effeminizes dion.
drink whenever one of the party leaders accuse harper of being pro-alberta and/or pro-oil companies.

drink when Stephen Harper sounds smug
drink when May or Layton make a grandiose promise they'll never be able to fulfill.
drink when anyone completely ignores the question and goes off on an unrelated rant

Take 2 drinks if:
Harper calls the Green Shift "a tax on everything"
Harper or Layton accuse May of being a Liberal
Dion says "stimulation"
anyone blames a previous government for something

3 drinks if Harper makes vague (or overt, basically any) reference to a group (or province, *coughNFLDcough*) that he doesn't need to get elected

start drinking whenever anyone mentions the sponsorship scandal and don’t stop until (presumably) harper shuts up.

If anyone agrees with Harper chug the rest of your drink (or a new one and yes you still have to do it if you're crying)
start doing shots when elizabeth may brings out the bong.

While we're on the subject of debt

2008-09-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Marcy Kaptur rocks!

Hey Washington!

2008-09-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Are you going to buy my debt next? What's a couple of thousand dollars in student loans compared to $700 billion?

Score one for Disability Rights

2008-09-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day and finally Congress did something right. (Well the Senate anyway.)

On September 11th the Senate passed S. 3406, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. This is a big fucking deal for people with disabilities. Now I'm gonna ask you to send a short email to you reps and ask them to vote for it (it had 77 cosponsors in the Senate (including my own, Patty Murray, who I love, and Hillary Clinton) so hopefully that's some indication that it will easily be passed in the House as well). What is so great about this? It changes the language, it removes some of the worse paragraphs, it gives people with disabilites (more) legal recourse if discriminated against, and it changes the definition of disability as well as putting in writing (thank god-this is something that means a lot to me personally as someone *on* disability who is mostly functional on medication) that the determination of whether or not one has a disability is made without taking into account things that aid in helping the person to lead a "normal" life. Observe:

'(E)(i) The determination of whether an impairment substantially limits a major life activity shall be made without regard to the ameliorative effects of mitigating measures such as--

'(I) medication, medical supplies, equipment, or appliances, low-vision devices (which do not include ordinary eyeglasses or contact lenses), prosthetics including limbs and devices, hearing aids and cochlear implants or other implantable hearing devices, mobility devices, or oxygen therapy equipment and supplies;

This is important because the courts ruled in the past that there have been rulings that have said that if such assistive devices improve your life then, viola! you are no longer disabled as in the 1999 case Sutton v. United Airlines. My life is 10x better on medication and I'm continually scared of being kicked off of disability as a result which means no Medicaid and no medication. Whee. What a catch-22. I become almost fully functional with medication and then I am kicked off because I am only fully functional to fall back into my less then desirable state of functioning just to go back on SSI-D and medication. Whee again. And I'm not the only one who lives with this fear.

Back to the legal recourse. Many different types of disabilities were not included and were being discriminated against and not recognised by the courts under the current laws. Non-physical disabilities, i.e. the ones that most people think of when they hear the term 'disability' were generally discriminated against, because, well, if you can't see it it doesn't exist, right? Wrong. And this Bill is changing the laws to make sure that people like me are covered. If the government pays me disability why then am I not included in the ADA? Hmmmm.

In a statement, Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, praised the bill's introduction: "The ADA Amendments Act is the most significant civil rights bill of the 110th Congress. This act will correct narrow court interpretations that have restricted ADA coverage in the workplace, and taken away coverage for people with diabetes, epilepsy, serious heart conditions, mental disabilities, and even cancer."

I am writing first as a HURRAH that this was passed for the 43 million people in the US living with a disability, but also to ask that you do contact your reps (whether you actually vote or not-I don't care and they don't know) because this bill needs to pass the House. This amendment needs to happen. For me. For the 43 million others and all those undiagnosed. For the people who are usually left behind when talk of civil rights is brought up.

(Oh and while you're at it you should add something about HR 676 single payer healthcare-then no one would have to worry about going without medical care or medication.)

Also, currently there are Disability Rights Activists blocking all the doors at McCain's Campaign Headquarters (follow the happenings through Twitter) What are they asking for? Housing! Call McCain headquarters at 703-297-8900 to tell them to get the housing platform to McCain!

IVAW pictures are now up.

2008-09-05T18:29:00.001-07:00

no words
Originally uploaded by union_clown

I stopped trying to think of titles for the pictures, they speak for themselves. Even titling this one "no words" seems to be taking away from it a little. Find the rest of the photos here.

There's also another set with all the miscellaneous stuff I saw around the DNC that I didn't have any other home for. You can find it here.

2 photo sets up from DNC

2008-09-05T03:39:00.001-07:00

Storm stirring shit up
Originally uploaded by union_clown

But not the IVAW since that's huge. I'm going to be doing that tomorrow so it ~~will~~ should be up by tomorrow evening.

Green and Black march

and

18 Million Voices 88th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment/Hillary's Speech Celebration

RNC Updates

2008-09-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

**SUPER IMPORTANT**: Undercovers/provacatuers consistently wearing ipod earphones and shiny black shoes. DO NOT ENGAGE, but don't get paranoid.

Dump trucks and snow plows between marchers and Xcel Center.

John Doe who has been water striking has been bonded out. It is believed that no more John Does remain in jail.

Cops are still dropping protesters off in random locations after release. Keep number for rides on you: 651.356.8635

100+ people on Marion Bridge detained and handcuffed face down @ 19:38.

27 arrested at 12th & Cedar, march leadership targeted; one reporter arrested: Susan from Uptake.

Cops again using pepper spray, tear gas, percussion grenades/flash bombs on protesters.

Curfew rumours false; city employees advised to evacuate downtown.

Ramsey County Jail phone #651.292.3698

I wonder (RNC post)

2008-09-03T17:32:00.000-07:00

If they're doing what the cops did in Denver where they had their badge numbers embroidered in black on their uniforms so that they technically were identifiable, but god damn if anyone could actually make out what the hell their badge numbers were.

Also, police are trading pepper spray for the offer of flowers. Because flowers are apparently weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.

For more news check out Twin Cities Indymedia and as I posted below, for up to the minute action text "Follow TCIMC" to 40404 (their twitter feed, which is a fucking brilliant idea and makes me want to run to all these places that people are needed even though I can't.)

Day 1 of uploading

2008-09-03T14:17:00.001-07:00

Starts tomorrow.

RNC real time update

2008-09-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

1595 Selby, the I-witness office is being surrounded by police who are claiming that there are hostages inside.

I'll post more when I get updated. Anyone you know in the area please tell them to go, observers are needed.

If you are in Minne, the way to get updates is to text "Follow TCIMC" to 40404.

Still working on missing posts

2008-09-02T13:43:00.000-07:00

Chew on this:
The End is Not For a While

When you scroll over it it says "I THINK EVERYONE INVOLVED HERE IS CUTE."

Where have all the posts gone?

2008-09-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, that's a good question. I will try to get them back up in the next few days, I have quite some time to spend sitting in front of the negative scanner to get my pics online (from the DNC). But in the meantime, check out what's happening at the RNC (I will be putting up links and stuff....it's more likely to happen since I'm not actually there) on Minneapolis/St. Paul Indymedia and watch this clip of Amy Goodman and the producers of Democracy Now getting arrested while covering the RNC protests.

Denver or bust!

2008-08-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for my plane in 5 hours. Yee-ha.

See ya in the streets.

Carnival Love

2008-08-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

The 17th Carnival of Radical Feminists up now at Spinning Sisters

AND

The 53rd Carnival Against Sexual Violence is up at abyss2hope

Also, tigtog at Hoyden About Town talks about the difference in the treatments of transgenders between the carnivals.

And just when

2008-08-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

things seem to be getting better....

And Free Speech will be protected in Denver

2008-08-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mmmm. So the city is preparing for mass arrests during the DNC. Granted there will be your standard stock of anarchists and the like protesting there (did clown bloc exist past the 2000 RNC? They were my favourites, for obvious reasons.), but I think this is more then likely made for us dried up old lady PUMAs who will be there protesting as well. And woo won't it be fancy. A warehouse, complete with metal cages made of chain link fence topped with barbed wire will be awaiting the people who get arrested.

A sign on the wall reads "Warning, electric stun devices used in this facility."

Sallinger showed video of the warehouse to Adam Jung of Tent State University and Zoe Williams of Code Pink, leaders of groups that plan to demonstrate during the convention. "This is very bare-bones and very reminiscent of a political prisoner camp or a concentration camp," Williams said.

"That's how you treat cattle," Jung siad. "You showed the sign where it said stun gun in use. And you just change the word gun for bolt, and it's a meat-processing plant."

Oh yeah, this'll be great. I can't wait. But think of the press if some old lady actually does get arrested. That'll be awesome. Not to mention the fact that no one really cares if a bunch of ragged old anarchists get arrested, but what about when your everyday Jane or John Q. Public gets arrested? People that your average American citizen doesn't look down on? I'm hoping that people will be outraged if what I think is going to happen happens. But I don't want it to happen, doesn't mean it won't.

Luckily I have press credentials and will be there with my In These Times press passes (including my assorted press gear) which has always prevented me from getting arrested. Let's hope the streak continues, but I fear for all those PUMAs and Hillary supporters who have real, legitimate concerns and problems with the Democratic Party who will be silenced because we can't exercise our only avenue to free speech without fearing arrest and imprisonment. Awesome. Way to go democracy.

DISSENT is the highest form of patriotism -- Thomas Jefferson

one week notice

2008-08-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

Getting back to writing

2008-08-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

and hopefully blogging (about substantial things). I am writing a story, have about 4 1/2 chapters written and know the big plot point I'm working towards and it features a protagonist with PTSD, Parker, and is fantasy set in present day earth. Since I am writing it in my journal-smaller pages, I have set a goal of writing 10 pages every day. Hopefully this will get me writing again.

I have some ideas for feminist theory kicking around my head (which I can only hope will be as good as my polyamory and activism and my compulsive masculinity pieces) so hopefully once I have trained myself to write everyday I can make the leap to sit down and work on that. I'm hoping that after this last go boom it's all uphill so that I will be able to pull quotes and research stuff out without any PTSD related crap happening, but first the fiction.

Also

2008-07-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

WTF?

I so don't even care about SYTYCD anymore this season. I never connected to Joshua or Katee and while Twitch is nice and entertaining, I don't get excited thinking about him dancing. How he's there over Mark I have no idea. Especially given both their solos tonight (and performances last night). Ridiculous.

Hey Obama, remember women?

2008-07-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

Because your VP vettings say you don't, or you're still planning on the whole "they have no where else to go" bullshit to happen. Well you know what? We've been saying no, and we're still saying no, so fuck you mate.

NOW's put out this Obama, Are You Listening? This One's for Your Girls

Some highlights:

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, appeared on Meet the Press on July 27 and was pressed by Tom Brokaw to discuss the criteria, timing and prospects for his selection for vice president. Obama refused to name any names, but he did offer this insight: "I want somebody who I'm compatible with, who I can work with, who has a shared vision..."

Well, I hope that shared vision includes full equality for women, because some of the names that have been floated recently aren't particularly reassuring.

.....

The New York Times puts forth a frustrating Catch-22 in the veepstakes, claiming that there's little chance Obama will choose Clinton, but that hopefuls like Sebelius shouldn't hold their breath either because "if a woman were to be placed on the ticket, could it be anyone other than Mrs. Clinton?" Um, because Clinton was such a strong contender, that should eliminate all other prospective Democratic female VPs from the field? John Edwards lost, so does that mean Obama shouldn't consider any white males for the VP slot? Of course not. Only in a patriarchy are we allowed just one woman trailblazer at a time!

So, let's look at some of the men whose names are being bandied about. Gov. Kaine is reportedly very close with Obama and is supposedly the frontrunner at this time. This concerns me a great deal, as it should all feminists. Kaine, a former Catholic missionary, is on the record as having "a faith-based opposition to abortion," and having promised to enforce the (numerous) restrictions in Virginia law. We think Barack Obama should look for someone who trusts women to make these important decisions with their doctors and their families.

....

What a great way to lose women's votes -- and hurt girls' and women's future. In a year when an unprecedented number of feminist and progressive voters are energized and engaged in the electoral process, what a mistake it would be for Obama to turn away from his base in perhaps the most important decision he will make between now and the convention. A misguided attempt to reach out to evangelicals and socially conservative Democrats can only backfire. I fear that if women have to choose between a ticket with Chuck Hagel and a ticket with John McCain, they're likely to stay home.

.....

The simple political fact is that Sen. Obama needs to reach out to women, and demonstrate that he is a true proponent of equality for all. He needs to ask for women's support the same way Clinton did. It was the first time in a long time that we've been talked to by a candidate who wasn't talking down to us.

Some of the men on Obama's short list might not even bother to talk down to us -- many of them, with the exception of Joe Biden, haven't talked to us much in the past, so we suspect that they just might ignore us entirely in the future, while trading away our rights.

Of course only one woman at a time! And I'm sorry, but I heard Gov. Sebelius floated before the primaries were even over as a way to "quell" our anger that Clinton did not get the nod so I'm already pissed of about that. But now it's (almost) decided and seriously the names that have been floating are repugnant. Napolitano, who I would think of as a good choice, has not even been asked for vetting papers, but Sebelius has, and it seems like that's just a little nod to all us dried up bitter women who were screwed out of having an actual progressive candidate who cares about women. Which, I'm sorry that you don't like it Obama, but that includes the right to abortions without having to consult the entire community AND accepting the fact that mental health issues are just as damn important as physical health issues to the life of the woman. I'm glad that no one close to you has had to go through mental health issues and that you've never had your life touched by domestic violence, which does create undue mental stress even if it's not a diagnosed condition, but FUCK YOU for telling the many women who have been and will be in those situations that their pain is just not good enough to get a late term abortion. I'm lucky, I'm diagnosed so I'll be able to get one. Many people, including me, go undiagnosed for years if they ever do get diagnosed. It is NOT UP TO YOU.

Anyway, looking at Obama's list and especially the list of people who have given vetting papers we have a token woman and then a slew of men who are at best tepidly OK for women. It's not like I haven't been screaming it from the rooftops this entire damn primary season, but OBAMA DOESN'T CARE ABOUT WOMEN. He wants us to vote for him, but he doesn't want to do a damn thing to earn those votes, just like the Democratic Party has for, well, forever. We are the LARGEST voting bloc AND we had a candidate who has done a shitload of work for women: Plan B over the counter, VAWA, Vital Voices, etc, etc, and yet here we are being ignored. Again. Why? Of all years why are we being ignored? Isn't it obvious that these things are a BIG DEAL to a good portion of the 18 million people who voted for Hillary, and dare I say a good deal of people who didn't? This is a big deal. STOP FUCKING IGNORING US. Right now, you are not that much better then the other guy so stop thinking that that's gonna work for you. Democrats have always counted on us voting for them since they're better then the other guy. Well both guys suck, both guys want to restrict my access to abortion, and both are going to completely fuck up this country.

And can I tell you I am so happy that there are other PUMAs. Ever 4 years I scream from the rafters about how the R's and the D's are too incredibly similar and now other people are realising it. Well, they realised that the Dems weren't being what the Dems were supposed to be. I can tell you that by the amount of trolls (can you call them trolls if you know who they are?) that visit my tiny little Hillary group on Ravelry (the main Obama group has about 30x the number of members as our group and we're the little Hillary group b/c we're unaffiliated-people in our group will be voting McCain, McKinney, no one, or Obama and some people do not like this) they really are worked up about PUMAS. If we were so sad to them why would they bother to troll us continually? Why do they care what we're talking about all the time? PUMAs are real, there are a lot of us, and if we were inconsequential no one would care.

But yet they're just saying "oh they're angry," "they'll get over it," "they're throwing a tantrum b/c they didn't get what they want." Well in part, yeah. I'm angry and I didn't get what I want. But you know what? It *still* isn't up to me to blindly follow someone who says and does things I abhor. It's up to him to win my vote. You know what would be a step in that direction? How about choosing candidates for VP who don't openly and actively hate me? Or is that too much to ask? You and Michelle always talk about your daughters, but guess what, they're girls who'll one day be women too. (I hate having to use that whole "look at this girl/woman you know" crap.)

SYTYCD Top 6

2008-07-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

This space reserved for thoughts on the show. Must dial for Mark, Chelsie, and Courtney. But mostly Mark.

And OHMYGOD Sonya is now officially my favourite choreographer on the show. She choreographed 2 of my favourites: tonight's jazz routine (WOW) and Matt & Kourtni's comic book contemporary. I love Sonya. (will have last name later)

A little bit of comedy

2008-07-30T18:12:00.000-07:00

from the way back machine.

Are my credentials in the mail?

They most certainly are not.

Nothing like a manufactured flame war to bring out the laughter!

Noam Chomsky finally talks about women's issues

2008-07-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

and I love it.

"the Hustler"

Sorry no SYTYCD this week

2008-07-17T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last night was another pub quiz, and I usually don't go, but my partner's leaving for 3 weeks to do WASL alternative grading and then moving for a teaching job at a high school district 2 hours away maybe a week after he gets back (he'll be here the week I'll be in Denver too, though, but then again I won't be here). So I did that instead.

Next week will be back to regular as I'm on crutches and can't dance at the moment (X-Ray was clear even though the doc seems to be convinced I have a stress fracture and it just isn't showing yet. NOT ALL DANCERS GET STRESS FRACTURES, ARGH!) I'll definitely be craving dance. I'm craving dance as we speak. I spent the entire day at the ER thinking of ways I could dance without using my left foot or putting pressure on it in any way.

A new leaf

2008-07-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

These have been some interesting times for me. Stupid, ridiculous, hard times for me. And you know what? Lines were crossed. Things that should never have been said were said. And I saw this at reweaving and I was rejuvenated. It said exactly what I have always thought. The weights that have been holding me down at the bottom of the ocean were lifted. The gag over my mouth disappeared. I could see; I could breathe again. Here's what it says:

I don’t do blind loyalty to anyone, or anything, I critique and interrogate everyone and everything.

Don't expect me to censor my thoughts or my friendships into some thing you find acceptable

That's it, that's all it took. Not rocket science, I admit, but just those two simple sentences, those two little statements, they were enough. I have never been the darling of anyone. I say the wrong things to everyone, it drives my partner crazy sometimes. Even though I am a dedicated radical feminist anti-pornstitution blogger I have dear friends, who are friends for the reasons one generally has friends, who are pro-porn. They don't like what I have to say, but they listen to it at least and are respectful of my words as I am of theirs. We debate, but in the end, and this is all I think one can ever do, I present my argument to the best of my abilities and hope that it creates a spark-something that will cause them to see the truth in my argument and will get them to change their minds.

In the end that's all we can ever do: present our arguments and have enough faith in those arguments that they alone will cause someone to see our side of the story. Changing someone's mind does not come by telling them how wrong they are, by what they should change, or by demeaning them, yelling at them, or lecturing them. I have seen all of these and I am sickened by it.

Radical feminism is about getting rid of this entire system of dominance and hierarchy. No more oppression. No more capitalism. None of it. That also means that there's no "leaders." It is a movement of education, of information. The message is so powerful, the truth so right that we don't need to force people to do anything. I believe this. I believe with all my heart that a world without dominance and hierarchy is possible. Soon? No. But someday? Yes. It warmed my heart when I met some of The Redstockings in NYC and one of the women said to me "I'm doing this for my daughter's daughter's daughter." Which is what I've always said. (Though I'm not having any children.) What we aim to do is to make the world better for each generation of women, and one day.....

Anyhow. I have seen the yelling and the lecturing and it just makes my blood boil. I believe in this message with every fibre of my being. Words cannot describe just how much that message means to me. It is who I am; it is how I live my life; it informs every decision of every day. But who will hear the message when they're getting yelled at? Who? I used to do it too, and I cringe when I see it, you can find examples of it on the internet even. I was like that too, I admit it, but you know what changed that? I remembered that the world isn't black and white. I saw that I got one person to stop watching porn simply because when I found out he did I told him that I don't hang out with people who do and it started a series of conversations that ended with him buying Andrea Dworkin books of his own accord. It's the message, people. You need to make sure that it gets heard. That's my mission, making friends and allies is nice, but not if I'm supposed to toe some party line or pass some purity test. I've never been able to do that and I probably never will. Nothing's black and white. Not even math when you study it enough. (I know how to invent numbers!) It's all shades of grey.

But what's worse is what happens if you say something that the online community, which is very different from real life radical feminists that I've met for the most part, **not all** mind you, I am not making a blanket statement one way or the other here, doesn't like. If you critique the name of a blog like Dead Men Don't Rape as Laura once did you can be attacked and called pro-porn. If you thank people who supported you and suggest that you should talk more often even if you are across the great porn divide as Debs did then you can have your intelligence and loyalty to radical feminism questioned.

And these things were ugly. People were vicious and mean and condescending and all sorts of other things. Tears have been shed, things have been broken (inanimate things, but that might have just been me), and relationships irreparably damaged.

Why the self-cannibalism? Isn't a number of disparate voices good? I think it makes the movement stronger. Do we really have to agree 100% of the time on everything? Because if that's really what needs to happen then I fail. I fail miserably. It's never going to happen. I can think of one big bright shining issue that I know there's going to be a problem with: trans. We don't agree and unless y'all start thinking about being more trans-inclusive we won't. Hell, I don't even agree with myself all the time so I sure as hell aren't going to agree with whatever the hell I'm expected to agree with all the time.

Does it mean we all have to like each other? Because really if someone who doesn't like me doesn't like me and says so that's FINE. It's much better then someone who doesn't like me pretending to like me. There are enough fish in the sea and I don't have to be friends with every single one. (I've always fancied sharks though and I thought of that as I was writing that so does that mean I want to eat a few people?) I learned long ago that sharing an ideological connection with someone was not enough. Most of the people that I worked with in activist communities were the people that have abused and assaulted me. So obviously I know that just because we share the same ideology it does not necessarily mean that we're going to be best of friends or friends at all. I'm OK with that. (not the assault and abuse part but those are also not the people I'm talking about here for the most part).

Some of my friends have been abused by some of my other friends. This pains me and I try to stop it as much as I can. Sometimes I'm successful. I wish I was more often, but then again I'm one person and I'm not always around. But here's the thing. I am expected to stick up for people who are abusive towards me simply because we are both anti-porn. Well FUCK THAT. I am no more going to defend ideas I do not agree with or people who are abusive to me then I am going to start cheerleading porn. I am and always will be my own person. I will not defend something I do not agree with because I am told to. I will defend it because I believe it.

But anyway, I'm sick of it-sick of sitting by and not saying anything to all sides. Y'all are on notice. I'm gonna say what I think and I'm not too good at being anything but blunt, it's just the way I am I never learned the "social niceties." Anyway, it feels like my Independence Day. I feel like me again. (Knowing I'll probably disappear back down the rabbit hole again after this, but whatever, when I emerge you know what to expect.)

Melanie C sums it up nicely. Here's Independence Day for you:

I know I make mistakes
I will have to live and learn
Sometimes you play with fire
And sometimes you get burned

I have my dream to live
Following that star
It doesn't matter how long it takes
It doesn't matter how far

No time for make believing
And it's too late to turn back now, you-you-you

I've been dreaming about it
I can't live without it
I've got to find my own way
I'm not changing my mind now
Or looking behind now
This is my independence day
My independence day

I know it'll take some time
But I won't give up the fight
Sometimes you win, sometime you lose
But that's alright, oh yeah

I've got to spread my wings
And learn how to fly
Cos this feeling drives me on
It's something I cannot deny

No time to make excuses
Cos it's too late to turn back now, you-you-you

I've been dreaming about it
I can't live without it
I've got to find my own way
I'm not changing my mind now
Or looking behind now
This is my independence day
My independence day
Hey, my independence day, oh-oh

No matter what comes my way
I'm gonna live for today, yeah-yeah
This is my, this is my independence day
(Gonna live for today)

I've been dreaming about ir
I can't live without it
I've got to find my own way
I'm not changing my mind now
Or looking behind now
This is my independenceÂ

I've been dreaming about ir
I can't live without it
I've got to find my own way
I'm not changing my mind now
Or looking behind now
This is my independence day
My independence day (independence day)
Day, my independence day (independence day)

Wishing on that same bright star
I shouldn't wish my life away, wish my life away (independence day)
They say it's a small small world
They say it's a small small small small world (independence day).

People who shouldn't be allowed to work with women

2008-07-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

I don't normally look at PostSecret, but someone pointed this out to me:

There are really no words I have to describe how horrifying and repugnant this is. No matter how much you dislike someone there is NO reason to not only condone, but agree with the daily terror that is Domestic Violence. I've worked at a DV shelter and I have seen firsthand the effects of DV on women and families. There is nothing, NOTHING that excuses this. It is not only blaming the victim for the abuse whose responsibility is solely that of the abuser, but it is also continuing the oppression by blaming that person. This is the same mentality that keeps women from reporting the abuse and that keeps abusers from jail and from police taking the matter seriously.

The most common reasons for not reporting domestic violence to police are that victims view the incident as a personal or private matter, they fear retaliation from their abuser, and they do not believe that police will do anything about the incident.

Women who are in DV situations have more then enough problems without the people who are supposed to help them blaming them for abuse and disregarding the fundamental reason for that abuse: misogyny. Most women already believe that it's somehow *their fault.* The person who wrote this should quit since they feel this way.

I wish I could express myself better, I am beyond angry.

Onto more people who shouldn't be allowed around women.

Recently blogger Kyle Payne plead guilty to filming himself sexually assaulting a woman. According to his site, this is Kyle Payne:

Meet the Blogger

Kyle is a social justice educator, writer, and activist. Much of his work is concerned with putting a stop to violence against women. For years Kyle has served as an advocate for survivors of sexual violence and other forms of abuse, in addition to promoting what he calls “a more just and life-affirming culture of sexuality” through activism and education. As a researcher, Kyle has studied the feminist anti-pornography movement and is particularly interested in men’s roles in confronting pornography and the rape culture. In addition to his pro-feminist work, he is involved with anti-racist, free speech, peace, and anti-globalization movements.

Education

2008 - M.S. Degree in Adult Education
Capella University, Minneapolis, MN

2007 - B.A. Degree in Philosophy & Religion,
Social Consciousness, and Women’s Studies
Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, IA

College Activities

Rape Crisis Advocate (4 years)
Editorialist (4 years)
Webmaster (4 years, several organizations)
Resident Advisor (3 years)
Student Radio (3 years, several positions)
Academic Assistant (2 years)
VP of Service Learning (1 year)
Wellness Education Specialist (1 year)
Career Peer (1 year)
Student Senator (1 year)

College Honors and Awards

Male Leader of the Year Award, BVU (2007)
William H. Cumberland Research Award, BVU (2006)
Willard Stief Award for Community Living, BVU (2006)
Nominee, Senior of the Year, BVU (2007)
Nominee, Volunteer of the Year, BVU (2006, 2007)
Alpha Chi Honor Society (2006-present)
Dean’s Fellowship, BVU (2003-2007)
Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities (2006)
Campus Compact Civic Engagement Fellowship (2006)

Here's the thing: Much of his work is concerned with putting a stop to violence against women. For years Kyle has served as an advocate for survivors of sexual violence and other forms of abuse, in addition to promoting what he calls “a more just and life-affirming culture of sexuality” through activism and education. As a researcher, Kyle has studied the feminist anti-pornography movement and is particularly interested in men’s roles in confronting pornography and the rape culture.

He works putting a stop to violence against women and against rape culture yet he, himself had no problem with sexually assaulting and making pornography out of an intoxicated and unconscious female student. He was in a position of power over this woman, a Resident Advisor in the dorms and police found the film on his hard drive. After he posted bail he wrote this on his blog:

"For a variety of reasons, there is very little I can say about the recent news. So, unfortunately, I cannot give you the answers that you might seek. Worse yet, I can do little in the way of defending myself against a whole host of claims about my character that are both irrational and damaging.

IRRATIONAL! IRRATIONAL! Yes it's irrational to get angry about the fact that you, someone who labeled himself a "radical feminist" who worked against rape culture then turned around and not only sexually assaulted someone, but made pornography out of it. According to his blog he works doing rape crisis advocacy which scares the hell out of me-a rapist talking to victims of sexual assault! There's more about this at Buried Alive.

So You Think You Can Dance Top 12

2008-07-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

Liveblogging this time to avoid last week's confusing note mix up. I mean, that's what commercials are for, right? And by the way I am not happy because I have ballet foot. My toes are killing me, but only on my left foot. It's not fun.

Round 1
Chelsie & Mark
Salsa:
What the judges kept saying was lacking with Mark I think was hip action. His Salsa left me wanting more hips. If he would have loosened up his torso as Mary said his hip movement may have been more obvious but as it was I wanted more Salsaness in his hips. There was really great footwork and connection. I love them and I loved it.

Comfort & Thayne
Hip Hop:
Blah. Can they go home already? I mean Comfort's solo last week was abysmal and Thayne's was nothing special. Seriously. They executed the steps well, it's true, but there was no connection, no chemistry, nothing. Blech blech blech. How are they still on the show? Seriously.

Jessica & Will
Contemporary:
Wow, Jessica was good for once. I mean she has been really bad thus far and I really think Will has been carrying her and was surprised that she didn't go home when she was in the bottom 3. But this time she did a really good job. There was definitely a lot of emotion and connection between them. It was a fabulous piece and they did an amazing job. The lines and the fluidity was gorgeous. But I really would have loved to see Kourtni and Matt perform this piece.

Courtney & Gev
Cha Cha:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! ANYA AND PASHA!!!!! OK. Gev's footwork was so sloppy, his hips were all over the place and not in the way that they were supposed to be. Like Mary said they should be moving in opposition, but they were just.... He wasn't working into the ground with his feet, just bad. His partnering wasn't bad, but that footwork, ick.

Twitchington
Krump:
Um, yeah. I hate Krumping. "Grrr, I'm mad. Grrrrr." All I can say is that Kherington's tough face was making me laugh. I thought it looked hysterical. And that at the end they were completely out of sync and it seemed as though Kherington forgot the steps, which like I said last week wouldn't happen if, besides learning the moves and routine, you listened to the music.

Katee & Joshua
Viennese Waltz:
The lifts were very light and executed flawlessly. But they didn't really dance into the floor or glide enough. There was too much bounce and they were definitely heavy on their feet. I do agree that Joshua had really good carriage, but overall other then the lifts I thought that he was really weak in this routine. I was surprised that the judges weren't more critical of the footwork as that is a huge part of the dance. Yeah lifts are great and showy, but the meat of the dance is in the connection and the footwork. One was there, one was not.

Round 2
Chelsie & Mark
Broadway:
I love them, seriously. Chelsie had really great lines and extension throughout the entire routine. Of course, as always, they had the characters down pat. They always get really into the routine and tell the story. Mia was right that Mark's movement was occasionally sloppy

Comfort & Thayne
Contemporary:
I agree wholeheartedly with the judges. Some of Comfort's lines were crappy-she needed to lengthen her legs and feet especially. There was an awkwardness to the way the steps were executed and once again a lack of commitment from Comfort that made it disjointed. They were also lacking chemistry again, but I don't think they're ever gonna get that. I seriously think they should go home. 2 weak performances stacked up with weeks of weak performances-at least the judges agreed that some of Kourtni & Matt's performances were good and *they* went home over these two. Blech.

Jessica & Will
Quickstep:
When they were dancing the Quickstep they had very heavy footwork which is very very bad for the Quickstep (I mean, can't you tell by the name?) Jessica had spaghetti arms at times especially when they were traveling which was about 90% of the time they were doing the QS (which is par for the course). At least there steps were in unison.

Courtney & Gev
Jazz:
Gev: where was that hip action during the Cha Cha? They had great chemistry and I thought that they brought a great deal of character to the piece. I thought that it was executed really well and you could really see how great Courtney's lines and extensions were in the lifts. It was great.

Twitchington
Smooth Tango:
They didn't dance to the intensity of the music at all. They totally could have brought the characterization to it and they didn't. Smooth Tango, key word *smooth.* Them: not so smooth, more bouncy, but I think that this could have been overcome (to the general public) with some performance since people (and the judges) seem to love them so much. Like I said with them not dancing to the intensity of the music they didn't bring the necessary passion to it that they so obviously knew it needed since they were talking about it in the preview. Bad tango.

Katee & Joshua
BOLLYWOOD!!!!
I watch Bollywood all the time so I hope this is good. OK I was waiting for backup dancers, but I wish they would have done it more back and forth style as in Bollywood movies instead of in sync as they did it. I really hope that more people pull this out of the hat because I love Bollywood. WOO WOO.

I think that Jessica & Will, and Thayne & Comfort will be in the bottom 3 and possibly Twitchington, but they seem to have a huge following so who knows, but I would think that the people going home would be the people continually in the bottom 3.

I don't know whether to cry (Don't read if you haven't watched the series finale of Doctor Who 4)

2008-07-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

or be really happy.

Man that series finale was a roller coaster and I LOVED IT. I love that Rose and (a version of the) Doctor got to be together because they love each other so much and that everyone was OK at the end even though Donna will never remember any of the amazing things that she's done or that she saved the universe. I loved all the companions around the console working together and the Daleks speaking German.

Exterminieren! Exterminieren!

And go Dalek Caan for wanting to destroy the Daleks forever, even if I doubt this means they will be destroyed forever. Damn that ending made me cry. I love Donna's grandfather, it feels like it's worse for him, because she'll never remember and he will. Damn. I don't see them ever doing a better finale. Ever.

It's Independence Day, did you do your part?

2008-07-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Today we are asking all Hillary supporters to help her gain her independence by helping to pay down her debt by donating $20.08.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2008-07-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

So Matt's a better dancer yet he's not getting better then himself so he has to leave? How does this make sense in any way shape or form. "Uh...you're brilliant, but you're not getting more brilliant so you'll have to go." His solo was so much better then Thayne's.

WTF?

Nigel made the right vote for Kourtni to stay, but then again he was the only one who noticed that Comfort's solo was weak and that at this point in the competition Comfort shouldn't be getting props simply because she' a hip hop dancer and should be held to the same standard as everyone else.

So You Think You Can Dance Week 4

2008-07-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's late, I'm so glad they brought that awesome popper back, I love him.

The camera work seemed to improve this week, thank god.

Jessica and Will:
Jive:
The footwork, especially Jessica's was heavy and clumsy though I agree that their retractions were good. Unfortunately my notes just say connection, hip movement, weight, bounce so I don't know what i was really thinking last night. Ooops.

Lyrical Jazz:
Will had some very lovely lines and I agree that Jessica definitely needs more confidence because there were some moments where she just fell completely flat and had no spark.

Thayne and Comfort:
Broadway:
They did A LOT BETTER with new partners, but there definitely should have been more pop and energy in the piece; it is Broadway and that's what Broadway is. They need to get into the spirit of the piece especially at this point in the competition. Even if they are doing better with their new partner that doesn't excuse the fact that they still need to step up to the level that is asked of them.

Smooth Waltz:
Did I say the cameras were better? I take that back. I wanna see the footwork goddamn it. In the lift Comfort had really lovely lines and their carriage was really great. Could have done better with the frame, however.

Kourtni and Matt: OK, this is gonna be sad for me as I love them (Kourtni is my favourite woman.) *sigh*
Hip Hop:
Obviously anyone who was watching could see there were parts that they were out of sync. It appeared that Kourtni kept looking at Matt to make sure they were in the same place and yes for choreographed pieces you learn a routine, but you should be listening to the music which they obviously were not doing which is a giant failure in my book. Learning where your moves should be connecting with the music is just as important as the moves and if you get that down you don't have to worry about being in sync. Also, something that would have been taken care of by this would have been the fact that there were moves that they obviously were supposed to hit on the beats and they didn't.

AT some points however I think Matt nailed the staccato and liquid movements, but he was not consistent at all.

Mambo:
Dude, Matt, what the hell! Kourtni was giving you enough sexy and smoldering and you just ruined it. That is not the spirit of mambo, that was so off character. Blah. Matt was too up and his weight wasn't over his feet (which happens when you're too far upright) and his was a little too bouncy. The steps were executed well, I felt Kourtni's footwork looked a little heavy at times.

Chelsie and Mark:
Jazz:
This has been the best Jazz routine this season though I haven't liked any this season. Of course they nailed it and they made it seem completely easy. They are awesome. (Mark's my favourite guy.)

Foxtrot:
This is my favourite dance this season. I love both the ones we've seen. Just lovely choreography. There was a great break hit by Mark about halfway through-he really nailed it. There was great footwork, frame, and carriage, and my only complaint is that Chelsie took control a little bit, but this is her thing and I doubt anyone else really noticed that.

Kherington and Twitch:
Paso Doble:
Okay. The commitment and passion was there. And it was highly entertaining. But was the dancing itself done right? Hell, no. Paso Doble is very stylistic and flamenco-ish. Twitch showed glimmers of the style here and there, but Kherington missed it. She was all up and forward like a properly-trained contemporary dancer should be, which is totally the wrong posture. Her shoulders were way too forward, she didn’t have the right frame - the claps and slaps at the end looked terrible as a result of this. And the kind of passion she was displaying was wrong - it was more aggressive, competitive and mean, as opposed to confident, prideful, and just damn’ ol rawly womanly. I found this rather distracting and jarring. On the other hand, I did enjoy watching it because it was so damn entertaining.

Contemporary:
I thought that they had great lines and executed it well, but I didn't really feel the story about Twitch's loss and Kherington's darting in and out was just confusing.

Katee and Joshua:
Contemporary:
When they were doing the same moves in the beginning of the piece Joshua was too reserved and didn't match Katee's intensity which captured the intensity and spirit of the piece. But I must say other then that they had great command of the stage, look at the execution of those beginning walks, and great form.

West Coast Swing:
Not impressed. But then I'm comparing them to all the WCS dancers I know, and I know some champion WCS dancers. Was it entertaining and energetic, yes. But think back to Benji, Lacey, or Heidi (this was Benji's choreography) and compare them. They seem to be favourites of a lot of people (including the judges) and I think because of this they were allowed to get away with a less then stellar performance.

Courtney and Gev:
Hip Hop:
Was that Courtney? OHMYGOD! What happened to Gev? I didn't watch him at all which equates to a really weak performance and this is his style. I agree with the judges that there were some parts that looked bubblegum-esque, but really Courtney really impressed me.

Broadway
Blech, just blech. I hated the choreography and I agree with Nigel that it was not as good as it should be (even though the choreography sucked) and it definitely wasn't good as *they* could do. I also agree that Courtney's kicks were not high or dynamic enough and just kind of fell flat. The only parts of the routine that could have been redeeming for me were poorly executed. Also as Tabitha (or Napoleon?) pointed out was that they kept the same intensity the whole time where the music obviously demanded that they bring it down and back up again to really explode at the end. Again this is a problem with not listening to the music and just executing the moves which is a fatal mistake for dancers IMNSHO.

I thought that Thayne, Courtney, and Comfort's solos were kind of weak. Oh well, I'll find out in 5 minutes.

Protest hate and homophobia Monday June 30th

2008-06-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

STOP THE HATE! -Anti-Skinhead Rally

Monday, June 30, 2008
9:00am - 8:00pm
Vancouver City Jail
Main & Cordova
Contact Info Phone: 7788360442
Email: peterlotion@hotmail.com

On Saturday June 28th during Vancouver’s annual Eastside Pride celebration
in Grandview Park a few participants noticed a group of large skinheads
destroying pride signs and stomping on them. Queers and allies confronted
them and were brutally assaulted; they were punched, kicked and thrown
into a vehicle. The skinheads were arrested and are expected to be
released on Monday June 30th. Activists and allies are protesting they’re
presence in our communities.

Come show your pride and resist fascism! The day will include music,
food, drag shows and will end with a Showering of the skinheads with
resistance and community.

OH. MY. GOD.

2008-06-24T02:40:00.000-07:00

Is it Saturday yet?

NOW's media Hall of Shame

2008-06-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

What sexism? Visit the Hall of Shame here.

Some of my favourites that I missed this campaign season:

Andrew Sullivan from The Atlantic:

“The second bout of public tears just before a crucial primary vote - after no evidence that Senator Hillary Clinton has a history of tearing up in front of the cameras - provokes the unavoidable question: should feminists actively vote against Clinton to defend the cause of female equality?”

WHAT. THE. FUCK. How does one imply the other? What does that have to do with female equality? I'm actually speechless on this one.

Charlotte Allen in the Washington Post

“Women ‘are only children of a larger growth,’ wrote the 18th-century Earl of Chesterfield. Could he have been right? … By all measures, Hillary Clinton has run one of the worst – and, yes, stupidest – presidential races in recent history, marred by every stereotypical flaw of the female sex… . What is it about us women? Why do we always fall for the hysterical, the superficial and the gooily sentimental? … I don’t understand why more women don’t relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home… . Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts’ content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are … kind of dim.”

Internalized sexism anyone? Yes let's reinforce the entirely false stereotypes of femininity and womanhood. These are complete lies about what women are capable of that were created by this patriarchal society and do nothing but continue to reinforce women's oppression. Yes some women may choose to do these things, but to say that it is innate behaviour is on par with saying that blacks are naturally inferior to whites. It just. ain't. true. and is a lie propagated by the white male patriarchy to justify oppression of all non-white and non-male people. (Not to mention the laundry list of other oppressions of people who deviate from what the powers that be define as "normal," i.e. people with disAbilities, homosexuals, etc.) Yes please set us back to Victorian notions of women as weak, stupid creatures that can do nothing more then tend to the home. (Though of course this only applied to women of some means, and ones who were white at that.)

By the way, according to her I am not a woman, which by her definition is just fine by me. And my partner makes a much better househusband then I make a housewife. He's the one who cleans the house (I don't scrub the kitchen floor on my hands and knees/clean good enough), he irons his shirts (what? people still do that?), he cooks all the time (by choice fyi), and doesn't like my style of throw everything into the washing machine without separating (I do it when he's not around though). So is he less of a man?

As for that last sentence, do I really have to name all of the accomplishments of women or the fact that there are an amazing amount of smart women out there, the fact that we are graduating college at higher rates then men. Women have always been overlooked for their intelligence. For instance from the letters between them it has been revealed that Mileva Marić, Einstein's first wife, contributed equally to the theory of Special Relativity so much so that he gave all his Nobel Prize money to her. This line of thinking almost kept Elizabeth Blackwell, who was let into medical school b/c they thought her application was a practical joke, from becoming the first modern female doctor who then set up a practice in the slums of New York City (because she was denied by all other practices in the city because of her sex), trained nurses to help during the Civil War and went on to inspire and teach women to become doctors themselves.

It is this kind of reasoning that was used to justify denying us the vote. It was this kind of reasoning to deny women from entering universities and male professions. It is this reasoning that keeps us from earning the same amount as men do, that keeps women from being offered tenure track positions at the same rate men are, etc, etc. But somehow we weren't so dim and weak (swoony) during WWII when they needed us in the factories, or again when you are working class or working poor you are apparently not a woman since you are working and a lot of times in crappy labor intensive jobs (a few of my old factory jobs come to mind *shudder*)

Yeah, well, FUCK YOU.

Who needs clean water anyway?

2008-06-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

At least 16 lakes across Canada are to be reclassified as toxic dump sites.

But Catherine Coumans, spokeswoman for the environmental group Mining Watch, said the federal government is making it too easy. She said federal officials are increasingly using the obscure Schedule Two regulations to quietly reclassify lakes and other waters as tailings dumps.

“Something that used to be a lake — or a river, in fact, they can use rivers — by being put on this section two of this regulation is no longer a river or a lake," she said. "It's a tailings impoundment area. It's a waste disposal site. It's an industrial waste dump."

Coumans said the procedure amounts to a subsidy to the industry and enables mines to get around the Fisheries Act.

.....

A local environmentalist who attended the Long Harbour meeting, Chad Griffiths, said of Sandy Pond: “It's easy enough to consider just one lake as just one lake, as a needed sacrifice, right? But it's not one lake … It's a trend. It's an open season on Canadian water.”

....

Last fall, a Federal Court judge ruled that federal bureaucrats acted illegally in trying to fast-track the Red Chris copper and gold mine without a full and public environmental review.

The decision put the project on hold, but late last week, the Federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, paving the way for federal officials to declare lakes to be dumps without public consultation.

.....

“We want it stopped,” said Dennis, who lives in the native village of Iskut, 18 kilometres northwest of the mine site. “We want to stop the mine … The animals will be drinking that water and they'll all be polluted too.

"Once they do the mine, they’re going to leave, and we're the people who are going to live with that. Not me, but my grandchildren, the small little kids like this. That's who's going to live with the pollution.”

(emphasis mine)

Of course the Fisheries Minister doesn't care, in fact he thinks it's more responsible.

From the Opposition:

"The reality is these Conservatives are giving those mining companies a huge subsidy by allowing them to use freshwater aquatic systems that are fish-bearing lakes as chief waste disposal sites," Nova Scotia MP Peter Stoffer said in the house on Tuesday.

"What they should be doing is having independent linings and holes filled with water, and put the tailings in those things, free and clear of any natural water system."

I wrote an angry letter, so there's something you can do too.

Also, there's another Work Less Party PARTY on the 28th. They're always a blast and why not financially support the best political party in BC while having a bit of fun? It is an election year and Sam Sullivan's not running again! Though I need to find out more about the new guy. Whoever he is I don't like the party so I doubt I'll like him either.

Don't Mess with Hill

2008-06-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

So You Think You Can Dance Week 2

2008-06-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hello! I'm back to talking about SYTYCD. It's nice as I have Jazz and Tap on Tuesdays and Hip Hop and Lyrical on Thursday and SYTYCD in the middle.

Thayne & Chelsea: Jazz
Gotta say I agree with the judges that this routine wasn't as strong as it should have been and it was seriously lacking in character and chemistry. I did really love the staccato part in the middle of the routine. I thought that that part was the highlight of the piece. I wasn't really blown away with the routine's choreography, but if they had the characters down better it may have been different. And what the hell was up with Nigel and the costumes? I got what the costume people were going for and I thought it went fine. I got problems with him and his "masculine" this and "manly" that.

Mark & Chelsie: Argentine Tango
I LOVED that Mark did so well with this as I suspected people thought that he was just the "oddball dancer." Which made him a personal favourite of mine, but now everyone else gets to see that goofballs can be amazing dancers. I thought the partnering was great and his carriage, lines, and attitude were perfect. The footwork was great from them both. Chelsie, as a ballroom dancer, did well but that's not exactly surprising. In this case it *is* important to be very macho/masculine and he did it very well. *shrug* It's a tango thing.

Jessica & Will: Hip Hop
I definitely thought that Nigel was way too nice about this routine. Jessica was not crisp, sharp, or hard enough in her movements. Will did well, but I thought that she was severely lacking and I definitely thought that this was one of the weaker routines of the show.

Kourtni & Matt: Foxtrot
I loved it because they were doing a style of Foxtrot that I love. It was like Mia (?) said: a beautiful routine reminiscent of the Golden Age of Dance in Cinema which I adore. I fully enjoyed it and while their Foxtrot footsteps were a little loose and not fully realised I thought that overall they did wonderfully. I thoroughly *loved* this routine.

Courtney & Gev: Contemporary
I really liked the choreography, but I felt that the performance was lacking. Here's where I kvetch about the camera work. Seriously just show the whole damn dance. Stop zooming in and out on one person or in on their faces. I want to see their whole bodies and their feet, etc. Damn you. I thought Courtney was great and fluid, but it was also lacking connection and emotion for me. I think the choreography really carried them, which great choreography will do, but it's unfair to the other dancers.

Katee & Joshua: Broadway
First of all, can the judges EVER say anything bad about Broadway routines? I didn't like last week's, but this week's routine was good, but I don't think it was executed as well as the judges said it was. I thought that there were moves that weren't fully realised, there were parts and lines that could have been sharper and moves that should have been hit harder. There were moves they just glossed over giving a hint as to the move, but not realising or actualising it. So sad. Yes it's high energy and fun, but it should continue to be judged the same way every other dance is judged. I don't think this should have gotten as high of praise as it got. It was a fun routine, definitely one of the best Broadway routines, the only one I've seen that's better is Sara & Jesús's from last year: (give it a few seconds, it does work at around :08, but that's before the dancing starts)

But still, I thought that they could have done a much MUCH better job with it.

Susie & Marquis: Salsa
So sad. I am mad at Alex DaSilva. I definitely think they will be in the bottom 3. Susie did very well with execution, i.e. footwork, carriage, etc, but was lacking the oomph needed for salsa. I think that she lacked the heart and the spark behind the moves because of the comment Alex made that obviously really upset her and shook her up when he said he was disappointed that she was just a "street dancer" and not a "dancer." Her execution was flawless, but I really think that she was so worried and nervous about her execution that she concentrated on that and that's why there was no heart and no sass in her performance. It's no excuse, to be in the dance world you need to deal with that, but it's still shitty. Marquis was stiff in his movements. He barely moved his hips at all (they should be moving in a figure 8) and his legs were stiff. He could do the steps pretty well, but he needed to relax into the steps and at the heart of Latin dancing is the hips and the sway. He looked like a dancing broom.

Twitchington: Viennese Waltz
I loved this routine. I'm not a fan of waltzes really and I loved that this took the waltz in a whole new direction. It was really beautiful and like I pointed out before I was not really a fan of the Broadway routine last week as it didn't really showcase their dancing talents so I was really impressed by Twitch this week. He looked perfectly at home. He had great lines and there was a lot of great partnering going on during this routine. Their connection was superb I have to admit that I was just taken away by what Jean-Mark Genearaux did with the waltz. I love it.

Comfort & Chris: Crumping
I HATE crumping. OK. So I agree with the judges, from what I understand of crumping it should hit a whole lot harder then that. But it didn't. Yes Comfort should have stepped up, but also I think that it was great partnering on her part (if she did it consciously) because if she did it as well as I, and the judges, think she could have it would have been even more apparent that Chris was horrible at it. Blah, crumping.

Mathematical knitting

2008-06-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

I am attempting to knit Boy's Surface for my math geek/unicorn for his birthday next Friday.

Here's what it should look like (as shown in mathematica)

I found a pattern here. It's kind of confusing, but I have a week and a half, so fingers crossed.

Friday afternoon political blogging

2008-06-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Before I disappear into the delightful world of my friend Jhayne in Vancouver. Trust me, it's unlike the rest of Vancouver. You lose track of time, days, everything. I'm so glad school is over. Summer of knitting, trying to squeak by on SSI-D (I have enough yarn to last a lifetime so I'm good with that and a few odd jobs-mowing a lawn for 2 weeks possibly more depending on their vacation, weeding which is in jeopardy b/c they are having money problems too and selling plasma, wheeeeeeeeeee! I'm gonna try and use my ticket to work from SSA, but employers aren't really keen on someone who has a lot of health related issues that may or may not be able to come into work regularly. Awesome. Any ideas?)

Anyhow, back to some thoughts that were brought up by pocochina's post highlighted below.

Highlights from pocochina at Hillary1000's Post Primary Thoughts

I’m pissed at the classism of this campaign. It’s not even that the Democratic Party is taking the working class for granted any more - no, according to Donna Brazile, we don’t want the working class any more. Sending out Harry & Louise flyers, ignoring the rural poor, giving up on true universal health care. A party that turns its back on the sick and the poor is a party that does not deserve power. We’ve been saying that about Republicans for years. We have met that enemy, and it is now ourselves.

...

I’m pissed at the blatant misogyny of coverage of the campaign. I’m pissed at people who should know better - who acknowledge other people’s sexism, who can cast an accusing finger at the entire horrible media, but can then turn around, utterly free of irony, and utter, “but he just inspires me,” or some other sufficiently vague, comforting reason to not check one’s own sexism. You know, it feels a bit ridiculous now, with my highly partisan perspective on the campaign, but I did a lot of soul searching to make sure that I wasn’t just voting based on whiteness or femaleness, and I did it relatively frequently - though less so as the campaign went on and only one candidate acted as if she actually wanted my votes. The bottom line was that I trusted her views on government (we have it, so let’s use it, and do so in a way that helps as many people as possible, and then next time let’s do better) more than his (hope!(TM) change!(C)); that her health care plan was better; that while his reproductive rights record was more than satisfactory, hers showed nuance and leadership. And those, in the bottom line, are the reasons I went for Senator Clinton. I am deeply fortunate to have access to the pro-Obama voices of POC who forced me to take that look into myself.

....

I’m pissed at Barack Obama for his misogyny. I can understand - though I do not condone - why he did not apologize for his own fuckups on that score. But he had not one, not two, but three clear opportunities to distance himself from the hate speech of others, and he did not. He could have taken a moment - just a fraction of a breath - in his many condemnations of Rev. Wright - whom he could no more disown than the black community, until of course he did just that - to say “by the way, the personal attacks on my opponent are not worthy of my church, my party, or my country.” He did not. He could have said the same when distancing himself from Father Phlegler. He did not. He was careful to condemn so-called divisive rhetoric which did nothing but tell the truth about the drug war, allegedly un-American comments which would (and, of course, still will, for there is no escaping the Republican Attack Machine) make him look bad, and he could not be bothered to condemn hate speech against a colleague. He could have said the same when he issued his departure from his church and he did not.

Were an observer from Mars to judge the man by his public statements in these moments of crisis, that Martian observer would be quite rational to conclude that his need to see Senator Clinton abused means more to him than his faith. I expect that from Republicans. I expected better from Democrats. I no longer can.

....

I’m pissed at feminists who decided their feminism didn’t extend to That Bitch. I want to be clear, I’m not talking about feminists who, in good faith, decided that they wanted to support Obama, Edwards, Dodd, or whoever else. I am the first to state openly that reasonable people could have come to different decisions on that. I’m talking about feminists who, usually incisive and merciless in their rejection of expected gender roles, uncritically accept the Nasty Harpy narrative about Senator Clinton. I expect feminists to be able to step back and say, “well, knowing what I know about how I, and everyone around me, and in particular the chattering heads paid to tell me what to think about this campaign, have been conditioned in my expectations of female behavior, I am going to be critical of how I process this election.” For a lot of feminists (Edwards and Obama supporters as much as Clinton supporters) that happened; for a lot of them, it didn’t. I saw one feminist blogger say of Clinton’s suspension speech only, “Best speech of her political career.” The best speech of a thirty five year career of one of the most brilliant women in modern public life just so happens to be her concession? We’d be unbelievably suspicious of such an assessment about any other woman’s career - but it was Hillary, so it’s okay. It’s nauseating from a babbling jowl show - it is heartbreaking from a feminist. And the wheel turns, and a woman’s career is at its apex when she submits to a man.

They have drawn race as black and white. This is patently ridiculous. I’m not linking to anyone who makes the claim that - essentially - white women are the only ones who liked HRC, we should just stop whining and suck it up, POC are thrilled about Obama and we are just entitled bitches. It is true that Black Americans overwhelmingly - though far from universally - preferred Obama. But this erases the huge numbers of brown women - Asian-American, Hispanic-American, in huge numbers, at least where the pollsters bothered - and men as well, who knew that they are not invisible to her. Those claims are out there, though. I’m thrilled for African-Americans who see themselves in Senator Obama. But I do not ever condone the erasure of anyone because they are inconvenient to a political agenda. I have been proud to call these women ally and sometimes, presumptively, friend. I’ve talked before about my frustration with this erasure, but with Clinton supporters - neither all white nor all male - so offended by this campaign they have decided the Democratic Party is no longer their home, the erasure has reached fever pitch. I do not begrudge Obama supporters their excitement. I do not understand the need to begrudge us our grief.

I think that non-feminist Obama supporters, and particularly male non-feminist Obama supporters, have this idea that we are just irrationally angry, our feelings are hurt and we should get over it or we’re just silly, don’t we know how bad McCain is, maybe they’ll just tell us one more time. The choice not to support Obama is a long-run rational choice. Right now, there is a party that hates women all the time, and a party that used to humor us, but hates us when it is convenient. It is our job to never, ever let it be convenient again, or there will be no one in government advocating for our rights.

We are not your sweeties, who just need candy and flowers to come around.

We are not your bitches, that is not a leash in your hand. Our bodily integrity is not a choke chain you may use to threaten us. If you think it is, you are no better than the Republicans. And yes, the “But! But! But!” Roe stick is just that - a threat. Politically involved women know exactly where we stand on Roe, and we know the Democrats haven’t been all that bothered to even look like they’re trying to protect it, these last seven years. We know what an anti-choice Supreme Court looks like, because we read Gonzales v. Carhart and our hearts broke in fear for ourselves and our sisters and nieces and daughters.

When you tell us that we’d better get in line and vote for Obama, OR ELSE ROE, you are holding our own bodies hostage against us, as if they were yours to take. You are actively, proudly, literally threatening us with our lives. Is that the change we should believe in?

....

The party’s eagerness to push her out, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY (particularly in the case of Representative Cohen) was in reaction to this very feeling. They have come to rely on women not expecting any better. They have grown dependent on the Bush Administration’s vile abuse of women, so that their burden of accountability to us is lighter. They were terrified of rank-and-file Dems realizing that there is better out there. And there is, and she still lost, and with her she brought down the pretenses of the party. The bullying we’re all getting now is an unapologetic part of that - baby, you need me, nobody else will love you.

I've seen all of these and can not agree more with her here. The part I bolded about feminists, well, I've been in too many fights about what is and isn't sexist in this campaign that by all accounts would seem sexist happening to anyone else or being done by anyone else. The sweetie comment, not sexist apparently. Told to me by Obama supporters on a feminist board. To be fair, there were Obama supporters who were also saying that it was indeed very sexist and fucked up, but they were ignored by the Obama supporters who were too busy attacking me for calling sexism sexism since it was seen as an attack on their candidate. Well, yes. He was being sexist and I said something. If you have a problem with that you should get him to work on seeing women as people, not "sweeties." Same goes for the "Periodically, when she's feeling down, she launches into attacks." comment. Being a radical feminist I'm used to being told that I'm taking things "too far" or being told I'm "overreacting" or some such bullshit. But this campaign season I am now being told that about everyday sexist abuses that even my own FATHER has spoken out against in our conversations, and he is, for the most part, the opposite of progressive thought. When FOX news (which my dad watches), O'Reilly, and my dad are calling sexism sexism and feminists are calling it overreacting something is supremely wrong in the world.

Of course maybe they'll change their tune now that the misogyny will be aimed at Michelle Obama. As Red Queen asked Did you think it wouldn't happen to you and your candidate?. I may no longer get the NYTimes for free everyday since school is out, but I, along with RQ and the Hillary1000 bloggers will continue to blog against sexism, EVEN sexism against Michelle Obama, because guess what? We're outraged at SEXISM, not just because we support the other candidate. (Waits for people's heads to explode.)

The thing that brought the most joy and most misery and anxiety into my life this season has been the simultaneous rise in consciousness about sexism and the rise in denial about it from people who already called themselves feminists. The second part had me in highly anxious states for long periods of time because I just couldn't understand how people could brush away something so obvious. Forget the stuff coming from Obama, but praising Olbermann, the man who wanted a super-d and Hillary to go into a room together and only HE comes out. The man that gets all foamy mouthed and wild eyed whenever he goes on his WWTSBQ (Why Won't the Stupid Bitch Quit) rants. Praising the network news stations my FATHER became so disgusted with that he stopped watching because of the sexist things that they said about Hillary. I know that even my friends cannot really understand how insane this is to me as I don't really talk about my strict Catholic Republican parents, but MY FATHER WAS TURNED OFF BY THE MSM's SEXISM. MY OWN FATHER!!!! But not a lot of 'feminists.' As pocochina said, it's ok because it was directed towards that woman. But any comment directed at a woman simply because she is woman is directed at ALL WOMEN and the thrashing that Hillary got as a woman was a thrashing of all of us.

If you need to be reminded of the MSM's sexism this season, take a peek at the Women's Media Center video:

Or one of the many videos at Come a Long Way

I'm a horrible student.

2008-06-11T20:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't really studied for my DiffEQ final tomorrow and now So You Think You Can Dance is on so of course there's no studying for the next 2 hours. Heh. At least my final's not until 1 (like I'll want to get up much before then-sleep deprivation the last 2 weeks, ugh.)

But apparently I turned in the longest essay on Infrared Thermometry for my Thermal Physics class. Everyone else turned in a half and page or a paragraph. I turned in 2 pages. I do believe I should get an A. I went into a lot of detail, not just talking about the Stefan-Boltzmann equation like everyone else. If it was that easy why would it be our final? (I was in the library with the engineering books all day yesterday working on it.)

More dance

2008-06-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm in a dance induced euphoria. So you'll be getting nothing but dance from me today. I have comments and will be watching Hillary tomorrow where I am sure she WILL NOT concede, but rather endorse and suspend her campaign (yes, she can do that

I posted the Janet Jackson song that my hip hop routine is to (well there are a few of us). Here's another one (not a hip hop routine). It's not a video, just a picture with a song playing:

Thank yous

2008-06-06T17:22:00.001-07:00

We are trying to get a “Thank you card campaign” started. We want to flood Senator Clinton’s DC office with thank you cards. On the front of the envelope we are writing “WE ARE ONE OF 18 MILLION” and we are asking her to take it to Denver. We want to reach as many supporters as possible so it can be effective. THE ADDRESS:

THE HONORABLE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

UNITED STATES SENATE

476 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING

WASHINGTON DC 20510-3202

DANCE!

2008-06-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

A new season of So You Think You Can Dance has started, so I will be blogging critiques about that soon, but in the meantime, I have performances tonight, tomorrow night, one Saturday afternoon and again in the evening. Here's one of the routine's songs (it's fun it has chairs, I like dancing with chairs):

ENJOY!

I called this one

2008-06-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Rezko convicted of corruption.

More fodder for the Republicans.

Not done yet? Still want to win in November?

2008-06-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

Know that presumptive =/= actual?

Well in her speech she told us that she wants to hear from YOU, her supporters:

… .. Now the question is, where do we go from here, and given how far we’ve come and where we need to go as a party, it’s a question I don’t take lightly. This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight. But this has always been your campaign, so to the 18 million people who voted for me and to our many other supporters out there of all ages, I want to hear from you. I hope you’ll go to my website at HillaryClinton.com and share your thoughts with me and help in any way that you can.

In the coming days, I’ll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move forward with the best interests of our party and our country guiding my way.

You should do ALL of the following:

Sign the petition urging Hillary to take it to Denver.

Send an email to comments@hillaryclinton.com with “ATTENTION: HAROLD ICKES” in the subject, and again as the first line of the email itself, followed by something as simple as “Take it to Denver!”.

Send another email to TMcAuliffe@hillaryclinton.com

Finally, go to HillaryCilnton.com and Stand with Hillary. Tell her to stay in it and keep fighting. (Though I added that I think she should suspend her campaign for a little while. The things that the national press has refused to run on Obama are sure to come out with the Republicans.) Make a contribution, anything, if you can. Show her you're still there for her and you need her to still be there for you.

You know what's fun...

2008-06-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

A homework problem that expects you to recall stuff from a course that you could have taken, oh, a YEAR ago. I'm not asking to be retaught it, but seriously if you would have told me the equation, or anything like where to find it so I could refresh my knowledge, that would be great.

I hate this class, which is a shame since I loved DiffEQs before. I mean it's not like I have homework problems that are 2-3 page BURLY derivations like in Modern Physics. Gah. I'll be done with this class (and the quarter) next Thursday. Thank Her Holy Hoovedness.

2008-05-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Rest in Peace, Utah

2008-05-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

Utah Phillips, folksinger, activist, Wobbly, and freight rider, passed away on May 23rd. You can read his obituary and life story here.

Part 1:

and then part 2, with one of my favourite songs:

DON'T PANIC!

2008-05-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Towel Day everyone!

More Numbers

2008-05-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hillary's support has steadily grown in March-May while Obama's has dropped in all categories except African Americans (so all you commenter's who say it's only old white women (apparently I and many other Hillary supporters don't exist) can shove it). There are numbers and charts and everything. I may be a mathematician but I prefer pure mathematics. Ask me how to invent square roots, not do stuff like this.

She certainly has gotten more votes since March 4th. Don't you think that the presumptive nominee should have been winning all those, since he was inevitable? Obviously, no one told the voters.

Oh and to Keith Olbermann: Stop using "Good night and good luck" as your sign off. You are a misogynist gasbag that is not even a fraction of the journalist that Edward R. Murrow was. He's rolling over in his grave every time you say that. If anyone in the mainstream media came even close to doing what he did (HA!) they would be fired in a heartbeat. There is not a modicum of honesty or integrity in your reporting. You uphold the status quo, he sought make sure that the truth was exposed, even if that meant bucking the status quo and putting himself in jeopardy. YOU, sir, are NOT him, and are besmirching his legacy.

Women's Media Center Petition against sexism in the media

2008-05-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Sign it!

No surprise here

2008-05-24T00:24:00.001-07:00

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Working Class Warrior, also known as a blue-collar Democrat. You believe that the little guy is getting screwed by conservative greed-mongers and corporate criminals, and you’re not going to take it anymore.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

To my Florida friends (an MI, though the video is about FL)

2008-05-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

But I think those of you in MI will feel similarly, minus the recent GE stuff.

"I've been cheated, been mistreated, when will I be loved?" (Got that song in my head now)

NBC Protest in Burbank

2008-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Pictures can be seen here.

Take your sexist, one sided coverage and shove it NBC.

(I like the punk kid with the "Iron your own shirt" sign.)

The backlash continues

2008-05-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Lynette Long has a new Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun entitled Painful Lessons

•Women voters are not factored into the decision making of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC is concerned that black voters will protest and stay home if Senator Clinton gets the nomination, even though she is the stronger and more electable candidate. But the DNC doesn't worry that white women, three times larger than the combined black vote, will stay away from the polls if Mrs. Clinton does not get the nomination. They expect the white women of the party to fall in step and vote for Mr. Obama in the general election.

•The rules for women candidates are not the same as the rules for male candidates. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy adamantly supports Mr. Obama, even though Mrs. Clinton won his home state, Massachusetts, by 14 points. Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly called for Mrs. Clinton to pull out of the race, yet when he was running for president in 1980 he took his bid for the Democratic nomination to the convention floor, trying to change the rules to unseat Jimmy Carter, who already had enough delegates to clinch the nomination. And let's not forget that this year Mike Huckabee stayed in the contest for the Republican nomination when he had no chance of winning. He was committed to stay in the race until Sen. John McCain reached the number of delegates needed to win. At the end of the contest he had a total of 267 delegates, more than 900 behind Mr. McCain. No media barrage pushed Mr. Huckabee to withdraw. Barack Obama has not reached the needed number of delegates to win the nomination, yet Mrs. Clinton - who is fewer than 200 delegates behind Obama - is being pressured by commentators and the DNC to withdraw.

People, including some of my friends who are Obama supporters are having a hard time understanding why there are so many of us who won't vote for Obama. (Me, I've never voted party line, in fact I have not been a registered Dem since I registered in NY in 2000 and registered as a Green and I still don't vote exclusively Green in that case anyway though in WA we do not register by party. I signed a paper at the caucus saying that I would not caucus for any other party and I did not, I had a friend who refused to caucus because he thought it meant he would have to vote party line and found that unacceptable.) This is a backlash against the Democratic Party as much as it is a vote of nonconfidence in their selected candidate (if he does indeed get the nomination). I, and I think others like me, feel that the DNC and party leadership made clear who they wanted and since then have tried to push our candidate out of the race unfairly. No other candidate in history has been pushed to step down, to whit:

• In 1988, Jesse Jackson took his hopeless campaign against winner Michael Dukakis all the way to the convention, often to great media praise.

• In 1980, Ted Kennedy carried his run against Jimmy Carter all the way to the convention, even though it was clear he had been routed.

• In 1976, Ronald Reagan contested the “inevitability” of Gerald Ford all the way to the convention. Few, then or since, have ever thought to criticize Reagan’s failure to step aside and let Ford assume the mantle.

• Also in 1976, three candidates — Mo Udall, Jerry Brown, and Frank Church — ran against Jimmy Carter all the way through the final primaries, even though Carter seemed more than likely to be the eventual nominee.

• Even in 1960, Lyndon Johnson and Adlai Stevenson fought the “certain” nomination of John F. Kennedy all the way to the convention floor.

Hillary's closer to Obama then any of them were and no one was screaming at them to step down "for the good of the party." Why? I have my theory. She's not in the penis club, and I think that many other people feel the exact same way about this as I do. If we hold our nose, again, and vote for someone we don't really like just because he's better then the other guy, again, it's worse this time. This time we have been knocked about by the media, the party, everyone. We have seen just what they think of women. They have told us what they think about the working class and the Reagan or lunch bucket democrats. But the backlash is coming strongest from the women. The democrats tell us they are the party that will stand up for us, for our rights. The Dems have not fought for abortion, for womens' rights, for anything that would actually help women, in a long, long time. Abortion's pretty much already illegal. The Dems in Congress rolled over on Alito and Roberts and now my right to choose is being held over my head. If the Dems I elected (though my Senators stood up and said no) can't grow a fucking spine and stand up for my rights why the hell should I keep voting for them? And why should I reward them by voting for someone I don't even trust?

And now they lie there, complicit as we are insulted daily, hourly. Insults flung at Hillary that are flung at her because she is a woman are flung at all of us. And we've had enough. We're saying no more. To roll over yet again and reward a party that has done nothing but pay lip service to women's issues for years (finally people get this) means that we are telling the Democratic Party that they never have to take us into account again, and that, my friends, is unacceptable.

EDIT: A Commenter at The Confluence said it best:

Jeralyn said tonite that “It’s about putting a Democrat in the WH” or words to that effect. Not true: it is about putting someone who shares your values in the WH. Some may argue that requires a Democrat, but I would rather suffer 4 more years of Republican presidency than give up my ideals of what the Democratic party stands for (like, f’rinstance, ANYTHING) forever for some short term gain.

NOTE: If you are an Obamaphile who cannot be arsed to READ THE POST (especially the part about people taking things to the convention) then you will most assuredly not get published. If I can mark it off on my Bingo Card just keep it to yourself. Now excuse me I need to go wash my dentures, polish my walker, and hump my cousin.

Also

2008-05-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

to everyone going "Obama drew 75K in PDX!" It couldn't perhaps be in part because The Decembrists were playing for free at the rally? Hell, I'd go to his rallies to see them.

I just had to share this

2008-05-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

I’m hardly a feminist but I’ve been aghast at the attacks Senator Clinton has been subject to. I’m not sure I can vote for obama come November.

If enough women stand up and don’t vote for Obama, maybe the Democratic Party will recognize that their largest voting bloc isn’t going to just stand by and be ignored any more. This is not just about soccer moms. Every woman was diminished by the treatment of Clinton during this election, and there was no outrage, not even a hint of recognition by those in power. It was made quite clear that racism was unacceptable, even if it was so vague that it had to be explained to people, while overt sexism was an acceptable method of attack. Every time someone dismissed “old school feminists”, I cringed, not because I am part of that group (I’m in my early 40’s), but because I know that I owe my job and my home to those women. They broke down the barriers. I just walked through. But there are barriers yet. I run into them every day. And we need to address this. I’m adding this to the reasons I’m not voting for Obama.

from donna darko

Everyone needs to sign this!

2008-05-19T01:06:00.000-07:00

Don't rename Wrigley Field!

<1 minute and this (and many other Cub fans) undying love.

Want my vote?

2008-05-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

One thing you can do to make the Dems listen

2008-05-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

I wrote my Rep today, short, to the point letter.

Dear X
I do not need to remind you that this is an election year. I voted for you last time, but I will only vote for you again if you do one of two things:

1) Publicly denounce the sexism that has been rampant during this primary season. It is an atrocity and an affront to the largest voting block of the Democratic party. You, along with the rest of the party have stood idly by and in your silence have made it perfectly clear how you feel about women. If you do not feel this way you need to say it and you need to say it now.
or
2) Take back your endorsement of Obama and endorse Hillary Clinton before June 3rd.

You may choose either of the above, but you must do something or else you will not have my vote come Novemeber.

Sincerely,
me

The local, state, and national parties may not be listening, but if the pols who need to get elected get enough of these you bet your ass they'll be listening.

NOTE: This is not to say that all Obama supporters are sexist (though if you are not speaking out, especially about his demeaning behaviour towards women (see sweetie comment, PA kiss comments, etc) you are in my book) I just threw that in, though I'm about 99.8% sure he won't.

Someone's going to Portland tomorrow

2008-05-16T00:50:00.000-07:00

WOO WOO. Unlike when I went to Indiana I will not be stuck in an office and I will (hopefully) be pounding the pavement. (Well I'm hoping that I won't be in the office, I'm assuming there's a crap-load of people in the office.)

I will be visiting and staying with my friend Sam as well, but I'd love to go out drinking with the Hillary crew since it's so much fun. WHAT TO DO????

Hopefully I can combine the two, I think once I hit the office my crazy political side will take over and hopefully some after hours carousing will take place (and maybe Sam can be persuaded to come out?)

Oh well, I love getting out of town and other then the pornographization of PDX I love it. (Perhaps there will be some mischief?)

Anyway, Mischief is demanding my attention. Have a good weekend everyone!

Electoral matchups EDIT

2008-05-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

Taken from state by state polling (2 different data sources):

Clinton 237 (290)
McCain 198 (241)
(map #1 here. map #2)

Obama 228 (237)
McCain 237 (290)
(map #1 here. map #2)

Obama starts off much weaker against McCain. But then there's the analysis of the swing states. But why should I do it when someone else has done it so well? Jeralyn at Talk Left has a a post in which he talks about the swing states, but also, and probably more importantly to some, uses articles from William Arnone, long-time Democratic party activist and also has posted his state by state analysis (this is a long and very detailed and in depth reports). (NOTE: You can also find his entire key state series linked from the post.)

Both I and Jeralyn strongly recommend you read Arnone's stuff. It's much better then something my overworked brain could pump out at one in the morning.

National Conference for Media Reform

2008-05-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

OK, they could do so much better at marketing this. Seriously.

They have people from the Black Agenda Report (see blogroll), Byron Hurt (you can watch his documentary about misogyny and homophobia in the hip-hop community and I HIGHLY recommend it. Here's all 56 minutes of Beyond Beats and Rhymes), someone from Prometheus Radio Project (I was really happy to see this as I'm friends with some of the founders and I love that they're doing so well and it's close to my heart since I'm supposedly banned from the airwaves due to being in the booth during a pirate radio raid (though I have been on WBAI several times, but I doubt that the FCC pays *that* close attention)), and on and on. But I am staring at a flyer for it (I'll put it back) and they use Arianna Huffington. Really? What has she said lately that is so different then mainstream media? I guess it's a big name thing.

Looks pretty interesting due to the other presenters and panelists. Anyway, it's put on by Free Press, so check it out here.

If you are going to say anything that fits in these categories, don't bother

2008-05-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

h/t: Hillary1000

snort

2008-05-08T17:14:00.001-07:00

From my friend, who's "not an Obama fan" on my last post:

Except for a minuscule amount she doesn't get AA votes, that's the point.

You really refuse to accept that Hillary might have a race problem, don't you?

Obama regularly gets around 45% of the female vote, he campaigns towards women, he campaigns towards Latinos. Hillary has written of the black/AA vote.

Of course you seem to be on the whole, women and working class white people are more important than Blacks/AA so I guess it doesn't matter.

What is going on with the "party?"

2008-05-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my friends say things in a much more succinct, and oftentimes, much more understandable way then I can. So I've all ready seen the FOX news interview. I knew that neither candidate was liberal. Moderate is about all we can hope for from these parties, but after Edwards and his populism and single-payer universal healthcare dropped out (I may have finally admitted that we will never have Edwards as an actual Presidential candidate. But he made the press follow him to very poor rural areas of Appalachia. UHC is something that the Clinton's tried, but failed miserably because the dems in congress wouldn't back them because they didn't like the Clintons then and even though Bill was the only 2 term democratic president since FDR (LBJ if you count that he got re-elected after 2 years serving after JFK was assasinated). Guess what, they still don't like them. One can only guess why. Bill changed the base, he actually changed the bloc of voters that went for a Democrat. (more on this in a little bit)

Want to hear my theory? I'm sure you do. Democrats nowadays don't think of themselves as that. Look at our recent nominees, excluding Bill. Kerry, Gore, Dukakis. What do they all have in common? They are seen as elites. No matter what Jon Stewart says, people don't want someone like that in the WH. Even if they do have progressive reform for working class and poor people (which I firmly do not believe that Obama has) they're going to take it as you telling them what's best for them. The reason that Bill was not painted as such is because he grew up working class, he went to public school, even though he eventually made it into the power elite.

And of course last night there was Donna Brazile on CNN

BRAZILE: Well, Lou, I have worked on a lot of Democratic campaigns, and I respect Paul.*** But, Paul, you’re looking at the old coalition. A new Democratic coalition is younger. It is more urban, as well as suburban, and we don’t have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics. We need to look at the Democratic Party, expand the party, expand the base and not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

(Sidenote here: Except you can't depend on blue collar and latino voters. If they don't feel that you are working, and I mean actively working, for their financial well-being (health-care, unions, etc), then they will be values voters. You are one of the people IN CHARGE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. HOW THE HELL DO YOU FORGET ABOUT "REAGAN DEMOCRATS" AND THAT OBAMA'S SUPPORT BASE IS THE SAME AS (10 state) DUKAKIS!!!! Stop blowing off the people the dems need to win in the fall, ffs. )

(I mean, even bigoted morons know that.

"Barack Obama has shown he cannot get the votes Democrats need to win – blue-collar, working class people," Limbaugh also said. "He can get effete snobs, he can get wealthy academics, he can get the young, and he can get the black vote, but Democrats do not win with that."-Rush Limbaugh

)

This fucking Unity Pony thing is pissing me off. Unity only if you're a latte liberal, oh sorry, the "creative class," a college student, or African-American. He's a uniter. Does everyone feel united? Because what I've heard from the Democratic leadership and Obama's campaign this cycle is 1) the largest minority in the country doesn't count (neither does any other minority except AA's: gays, asians, etc, all under the bus for you!), 2) women will always come crawling back since we have no where to go (fuck you!), 3) same with the working class, but who needs them since they tend to vote Republican anyway (Axelrod, and btw that's why you need them dumbass.)

But I have one question, and I'm sad to say it actually hadn't occurred to me until a friend of mine brought it up, what has Obama been doing for the black community? She hadn't heard anything. Hell, he didn't even bother to show up to black dominated areas of IN. What a fucking prince. I mean, Hillary obviously has the hick blue collar vote sewn up so why does she keep showing up? The week leading up to the primaries she was speaking in places that the only way she could have lost is if everyone suddenly died and dead people started voting. Why abandon your most loyal constituency?

Unity pony my ass. Here's why: the dems do know what unity looks like. We saw it in '92. We saw states vote dem that had not done so ever/in a very long time. (I mean Lincoln was a republican so you can only go back so far with these things.) Bill did it. That's right, the Big Dawg gave us states no other democrat has even come close to carrying. We could have done it again, but now one of our core constituencies hates him and therefore Hillary. Why? Because he got called racist for this:

"Second, it is wrong that Senator Obama got to go through 15 debates trumpeting his superior judgment and how he had been against the war in every year, numerating the years, and never got asked one time, not once, 'Well, how could you say, that when you said in 2004 you didn't know how you would have voted on the resolution? You said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war and you took that speech you're now running on off your website in 2004 and there's no difference in your voting record and Hillary's ever since?' Give me a break.
"This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen...So you can talk about Mark Penn all you want. What did you think about the Obama thing calling Hillary the Senator from Punjab? Did you like that?"

Which was twisted into "Bill Clinton calls Obama's campaign a Fairy Tale!" Because what better way to shake away a group that so solidly supports your opponent (and who is still very wary of you, they weren't all love and kisses at first) then in this case to call him a racist. Because even his seemingly reality challenged handlers seemed to have understood that the AA community were among the strongest Clinton supporters. Now he's a racist. Huh.

And the Democratic leadership is completely, 100% A-OK with smearing our base expanding, tried to get progressive social change done but couldn't because the dems don't like them because they're not one of the elitist latte drinkers and the leadership doesn't like that. And they don't want to see the Clinton's or anyone else so unlike them in office if they can help it. They'd rather lose in November, which is what the numbers are telling us will happen with Obama as the nominee. They seem to think that us non-black and/or non-young and/or non-rich people don't matter.

I gotta ask, why is this race so black and white? Seriously? What about the indigenous, asian, latino peoples? Do we not care about that. Are there only two races that matter in this country? And what is up with my ~~latino~~ friends being called racist for not voting for BO? Especially when they're giving you reasons why they didn't. Again, fuck you.

Anyway:
It's obvious why dems are falling all over themselves for Obama, even though right now nationally he has a 10% of beating McCain. (And the Rezko trial wraps up next week.) His purported 1 million name donation databank. Not to mention his immense backing from Wall Street. (Note: That site is the Black Agenda Report. I'm really glad my friend pointed it out to me and I highly recommend sticking around and reading other articles there.)

Seven of the Obama campaign's top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages. These latest frauds have left thousands of children in some of our largest minority communities coming home from school to see eviction notices and foreclosure signs nailed to their front doors. Those scars will last a lifetime.

I think this about money and not change. WHy would I ever take off my cynic cap and believe that someone, let alone a whole party, was in politics to help people. Yeah, I know that they'll definitely be helping themselves out while they do it, all politicians do, but turning on someone because they have an actual progressive social agenda? Afraid Hillary will succeed and will actually do better with social reform then Bill? Because that's all I can think. It can't all be white guilt and greed. It's not like he'd drop out of the party. He'll still fundraise for you. Though with all the people you keep dismissing I doubt there will be any democratic party left come January.

I haven't voted for a Democrat for President since I voted for the Big Dawg (and yes I think he's a sexist ass), but since I've been accused of being some sort of "fan" I thought I'd clear it up. (And let Taylor Marsh actually do it since I read this and just went YES YES YES!)

The reason Clinton is my candidate is not because I'm simply some fan. Hillary is my candidate because she's got a brilliant mind, is a fighter, and I believe the only candidate who can bring Americans back who have been voting against their economic interests for decades. I believe only she can expand the party to Latinos, as well as bring women out in droves, including Republican women, independents and women who have never voted before. If I didn't believe Clinton was a winner I would never have backed her in the first place.

I leave it to the venerable Dr. Violet Socks

“If the Obama contingent succeeds in taking over the Democratic party, then we will have, in effect, two Republican parties.

“Who, then, will speak for the women of America? Who will stand up for our rights? Who will hold fast against sexism and misogyny?

“Who will fight for the middle class? Who will fight for working people? Who will fight for universal health care? Who will protect Social Security?

“Who will hold fast against polluters and thieves?

“Certainly not the new Obama-style Democratic party. The Obamabots are just like Republicans: swimming in sexism and utter disdain for anyone but themselves.

“If progressives want to have a voice at all in national politics, our only hope is to keep the Obamabots from taking over the Democratic party.”

Something smells fishy

2008-05-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

First off, there's a great post (with video!) about Obama supporters campaigning INSIDE polling places, which everyone should know, especially them, is I-L-L-E-G-A-L. And a blog about the entire weirdness that is Indiana voting.

Watching CNN regarding the IN primary. Anyone who was watching should know that Lake County (the one next to IL) didn't have any precincts reporting until after 10PM PST. Average of several polls had her up by at least 5 points, yet it's all of the sudden a nail biter. Hmmmmm, I'm not exactly convinced that this is above board.

Good analysis from BDBlue:
He’s making it look worse.

The Mayor of Hammond says they knew what the machine votes in other cities were at 7:30. It’s midnight and we don’t have any information and it looks bad. This looks improper. I’m not saying it is, but it looks. We don’t need this kind of negative exposure in Lake County. He’s telling the Mayor of Gary to release the numbers.

Here’s a question, why does the Mayor of Gary have the ability to hold the votes.

Now the Mayor of Hammond is trying to get the Mayor of Gary to tell why he hasn’t released the machine votes. Mayor of Gary says it’s absentee counting. Mayor of Hammond is grilling him. Has no answer why it is taking so long to count the vote.

Now they’re reporting 98% of the vote in Lake County, Clinton still leads by 22,000 votes with 99% of the state reporting.

So maybe it’s not fraud, the Mayor is just an idiot. Or else it is fraud, they realized they were going to get caught and stopped it.

You know you've got a problem when the mayor of another large Indiana city is questioning just what the hell is going on with your ballots and you have no explanation whatsoever. Seriously. Why did they have to take them to the airport? That sounds super shady to me. The hold up was the absentee ballots? What about the electronic results? Is it really a "Chicago county?" Because that's not what you want to import from Chicago.

I seriously hope I'm wrong, but hey Mayor Rudy Clay what the fuck happened in Lake County? I'm not the only one who wants to know.

More at By the Left, and Talk Left has stuff here and here

I will add updates (like video/transcripts/etc) as the become available. First there was FL and MI, the the TX caucuses, now IN? Who are we? The republicans?

Need to tell the truth

2008-05-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Before I get into it I just have to say that all over the blogosphere people are crying "censorship" and saying that sex workers are being silenced. Bull. Sam was the only one not in attendance at the conference. The women that were put on the panel at the last minute, one of which is a sex worker, were *at* the panel, not Sam. The whole "silencing" thing is bull. Sam's was the only voice that was silenced.

The following is written by Ms. Sam Berg, anti-pornstitution activist and speaker.

On March 19th I was invited to a panel debate on pornography at William and Mary College. My contact for the organizing group was Constance Sisk, who told me funding assistance could likely be found to fly me 3,000 miles across the country so I agreed to be penciled in until enough money could be raised. A call for donations among anti-pornography feminist colleagues covered airfare, and I had just enough vacation days earned at work to take off.

On March 24th I confirmed that I would gladly join the two other two confirmed panelists, on the anti-pornography side, John D. Foubert, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the College of William and Mary, and on the pro-pornography side Amanda Brooks, a former escort and sex work advocate.

Constance told me April 2nd that they moved the panel date to the 21st and the rest of April slid by without communication until April 16th when an anti-porn friend informed me that Jill Brenneman and RenEv blogged they would be on the panel. I had received no word from Constance of this and was dumbfounded that wholesale changes were being made to the panel just five days before the event without informing me. I had agreed to do the panel with John and Amanda, and I hadn’t gotten any emails saying she couldn’t attend or that they were looking for a replacement.

If they had told me Amanda couldn’t make it I would have suggested that pornographers and strip club owners are very easy to find through legal channels so they could have been asked to appear on the panel. I would have also suggested that the number of porn-using men on campus should have been able to produce just one pornsturbator willing to defend his porn consumption. Because I was under the impression that Constance & Co. were being honest with me about their intentions, I chalked up the lack of a pornographer or porn-using man on the panel to inept organizing and the extreme amount of publicity given recently to sex work advocacy at William and Mary.

How much sex work advocacy has been given a voice there can be answered with the name Constance. I spoke with John Foubert for the first time Thursday and he told me that Constance is a big pro-sex work advocate on campus and she brought the sex worker show to campus the past three years. A woman named Audrey invited John to the panel because Constance didn’t think he would agree if she asked him. Constance was a guest on Jill's radio show a few weeks ago, and Jill did a pro-sex work chat with William and Mary college folks a few weeks ago, but in her emails Constance claimed ignorance of the lengthy pro-porn and radical blogosphere debates on this contentious subject.

Constance. Constance said she was excited to have me coming and offered to let me spend Monday night at her place, where she planned on cooking dinner for a group of people post-panel. How do you think it would feel if a pro-choice feminist were invited to a predominantly pro-life campus by a predominantly pro-life group and the pro-life organizer did everything Constance did without revealing her pro-life politics to her pro-choice panelist and house guest?

Little story: Heading home from presenting at a prostitution conference I was in the airport shuttle with a middle-aged black social worker with her name tag still pinned to her blouse. I’m a young, white, tattoo-bearing woman and at the time I think my hair was blue. We exchanged delicate pleasantries and danced around how we talked about the conference until she sat up earnestly and cut to the chase, “So, are you for or against?” When I replied, “Against,” she slouched down and sighed and we grooved on the same anti-prostitution track until we got to the airport.

I agreed to do the panel with John and Amanda three weeks ago. Though it was unethical to make major lineup changes at the last minute like that without telling me and things started feeling really fishy due to the lack of notification about the event anywhere besides pro-john blogs (it’s not listed on W&M’s events calendar or advertised around campus), I agreed to debate Jill. I could not agree to debate Ren, and I don’t suppose I have to tell most of you reading this why but I’ll touch upon it a tad anyway.

Here are Ren’s thoughts on sharing a panel discussion table with me:

“So serious I am taking it very seriously. And looking forward to it in my uniquely grim and serious way. Planning and preparing with a very serious, serious sneer on my face.

And also laughing like a super villain the whole time. Why?

Once upon a time, I had a wish, a dream, a surely wank worthy fantasy of some anti-porn sex work types having to face down, in a forum, and debate those from the other side. And I wanted to be there.”

“And, yes, oh yes, I am seriously looking forward to it. I have so lusted for such an opportunity. Very seriously. And yes, if possible, I will have the whole thing on video. Get your cerebral wanking tissues ready.”

Serious serious sneers, super villain mocking laughter, wank worthy fantasies, whole thing on video, get your tissues ready.

Those are the words of a malicious person licking their chops in anticipation of a messy, humiliation-inducing scene they will relish. Those are the words of a person trying to waste my time with personal attacks when my time is best used educating audiences about the facts of human trafficking, prostitution, and pornography. The trash talk began within hours of being surreptitiously offered the spot on the panel, and that sort of smug pugnaciousness and disrespectful engagement was instrumental in prompting John to cancel his appearance on the panel and he suggested to me that I do the same. I believe we were right to cancel. I refuse to pose for the pornographically spiteful scene being painted.

What to do when a woman who says she’s happy in prostitution says, "Take me, for example” when you know if you actually do take her as her own example by quoting her own words and deeds she will complain, "How dare you make an example of me?" Say you’ll speak with her about prostitution as a global system and of all women’s oppression as the core problem but you don't want to talk about her personally and she'll reply, "You refuse to hear my truth." If you talk about her personally like she insists then you're the baddie radfem who makes it personal. It’s a lose-lose ruse.

I’d love to debate a porn-user, and there are tens of millions of them. I’d love to debate a pornographer and there’s no lack of those either. I’d love to debate a john. They don’t want to debate anti-pornography and anti-prostitution feminists. They want women in the prostitute supply pool to subjectively defend them against the objective mounds of testimony and undeniable data that anti-pornstitution feminists can produce proving pornography and prostitution violate women and girls human rights immensely. Most of you have seen how deftly I wield the wealth of information I’ve collected in my noodle to make the case against men’s right to economically coerce sex from others. Some of you have seen me do it before with Ren.

Saturday morning I woke up to an email from a professor asking if I can come speak to a few women’s studies classes of hers in May. It turns out I can make the date. Life skedaddles on and so do I.

Sam

Tell Rogers Cable to stop selling misogynistic racist pornography!

2008-05-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here's the petition. It'll take <1 minute of your time.

Someone needs a geography lesson

2008-05-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

So both Hillary and Barack have Oregon statements. And someone's not paying attention.

Barack tells Oregon that he will "Require 25 Percent of Electricity to Come from Renewable Sources by 2025." Which is all good, except it was passed in 2007

Hillary states:

the Bush Administration has tried to stop states like Oregon from taking action to address this pressing problem. Against this headwind, Oregon has made progress, joining with its neighbors to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gases, and setting a 25% renewable electricity target. Where President Bush has attacked and stymied Oregon's efforts, Senator Clinton will partner with Oregon and protect Oregon's right to lead the way in reducing greenhouse gases. And where President Bush refused to take action at the federal level, Senator Clinton will implement a bold plan to attack the growing climate crisis.

But here's where it gets REALLY fun.
On veterans:

As president, Obama will ensure we honor the sacred trust to care for Pennsylvania's 1.1 million Veterans.

Hillary:

Oregon's National Guard has contributed significantly to our nation's actions in Iraq and Afghanistan with 7,000 individual mobilizations. More than 3,500 Oregon Guard members are scheduled to go to Iraq in 2009. In addition, Oregon has 359,000 veterans within its borders, which is higher than the national average. Yet unlike many states with this level of military involvement, Oregon has no active duty bases, which routinely provide health care for military families. This means Oregon's veterans, Guard members, reservists and their families have limited access to the health care they deserve, making reliable health care through TRICARE even more critical in Oregon than in most states.

Here's my personal favourite. Seriously, it's AWESOME.

Clean up our Water: Barack Obama.....will continue his leadership in
protecting national treasures like the Great Lakes from threats such as industrial pollution, water diversion, and invasive species. Obama will establish policies to help high-growth regions with the challenges of managing their water supplies.

Awww, Oregon, you feel loved? Coincidentally, I always thought that that was the ocean, not a Great Lake (seeing as how those are, y'know, by Chicago and all.

7 former DNC chairs (and a deceased one's family)release a letter about why Hillary is the better choice.

I'm going to scream

2008-05-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

Anti-white racism?

Who has the power? Really? Don't give me some specific scenario. In society who has the power?

It's called discrimination and if one more person calls it "racism" or "reverse racism" or "anti-white racism" I'm going to start breaking things.

You, as a white person, are given privilege in our society because you were born with the colour skin you were born with. Look at congress. How many people of colour are there? Hmmmmm? CEO's of companies? Think of positions of power and think of how many of these positions are filled by a person of colour. Who controls the power. Guess what? It's people who look like you, and because of that you directly benefit from it. You ARE part of the power structure.

By the way, replace "person of colour" with "woman" and "racism" with "sexism" and the argument is the same one I would make, because that argument's bullshit too. Prejudice a woman has against a man is not sexism.

Don't believe me? Ask yourself these questions:

-Does my prejudice against you suddenly create a culture in which you will be likely to experience violence from an intimate partner?
-Does it devalue your work so that you are making less money then women for equal work?
-Are you suddenly the victim of racial profiling since it is known that white people commit all sorts of crimes?
-Are you now going to see people of your own race depicted in the media less often?

Um, no, no, no, and, well looky here, NO.

Go go Indiana!

2008-05-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

A new poll, which apparently is eerily accurate in predicting the outcomes of election results* shows Hillary 48, Obama 38, 14% undecided. Before you go, yeah well those undecideds, blah blah blah, I would like to remind you are a great thing since the undecideds in PA broke for Hillary.

I will be in Evansville, IN all weekend helping out with the pre-election day weekend madness, but will sadly miss the celebration party as I have that pesky thing called school (and a midterm on Tuesday). Hopefully this will be one of many times I will get to be able to campaign as I am (for the first time in 2 (3?) years NOT taking classes this summer) and I must say I miss the rush.

GO HILLARY GO!

*TeleResearch's polling ahead of the last two Indiana gubernatorial elections proved to be an accurate predictor of those races' outcomes. In 2000, the firm's results matched the eventually winning margin of Frank O'Bannon, and its 2004 results came within 1 percentage point of Mitch Daniels' winning margin.

Latest Polls for the General Election

2008-04-29T01:02:00.001-07:00

If you look at the latest GE match-ups, out of the 6 latest respected polls the average for Clinton v McCain is Clinton +3 points and with Obama v McCain Obama +1.5 points.

The trend shows Obama slipping, which is explained in nitty gritty detail here.

*ahem* Superdelegates, are you paying attention?

Why we won't quit.

2008-04-24T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hillary Clinton raised $10 million in 24 hours

There is a post from the pro-Obama Huffington Post about The top 10 weaknesses Obama has against McCain in the GE

6. Barack Obama hasn't won a single major industrial state that historically constitute the key "battleground" states for both parties, i.e., the states in the last three or four presidential elections have switched back and forth between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

As I said previously Clinton carried the regions of PA composed of Reagan Democrats by an average of 34 points. These are voters just as likely to vote Republican as Democrat. If you don't believe me, just think back to the '88 election when PA broke for Bush I. There are just as many of these same voters in OH counties where Clinton also won.

9. Barack Obama is currently in a dead heat with John McCain, according to a recent respected poll, in Massachusetts (actually, the results were McCain 46% and Obama 44%), while Senator Clinton leads in Massachusetts by 15%. The last time a Democrat did not win Massachusetts by a substantial margin was 1980, when Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter. Even in the historic landslide election of Richard Nixon in 1972, when he won 49 states, only Massachusetts supported Senator McGovern. Senator Obama currently runs considerably behind Senator McCain in Florida and Ohio, while Senator Clinton is ahead in both of those key battleground states.

I think the above quote speaks for itself. I mean, MCGOVERN for christ's sake! He ONLY won MA and that's saying something. Speaking of whom, The New Republic is asking is Obama The Next McGovern?

Obama goes and sticks his foot in his mouth again by dissing working class people yet again.

Former president says in North Carolina:
“Today her opponent’s campaign strategist said, ‘Well we don’t really need these working class people to win, half the time they vote for Republicans anyways.’ And I will tell you something, America needs you to win and therefore Hillary wants your support….”
Apparent response to earlier remark to NPR from David Axelrod: “The white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years.”

While at the same time saying that he needs to do better with blue collar, older voters. Ummm, anyone else seeing a problem here?

MyDD has a great post about DNC rules and how they apply to FL and MI. DNC rules say that while they can punish the states through their delegates, if their votes are certified, which they were in both states, then they stand and should be counted therefore Hillary is ahead in the popular vote

People talk about how wonderful it was that he gained 10 points from being down 20 to being down 10. But those were some damn expensive votes. He spent $10.63/vote to her $2.40/vote, and he still lost.

If you're still thinking that Obama should get it, because of the will of the people, the tide is turning my friends. People are deciding against Obama and independents who previously favoured him are now favouring McCain.

Over at my lj, a friend of mine keeps crying that if Obama doesn't get the nod then we will disenfranchise the AA community. What about women? What about the blue collar workers? This campaign has been so misogynistic and so sexist (I just found out that Shakespeare's Sister has been keeping a Hillary Sexism Watch.) and as I have said many times, if you don't speak up against oppressive behaviours you are guilty by implicitly agreeing with the statements by not objecting to them. (I have made this known to the Obama campaign, the DNC, and the local and state parties.) All the women I keep hearing from are getting angry about this and in no way are going to stand behind the Democratic party if they allow this to continue. There's even talk of forming a new opposition party for the Repubs. (Especially if Obama keeps shooting himself in the foot and losing ground he will lose and the Dems may as well declare themselves dead.)

EDIT: Chelsea talking about her mom's stances on women's issues

This about sums it up (wow, posting spree)

2008-04-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

As seen at Corrente

by commenter BDBlue

Things I Learned From Obama Supporters Tonight
1) Nobody in Pennsylvania had heard of Barack Obama six weeks ago and that’s why Clinton won.

2) Barack Obama is running his first national campaign and so he can’t be expected to beat a nationally known candidate.

3) Losing by 10 is a win because a few months ago he was losing by more! (Unclear whether this rule will apply in November)

And I learned this from a reporter:

4) Obama’s campaign is arguing internally over how negative to go.

For some reason I suspect the fourth thing is directly related to the lameness of the first three.

Creepy

2008-04-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

SSI just sent me a form for WA Power of Attorney and the WA Health Care Directive.

I know it shouldn't creep me out, since it's a good thing to have and there are people I trust far more then my family (like my partner) and just because I have one does not me I'm going to fall into a permanent vegetative state or anything. It's just part of the loads of paperwork that they are sending to everyone on SSI Disability who all got automatically enrolled in the state Chronic Care Management Program a few months back.

They also sent me my "plan" which is really weird since it's so obviously written to my doctors or potential caretakers and not me.
To whit:
BEH HEALTH: Take out for regular walks.

Uhhhhhhhhhh, what? Did they even talk to me? I told them I was going to school, so they should know that I get out of the house regularly. I told them I took a dance class so I was getting exercise at least 2 times a week. But there's also this weird thing about a pulmonary rehab referral, so I'm confused.

Anyway, I guess I should open up all those other large 'time sensitive' envelopes that they've been sending me. But first I have to find some way to be in a room with two people (me hermit) so they can witness me sign my forms. Weird.

10 points, I think so!

2008-04-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Now here's the thing. I am celebrating, but of course my mind does not stop thinking just because we have won PA. An important thing to do now that we have the results from PA is to analyse them. (Yes I am one of those people.) But first, something great. SEriously, I got all misty, especially when she talked about actually funding science research again. *sigh*

Look at the sections that Hillary won, and won by large margins. You can check them for yourself here.

There are two areas of the state that a democrat needs to win or else we have another Dukakis on our hands. These areas include counties that Hillary won by stunning margins, an average of 34 points. 28 counties down 2 strips on the eastern and western side of the state comprised of "Reagan Democrats." These are voters that are just as likely to vote for a republican if they feel that the democratic candidate does not stand for them. Hell, they voted for Bush the first. How likely do you think these people are to vote for an 'elite' candidate who thinks they are clingy and who does not advocate a health care plan that will benefit them? (I know people are sick of the clingy thing, but it offended my family in IL and they voted for the guy, and this is going to be played to death in the general. People don't like people who ~~think~~ act like they're better then everyone else. Think it, but act like you don't. Duh. *points to the White House*)

More later. Including a conversation I was having about the scary similarities between Reagan and Obama and Carter and Obama which made an Obama supporter make a loud and angry exit from the coffeeshop. (You can not deny that Obama's hope message mimic's Reagan's nor that they're playing on Obama's outsider status and the 'saviour'-ness of Carter's candidacy. Well, apparently this guy could (and we hadn't even gotten to Reagan), but then again it's either a matter of not knowing history or a refusal to learn from the past. Hell I'm a math and physics person and I know this stuff. But my friends are all mystified since they know that politics is my life. I did say that politics is like water.)

Also, as per people saying that Clinton has no backing, reports are coming in to the contrary:

E-mails Clinton spokesman Phil Singer:

As of 11:30 p.m. tonight, we are at nearly $2.5 million since PA was called for HRC — 80% of that money is coming from new donors to the campaign. It’s our best night ever.

(source)

Sit down, shut up, and behave

2008-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

EDIT: I have been calling people reminding them to go vote tomorrow and to go vote for Hillary. You should too.

Now back to your regularly scheduled post.

In the past several days, two distinct things have happened that, while I should not be surprised, are disheartening nonetheless.

I belong to a (kick ass) knitting website Ravelry, and there are of course topic boards for people to come together and talk. Someone came onto ours and made a comment and then went back to the Obama board and made a comment about someone "being off her meds." As a disability/mental health rights activist I had something to say about this.

OK, I don’t know or care who you are talking about, but making fun and using a mental health issue/disability as a slur is deeply offensive. It is just as bad as using a sexist or homophobic slur.

It implies that what someone who has mental health issue or disability has to say is somehow unimportant or not as important as “normal” folks. It is offensive to me personally as a mental health/disability rights activist.

I know that most people do not think of this, and I ask you to please not use mental health as a way to insult people as it is offensive and demeaning to people with disabilities.

I was replied to with this:

Sigh. Ok. First of all: I realize you do not know me at all, and therefore have no way of understanding the irony of the charges you have leveled against me, but seriously…you’re way out of line. There is such a thing as being overly sensitive.

But more importantly: I was not referring to you.
....
But that said, I will remove the offending post, although I do want to make it clear (since the post will be removed) that I did not actually mention anyone by name or make any sort of indication who I was referring to. (unless more can be deduced from this post, which is possible.)

Apparently because it was not directed at me and because it was a "harmless" ableist slur I should just shut up and sit down. I was also accused of making a stink about this oppressive remark because it was made by an Obama supporter and told that if I knew anything about the person making it then I would know that I was out of line. So I should not speak up when she does this? How about sexist or racist or homophobic slurs? Should I just let those lie as well since I support a different candidate which apparently makes it impossible for me to want to end oppressive and marginalizing behaviour? I would also like to add that Obama supporters on her own forum were chiming in saying that they agreed that those sorts of comments were out of line.

Apparently I should, because in another forum on the same site someone pointed to this Salon article called Hey Obama boys: Back off already! (A preview, for those who haven't read it:)

I am a loud feminist and a longtime Clinton skeptic who was suddenly feeling that I needed to rationalize, apologize for, or even just stay quiet about my increasing unease with the way Clinton was being discussed. Meanwhile, I was getting e-mails from men I didn't know well who approached me as a go-to feminist to whom they could express their hatred of Hillary and their anger at her staying in the race -- an anger that seemed to build with every one of her victories. One of my closest girlfriends, an Obama voter, told me of a drink she'd had with a politically progressive man who made a series of legitimate complaints about Clinton's policies before adding that when he hears the senator's voice, he's overcome by an urge to punch her in the face.

The discussion turned to the rampant sexism of the campaign and someone brought up Obama's comment “I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” So the discussion turned into how any sign of emotion in ~~President~~ Senator Clinton is seen as a weakness because women are painted as being too emotional, especially too emotional to do anything as silly as run a country *cough*Thatcher*cough*.

Some *ahem* argued that it was a harmless statement to which I pointed out that it is loaded with sexism when used to talk about women. To which I was told to "stop it right the hell now" and that I have "no critical thinking skills" am "regurgitating what the patriarchy and media tells me" (since I had said that if we had no critical thinking skills that's what we would be doing and we weren't, natch) and "playing the victim." Because there is no logical or factual basis for our response that the "feeling down" comment was sexist. Then same person, and this is were it gets really good said "If feminists can’t allow for more than one interpretation of a comment..." HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA Because I guess that only applies to you, eh? The plethora of people who disagree, Clinton AND Obama supporters alike, are not allowed their own interpretation? We're just dumb people who can't think for ourselves and must be told what to do! I see! (Sound familiar to anyone else? Now I really want to move out of this country. These people fucking scare me.)

So lets recap shall we?
1) No matter how many oppressive slurs people use, especially against the differently abled and women, as long as they are Obama fans they are somehow above reproach. We should just lie back and think of England, because apparently if you ignore (dis)ableism and sexism they will just go away. (But not racism. We must call everyone on everything that can be considered racist, which I agree with, but it MUST ALSO be applied to all other oppressions. Including heterosexism *cough* Obama equal marriage rights *cough*)

2) If you do dare to see sexism (which is punching you in the face every time you turn on the TV or open a paper) you are somehow wrong. Just sit back and let the Obama people tell you how you are supposed to interpret these things. Remember, sexism is not a big-T Truth, but a little-t truth and can only be correctly interpreted by people smart enough to love Obama.

3) Any comments about oppressive remarks made to an Obama supporter are not valid if made by a Clinton supporter. EVER. Even when an Obama supporter agrees, if a Clinton supporter ever says something about an oppressive remark it somehow overrules what the Obama supporter says and thus invalidates the objection.

Everyone clear? If we all just sit back and behave (i.e. let them tell us what to do), maybe we'll get a cookie.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

2008-04-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

I bought this shirt. I am a survivor. Jennifer Baumgardner created the shirt as part of a project I Was Raped she has been working on through her organization Scarleteen, a sex education program (which will receive some of the proceeds from the sales of the shirt to fund their work).

This story was in the Sunday NYTimes and the comments are atrocious.

I think the comments on the blog post about the shirt from The NY Times are the most revealing thing about the project. So many people are saying that “no rape survivor should shove this in my face” or that “it’s personal” or “what am I supposed to say” or “if I were a rape survivor I wouldn’t wear it therefore it’s fucked up”, etc., etc.

What's beyond the realm of fucked-upedness is people comparing rape to the mortgage crisis or fucking losing a job:

We have all been victims of something. Ever lose your job, your house, your sanity? Ever been bullied or humiliated?

Yes, those things suck, but A) the victims are not blamed (maybe in bullying) and B) the complete decimation of trust, security, shame, violation, degradation, fear, self blame (what did I do?), and it goes on and on DOES NOT COMPARE ON ANY LEVEL. This is disgusting minimization. Not to mention that rape victims suffer from Rape Trauma Syndrome some of the highlights include flashbacks and nightmares that continue to haunt and traumatize you after the event. Any smell, sound, etc that reminds the person of the event can also further traumatise the victim. Not to mention long term effects like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which has a lot of the same symptoms as Rape Trauma Syndrome only you get to enjoy it for years to come. I was first raped in high school. Now, over 2 decades later, I am still dealing with PTSD and I ~~probably~~ will be dealing with it for the rest of my life (I will also admit that part of this stems from childhood emotional and physical abuse from my mother.)

It’s obviously doing it’s job and no one’s even wearing them yet! Words cannot express how much rage I have at the people telling me that I am victimizing myself by choosing to buy and possibly wear the shirt and telling ME HOW I should deal with MY OWN healing process. They obviously want us to not bother them with the fact that rape happens, and it happens a lot, and it doesn’t happen in dark alleys, and it doesn’t happen only at gun or knifepoint, and it doesn’t only happen in bad neighbourhoods or that it somehow doesn’t happen to “strong” women. (I was once told that I couldn’t be raped (by someone who did not know my past) b/c I am a hardass.) And it happens often and it happens to people they know.

They say the shirt is stupid and ineffective whereas there are over 300 comments which means it’s pretty damn effective so far in getting people to talk about it. Then they say, “well why not make rapists have the word rapist tattooed on their head”, uh, how about because about maybe 1% ever get found guilty, maybe.

Well, when I get the shirt, I’m just going to head back over and read these comments and I know it will get me to wear it. I’m sorry you don’t want to talk to your children about rape. I’m sorry you don’t want it shoved in your face. I'm sorry it makes you fucking uncomfortable. But you know what? I didn’t want to be raped, and I’m sick of everyone thinking that it’s a private fucking matter. If someone had just beat me up in an alley and I talked about it you wouldn't tell me that was private so FUCK YOU. It's about getting people to talk about the subject, it's about me and letting all the other victims who I come into contact with every. damn. day. that they are not alone. That they can talk about it, that it IS NOT something to be ashamed of or something that should be a dirty secret. And if they want to talk with me, that I'll be there for them.

ARGH!!!!!

2008-04-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Do you know how excruciating it is to figure out the multiplicity of a large system without knowing how to use excel? (I can get everything but the f*&&ing combin function to work.) I've spent the past 3 hours working on that 1. stupid. function. I could have been at a cookout with my math geek and his band. Who, incidentally, just told me that he thinks he knows how to do it so I could have saved myself all the spitting and swearing and had some fun as well. &*^^$$#$$&^*(*)I)_()_%^%#@@!!#%^&^&*()*()()(_)_)*(&%^$$#$@@!$@#!

And I didn't get the REU. I know I should have applied for more, and I wanted to, I was just overwhelmed by evil Moore method class that unknowingly all the deadlines passed me by. That's what happens when you're drowning in anxiety. I fucking love this disability, let me tell you.

Speaking of which, without including the price of my daily dosage of Lamictal (300 mg) for the bipolar, my Xanax, and my inhaler my running total for monthly meds is $645.92. Thank god for medicaid. (And I know that people moan and scream that they don't want socialised health care b/c they don't want to pay for that, but trust me when I say it's a hell of a lot cheaper then my going to the ER for a shot for an anxiety attack (which I only go in for after being unable to sleep or calm down for at least 2 days.) And that was at least once a month. Morons.

EDIT:
To supplement my bad lernin' I've been visiting this site and taking quizzes including US Capitals, presidents and countries of Asia, Africa, etc, etc. I also hold the record time for naming all the Jane Austen novels.

Play a game, save a life

2008-04-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Play this game and send a malaria net to Africa.

h/t: ginmar

Did you know?

2008-04-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

There could have been like 4 elections in Canada (at least) in the time since the primary season began? Seriously. (Though if you are not familiar, you are voting for the parties and they pick the candidate. I hope people who vote Liberal are doing so for reasons other then Gordon Campbell because I hate that asshole.)

Well, and then there's real choices on the national stage. You have an actual left party (not as left as I would like, but much more left then in the states) the NDP, the dems and repubs, Liberals and Conservatives, respectively (I think, it's so hard to tell these days), and Bloc Québécois (who, unfortunately, you can only vote for in Québéc). Locally in BC is even more fun (Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams! Vote Work Less Party!), but we're talking national here.

Bah. I think I'm angrier now then I was when we got Campbell and Sullivan. Ugh.