Erica Jong: Patriarchy:1000, Hillary:0

Timid Centrist In Progressive Clothing vs. Progressive Wonkette Being Sexistly Slimed. Hmm. How's that going to work out when the fat lady finally sings, eh?

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MSNBC is a Nappy-Headed Ho (And Time Magazine is a Nappy-headed Ho As Well. Not that anyone really gives a shit except the very shrill)

So MSNBC has it's very own "nappy-headed ho'" moment, and blames the whole thing on Hillary Clinton. What a concept.

No Blood for Hubris strongly supports the continuing use of the public airwaves to spread the important traditional twin American values message of sexism and stupidity, really, we do.

Whole story here, via Tennessee Guerilla Women.

Longer story of from Media Matters, here. Media Matters has been right on this story from the start, while MSNBC is trying to spin people's objections to their on-air nappy-headed ho language as being mere partisan hype.

Partisan hype? Not THAT!

Scarborough insisted, "This ain't about Hillary Clinton's campaign." [mere partisan hype -- don't pay attention to it. nothing to see here, move on]

Scarborough got that part right. This isn't about Hillary Clinton's campaign. This is about a consistent pattern of misogynistic comments by Chris Matthews. Comments about and directed toward a variety of women. A consistent pattern of Matthews objectifying women. And a consistent pattern of MSNBC looking the other way.

It's about an MSNBC host saying things like this: "I've been trying to call Alessandra Stanley with The New York Times for some time just to have lunch with her, and she thinks it's because I'm trying to influence her -- that's not the case at all, it's because, I was surprised, I saw a picture of her and I thought she was kinda hot!" . . . Joe Scarborough.

It's about things like a male MSNBC host describing a woman running for president as "shrill" (and "very shrill") and asking, "[W]hat about her housekeeping skills?" . . . Joe Scarborough. . . .

This is about Chris Matthews' pattern of inappropriate treatment of women, and about MSNBC's continued acceptance of it. It's about things like a male journalist doing a mocking "impersonation" of the women who host The View - an impersonation that featured a high-pitched, whiny voice...[from]. David Shuster. . . [Shuster is now being spun as the sad victim of a horrid horde of over-sensitive broads]

Tim Russert suggested that there is irony in a "self-avowed feminist" having shown "some emotion," as though feminists are the dour, humorless beings Rush Limbaugh and Tucker Carlson think they are. At least Russert stopped short of using the term "feminazis."

A few days later, Tucker Carlson mocked the idea that Hillary Clinton could have been a "victim of gender discrimination," noting that she had gone to Yale Law School. Clinton's comments about "gender equality," to which Carlson was purportedly responding, were in fact general, and not about her specifically.

And his invocation of Clinton's graduation from Yale Law as evidence of a lack of gender inequity in her life was just bizarre: As Clinton noted in her autobiography, "When I entered Yale Law School in the fall of 1969, I was one of twenty-seven women out of 235 students to matriculate. This seems like a paltry number now, but it was a breakthrough at the time and meant that women would no longer be token students at Yale." . . .

MSNBC host Tucker Carlson, who has described Hillary Clinton as "whining" and suggested the reason there are so few women in Congress is that "most women are so sensible, they don't want to get involved in something as stupid as politics" and said of Clinton, "[W]hen she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs," and described her as "castrating, overbearing, and scary."

(MSNBC can't say they didn't know what they were getting when they hired Carlson; before joining the cable channel, he said women "want to be spanked vigorously every once in a while" and told Elle magazine that Clinton is his "guilty fantasy," explaining: "Every time I see her I think I could, you know, help. ... She seems tense.") . . .

Then on January 30, Joe Scarborough told co-host Mika Brzezinski, "Mika, don't make me backhand you." . . .

During MSNBC's February 5 primary coverage, correspondent Lester Holt seemed surprised that "[t]he first woman candidate with a serious shot at winning the presidency beat out her male rival" in exit polls on the question of "[w]ho would make the best commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces?" Holt even reminded viewers, "Keep in mind, this at a time the nation is fighting on two fronts." This wasn't the first time an NBC personality seemed to question whether a woman could be an effective commander in chief of the armed forces:

* On June 24, 2007, Chris Matthews asked if Clinton's "being surrounded by women" makes "a case for commander in chief -- or does it make a case against it?" Matthews went on to say, "But isn't that a challenge, because when it comes down to that final decision to vote for president, a woman president, a woman commander-in-chief, will be an historic decision for people. Not just men, but women as well."

* On May 30, 2005, Matthews asked retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey if "the troops out there" would "take the orders" from "Hillary Clinton, commander in chief." When McCaffrey responded, "Why wouldn't they listen to a [female] commander in chief? Sure," Matthews responded: "You're chuckling a little bit, aren't you?" When McCaffrey responded, "No," Matthews said: "No problem? No problem? No problem?" McCaffrey answered, "Absolutely not. None."

Most recently, David Shuster said on the February 7 edition of Tucker that "there's just something a little bit unseemly" about Chelsea Clinton contacting super delegates on behalf of her mother, adding, "[D]oesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"

This morning, Shuster offered a Matthews-esque quasi-apology for analogizing Chelsea Clinton to a prostitute.

But, like Matthews, Shuster didn't seem to "get it."

Maybe because they still live in Animal House? Not the charming funny movie part, the stupid actual real part?

Puerile misogyny seems funny for a year or two while you're a whiny pimply sophomoric hormonally-challenged sniggering frat boy.

But even puerile boys generally grow up into actual men.


Just not at MSNBC.


Update: and not at Time Magazine either: here's a little gem from their sniggering fratboys:




.Hillary Clinton
Clinton and sexism
sexism

Why The Faux-Left Manichaean Naderites and Charles Krauthammer Are Strange Bedfellows

Neither want Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic Presidential Nomination.

Cui bono?

Charles doesn't want her to be the Democratic Party candidate because he doesn't want a liberal Democrat to be President. Because that might rein in all the Bushist fascist fun all the Bushist fascists have been having.

The Faux-Left Manichaean Naderite Posse doesn't want her to be the Democratic Party candidate because they don't really give a crap about actual governance, but prefer to remain poseurs, telling those who are out in the trenches that those trenches aren't capacious enough, the trenches are way too muddy, the trenches should be lined with silver and amethysts, la la la la la la.

Moi, I don't care to be on any side that Charles Krauthammer is pimping for.

Y'all may feel quite differently. Please do.

I thought a Clinton/Obama ticket might be just the thing, but that was yesterday. Today I came across this, via No Quarter. It reminds me why the uber-hyped Obama's just too conservative.

Barack Obama says that the GOP has been the "party of ideas" for the last ten to fifteen years. Which GOP "idea" tops your five-alarm list during the last 15 years?

* Privatizing Social Security
* Cooking intelligence and outting an undercover CIA officer
* Uncontrolled deficit spending with tax breaks for the wealthiest and oil companies
* Abolishing the Department of Education
* Covering for pedophiles in the Congress
* Slashing Medicare
* No health care for all Americans
* Gutting the military
* Not protecting us from Chinese toys and food laced with poison.

I'm really not interested in a candidate who wants to sing Kumbaya with Karl Rove.

How about Clinton/Clark?
Anyhow, pardon me while I go cast my vote.



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[Senator Hillary Clinton won this state, ~60/40, a great surprise, as we're very Faux-Left Manichaean Naderite here and Kennedy, Kerry, the Governor, and the media worked hard against her. The working-class poor voted for her.]

Hillary Clinton
Clinton and sexism

Hillary -- A Sharp Wonkette

So I watched MTV's presidential candidate thingie last night, and listened carefully to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Thus I determined that Hillary = a sharp Wonkette.

Barack Obama was Prince Charming (not that there's anything wrong with that) -- well-spoken, but he was not the equal of Wonkette. Style not substance. And not progressive.

Hillary Clinton was a sharp Wonkette, not only well-spoken, but with all facts at her fingertips, and her plans set out in impressive uber-wonk detail.

I'm looking for someone who knows what he or she is talking about, someone who has actually done his or her homework, having been treated to 7 years of torture via a left-behind class-clown braindead frat-boy. A sharp Wonkette will bring back competence.

Hillary "Sharp Wonkette" Clinton has been pre-Swiftboated. Endlessly. No surprises to be feared. In terms of electability, this is a supreme strength.

There is nothing vile and nasty that can be said about her that hasn't already been said about her, and is still being said about her, from both the vile right and the blood-on-their-hands Faux-Left Manichean Naderite Posse.

Thirdly, she is being supported by many people I respect: Wesley Clark, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Barney Frank, Sidney Blumenthal, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, and a person I do not: Ann Coulter. (No, of course Ann Coulter is lying. But who cares.)

Senator Clinton's election as President will make Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove and Rush "Chemical Assist" Limbaugh wish they were dead, I strongly feel. This is a side issue, but it would be nice. Some say who cares about Rove, and Reagan, and the great rightwing conspiracy, but I say those people have not been paying attention to the past 30 years.

While I appreciate the fact that sharp Wonkette Senator Clinton is female, that is not my reason for voting for her. I would certainly not vote for Condi Rice nor Mrs. Dole, never ever ever, perish the thought. The ongoing shameless sexist sliming of Senator Clinton, however, was enough to start steering me more strongly in her direction. I stopped hoping that Gore would appear like a deus ex-machina. I loved Dean, Wesley Clark.

I was strongly steered away from Obama by the recent high-school glamour popularity contest hype communicated to me by our beloved and insightful Media Whore Media. And I don't like his conservativism at all.

Obama took another hit via several Manichean Faux-left Naderite Posse cliques such as Progressive Democrats of America and MoveOn.Org, who gleefully overlooked the actual differences between these two fine candidates in favor of jumping directly on the age-ist Youth and Newness Bandwagon: Young! New! Young! New! Young! For no apparent reason other than a desire to bandwagon jump, and to punish the uppity Clinton for not toeing their party line.

PDA in particular pointed out that, yes, yes, yes, annoyingly enough, Clinton's actual policies ARE more progressive than Obama's, but -- they just don't give a shit about that. Like that HER health care plan is universal, and HIS plan, tepid and flabby, only covers kids, for God's sake. Hunh?

Get this:

No matter who we've supported so far for president, many PDAers have seen firsthand the enthusiastic, youthful, multiracial movement that has embraced Barack Obama.

The Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues, but our engagement with the inspiring Obama movement--which includes tens of thousands of open-minded newcomers to activism--leaves us hopeful.

Hope? Wow. My SUV runs great on hope!

"The Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues" they say, but who really gives a shit about that?

Let's all drool about new! shiny! youth! change! hype! new! youth! glam! shiny! new! new! spin as if Obama were a Chevy or was running for Prom King.

Whiny mostly white librul boys (and some gurrls) perseverate on a vote the white gurrl cast five years ago when her opponent wasn't even in the Senate to cast any vote at all. (And since he's been there, he sure hasn't stuck his neck out. like he promised he would. That's a track record in itself.)

Manichaeans are like that. Black/white, Kinda Bushist, really. That's why their being pissed at Clinton for talking to Wal-Mart or Big Pharma sounds like a Faux-Left snot-nosed version of Bubble Boy refusing to talk to Iran or Syria. Yo, is that smart? NOT.

Yeah, go on Faux-Progressive toyboys and toygirls, keep on bitching about that stale vote of yesteryear -- a single vote that could not have prevented Bush's war -- a vote that looms SO large when we've started a war based on lies, killed 600K+ people, killed habeas corpus, shredded the constitution and the rule of law; abandoned government competence, destroyed the social safety net, destroyed the very basis of our democracy.

America is bankrupt, morally and fiscally. It's polluted and decaying, as Preznit Toad-Exploder jabs his spurs in our bloodied sides even deeper, and rides us all straight down into flaming hell.



(Where they'll find Faux-Left Manichaean Kingpin Ralph Nader roasting, toasting as he enjoys his accrued karma for helping Bubble Boy get selected in the first place . . . .)


More:

The divine Robin Morgan on Hillary Clinton, just a fantastic piece here.

Goodbye to All That (#2):

Goodbye to some women letting history pass by while wringing their hands, because Hillary isn’t as “likeable” as they’ve been warned they must be, or because she didn’t leave him, couldn’t “control” him, kept her family together and raised a smart, sane daughter. (Think of the blame if Chelsea had ever acted in the alcoholic, neurotic manner of the Bush twins!)

Goodbye to some women pouting because she didn’t bake cookies or she did, sniping because she learned the rules and then bent or broke them. Grow the hell up. She is not running for Ms.-perfect-pure-queen-icon of the feminist movement. She’s running to be president of the United States. . . .

Goodbye to a misrepresented generational divide . . .

Goodbye to some young women eager to win male approval by showing they’re not feminists (at least not the kind who actually threaten the status quo), who can’t identify with a woman candidate because she is unafraid of eeueweeeu yucky power, who fear their boyfriends might look at them funny if they say something good about her.

Goodbye to women of any age again feeling unworthy, sulking “what if she’s not electable?” or “maybe it’s post-feminism and whoooosh we’re already free.”

Let a statement by the magnificent Harriet Tubman stand as reply. When asked how she managed to save hundreds of enslaved African Americans via the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, she replied bitterly, “I could have saved thousands—if only I’d been able to convince them they were slaves.”

I’d rather say a joyful Hello to all the glorious young women who do identify with Hillary, and all the brave, smart men — of all ethnicities and any age — who get that it’s in their self-interest, too. She’s better qualified. (D’uh.) She’s a high-profile candidate with an enormous grasp of foreign- and domestic-policy nuance, dedication to detail, ability to absorb staggering insult and personal pain while retaining dignity, resolve, even humor, and keep on keeping on.

(Also, yes, dammit, let’s hear it for her connections and funding and party-building background, too. Obama was awfully glad about those when she raised dough and campaigned for him to get to the Senate in the first place.)

I’d rather look forward to what a good president he might make in eight years, when his vision and spirit are seasoned by practical know-how—and he’ll be all of 54. Meanwhile, goodbye to turning him into a shining knight when actually he’s an astute, smooth pol with speechwriters who’ve worked with the Kennedys’ own speechwriter-courtier Ted Sorenson. If it’s only about ringing rhetoric, let speechwriters run. But isn’t it about getting the policies we want enacted?

And goodbye to the ageism . . .

How dare anyone unilaterally decide when to turn the page on history, papering over real inequities and suffering constituencies in the promise of a feel-good campaign? How dare anyone claim to unify while dividing, or think that to rouse U.S. youth from torpor it’s useful to triage the single largest demographic in this country’s history: the boomer generation—the majority of which is female?

Old women are the one group that doesn’t grow more conservative with age—and we are the generation of radicals who said “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Goodbye to going gently into any goodnight any man prescribes for us. We are the women who changed the reality of the United States. And though we never went away, brace yourselves: we’re back!

I read her piece and felt ashamed of myself, for my own sexist, tepid support of Senator Clinton's candidacy. And for my silent acceptance of things I know better than to accept as status quo. For my own cowardice and hesitance. (is that a word?)

Pandagon gets the whole thing right from the start, here. Please enjoy the commenter toward the end of the thread who, though apparently a liberal, actually rashes Hillary for the sin of not hiding her intelligence. Honest to God. I kid you not.

Stanley Fish at the New York Times on the anti-Hillaryists, here.

Faux Progressive Dems Endorse Less Progressive Candidate, Fail to Note the Error of their Ways

So, get this: so-called "Progressive Democrats of America" endorse Barack Obama exactly one day after sending out an email admitting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's policies are MORE progressive than Senator Obama's.

But they don't give a shit about that.

Defeating uppity Hillary is so much more important than actually being progressive.

Can you believe it?

No matter who we've supported so far for president, many PDAers have seen firsthand
the enthusiastic, youthful, multiracial movement that has embraced Barack Obama. The
Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues, but our engagement with the inspiring Obama movement--which includes tens of thousands of open-minded newcomers to activism--leaves us hopeful.

Well, "shiny new youth hope youth change shiny new youth hope change shiny new new!" CERTAINLY trumps actual progressive stances on the actual issues, does it not?

Facts, plans -- they're just so so RETRO!!







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Hillary-Hating Uber Alles: Karl Rove's Wet-Dream Come True At Last!!!

Look at the picture.

War-torn Iraq. The endless misery of sentient beings.

It's not funny.

But something seems to be. Funny.

As in -- trivial. Kos says so, anyhow. Kos says -- and he's said it before -- that really really there's no such thing as sexism, so don't you get your panties in a twist, you pussy librul gurrls.

He's right.

Yes, yes, yes, apparently I have my panties in a twist.

It must be that time of the -- well, you know how broads can be!

Sure it was annoying when there was ZERO coverage of the Democratic primary in Florida (which a female won), so little that I actually thought there hadn't BEEN a Democratic primary there. Only heard about it later. And not from the media whore media, of course.

I am WAAAY to the left of Hillary Clinton (I'm in the Tony Benn wing of the Democratic party), I oddly enough think that the ENEMY is actually Bushist fascism, and not Hillary Clinton. Hmm. As far as I can tell, she's anti-torture, get out of Iraq, bring back the surplus, pro-rule of law, pro-separation of church and state, pro-environment, pro-government competence, pro-habeas corpus, pro-constitution, pro-separation of powers, and pro-universal health care (an idea which she proposed what, 16 years ago? To almost universal disparagement. Sort of like Carter espousing energy independence, and getting trashed for it. Or Gore predicting the importance of the internet. And getting trashed for it.)

All these issues are close to my heart.

She doesn't write books that wax nostalgic about Ronald Reagan, like some candidates we know.

But she's, you know, according to the gospel according to Karl Rove -- she's got a problem. A female problem. (Remember when she got trashed for saying she didn't want to stay and home and bake cookies? Oh god, not that.)

leaving aside her vaunted problem of being a female, the Senator supports many, if not all, of the things that I support. Her constituents value her. The media whore media and the Reichwing spin machine do not.

She is the longtime recipient of something that I particularly despise: sexism.

Where at least one must put on a good face about not being racist, sexism remains perfectly acceptable.

Not a good thing.

I got an email today from Progressive Democrats of America touting Obama as their candidate. It was pretty frickin' sad.

Sounded like it came right from the mouth of Rush "Don't Elect a Wrinkly Hag President" Limbaugh:

No matter who we've supported so far for president, many PDAers have seen firsthand the enthusiastic, youthful, multiracial movement that has embraced Barack Obama. The Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues, but our engagement with the inspiring Obama movement -- which includes tens of thousands of open-minded newcomers vto activism -- leaves us hopeful.

So, a candidate's stance on issues -- don't count!

Yuh, they note that the Senator hasn't been totally progressive on the issues, but ---

Hel-lo?

What were they thinking?

If we can't make distinctions based on the actual differences between the actual candidates on the actual issues, then -- on what rational basis are we choosing?

Answer: we're in non-rational, prejudicial mode.

Moi, I prefer the one who supports universal health care over the one who wants it just to cover children.

And I'm good with the candidate that Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame and Wesley Clark and Madeleine Albright support.

So, sure, I'd prefer Gore, I'd prefer Dean, I'd prefer Wesley Clark. I would have been good with Edwards, Dodd, Richardson, Kucinich, pretty much any Dem. And I will certainly vote for Obama if he's the candidate.

Failing that, I'm good with Hillary Clinton.

Those who perceive her as the enemy are working on Karl Rove's team.

Bushist fascism needs to be ground into dust, America's moral and fiscally bankruptcy utterly reversed.

That's the whole point.

End of story.



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Hillary-Haters Have a Ball: Reichwingers Play the C*nt Card; Young Obamist Makes Clinton, Not Bush, Prime Target. (Hunh?)

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So this morning I went out to do the shopping (I'm a gurrrl, remember?).

The cash register was manned by a young white male. He mentioned the name of X, a white male liberal in my town who I know to be on its Democratic Party Committee. This older white male liberal I met when I was supporting Robert Reich for Governor in the Democratic Party primary against a white female, Shannon something. Can't recall her name.

The white male teen said he was working on Obama's campaign, and he said, pointedly, and disparagingly, "I'm working hard so that that OTHER candidate won't win."

The man he was talking to, asked, "Who? Romney?"

But of course young white liberal male Obama supporter meant Senator Hillary Clinton.

Now, boys and girls, this is how pervasive sexism is -- young white male liberal puts knocking uppity b*tch Hillary Clinton out of the race as a higher priority than knocking the Bushist fascists out of the White House. She's the enemy. Not Bush.

And that's how it really is.

A quick trip to a liberal site like Daily Kos, or Democratic Underground reveals a pervasive acceptance of misogyny. It's splashed across the pages of the New York Times, local radio, and on national and local TV.

Chris Matthews's creepy sexism -- not to mention that of Drug Limbaugh -- is acceptable everywhere. They sure don't get fired for it. They don't even get in trouble.

Media Matters has covered this well:

Using overtly sexist language, he has referred to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as a "she devil" and compared her to a "strip-teaser." He has called her "witchy" and likened her voice to "fingernails on a blackboard." He has referred to men who support her as "castratos in the eunuch chorus." He has suggested Clinton is not "a convincing mom" and said "modern women" like Clinton are unacceptable to "Midwest guys." He has called her "Madame Defarge" and "Nurse Ratched."

(Contact MSNBC: Mr. Phil Griffin, Senior Vice President, News
NBC Television Network 30 Rockefeller Plz New York, NY 10112 phil.griffin@nbc.com )

When will sexism become as unacceptable as racism?

Uh, ever?



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George W. Bush and the Bushist Fascists == America's Batterers

What is Domestic Violence in the Context of Politics?

Let's refer to some classic DV literature:

Domestic violence is a pattern of many behaviors directed at achieving and maintaining power and control over [others]. Power and control tactics certainly include acts of physical violence of varying degrees of severity. However, in many abusive relationships, abusers use a variety of other tactics directed at controlling their partners.

(Remember: you do not have to be physically hit to be abused.)

Emotional Abuse:
Abusers often speak to victims in humiliating and degrading ways geared at promoting a sense of worthlessness. . . (Karl Rove, are you listening? ) These messages are conveyed both blatantly and subtly, leading victims to question their own value and abilities.

Isolation:
It is common for victims of political domestic violence to become isolated from family, friends, and others who could provide them with emotional or practical support.


Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming:
Acts that serve to both distort reality and normalize abuse include minimizing or denying the seriousness of abusive acts and blaming the victim for "causing" the abuse (It's all the Dem's fault). Batterers often tell victims that "they were only kidding" about emotionally harmful or degrading statements. (Bush putting his hands on the female Chancellor of Germany).

Abuser Perceived Entitlement:
Batterers believe it is their entitlement to maintain power in a relationship and control their intimate partners. (Bush/Cheney treat the opposition party this way -- and use sexist language to portray their opponents as weak, nannystate, helpless). They believe that big decisions should be theirs to make. (No compromise on with the opposition -- only their way will do). Their perspectives about the relational roles of males and females tend to be traditional and male-dominant. They commonly believe it is their job to discipline their partners, physically, emotionally, and by denying victims necessities for themselves and the children.


Coercion and Threats:
Common coercive behaviors include: threatening to do something to hurt the victim; threatening to leave the victim; threatening to commit suicide; threatening to hurt her family members or friends; and threatening to report her to a welfare agency or the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Victims quickly learn that batterers have no qualms about carrying out their threats and batterers use the victims’ awareness of this fact and their fear to maintain control without having to commit acts of physical violence. (Compare the post-9/11 fearfulness of doing anything that might go against the Bushists' worldview for fear of being labeled soft, pro-terrorist, giving aid and comfort to the enemy. We are only now waking up from this post-traumatic nightmare that put us under their power and control).

Intimidation:
Victims learn to interpret and fear batterers’ looks, expressions, gestures or actions. (See: America's submissive press corps.) These behaviors may be so subtle that others may not notice. Batterers also commonly destroy victims’ property, especially those things that hold sentimental value. Batterers may torture or kill pets. Batterers frequently own weapons and tend to brandish them to intimidate their victims. Unfortunately, batterers also use these weapons far too frequently.

Do you see the pattern here, boys and girls?

Do you understand how Bush's pissing away of the surplus, and creating in its stead a massive, bleeding deficit is akin to an abuser taking away a victim's economic power?

Do you understand how Bush's wielding the weapon of fear over the American people has terrorized us? And disempowered us? Made us numb, frozen, barely able to call 911 and ask for help in escaping?

Did you notice how Bush blamed the victims of the sub-prime mortgage scandal for having been bilked?

Were the Republicans not intent upon making us feel powerless and making us be powerless?

Now, Americans feel a loss of autonomy, in their own lives and in the nation. Their politics are driven by the powerlessness they feel to control their financial well-being, their safety, their environment, their health and the country’s borders. They question whether each generation will continue to ascend the economic ladder. That the political system seems so impotent only deepens their frustration and their insistence on results.

As she considers this campaign, Susan C. Powell, a 47-year-old training consultant who lives in a Kansas City suburb, said that what she feels is not so much hopelessness as doom.

“I know plenty of people who are doing worse than they were,” Ms. Powell said, “and nobody’s helping them out. People’s incomes are not keeping pace with inflation. People can’t afford their homes. People in their 30s and 40s, middle-income, and they don’t have jobs they can count on or access to health care. How can we say that we’re the greatest country on earth and essentially have the walking wounded?”

NY Times on Dirty Bush's Battering of America, America's Dark Mood.




(Earlier work based on information from the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence)

Maureen Dowd is a Nappy-Headed Ho

Got a minute?

Sure you do! Everybody's got time for sexism!

Everybody's got a minute for a jealous bitch!

Noted hysteric female unwed childless columnist MoDo Maureen "Dowdy" Dowd of the "who,-me-sexist?" New York Times has really got her panties in a twist!

I mean, looky here: is this uppity old broad riding the cotton pony, or whut?

CAN HILLARY CRY HER WAY BACK TO THE WHITE HOUSE?

She's being SUCH a bitch! She's so totally playing the bitch card at Hillary!

Big-time bitch-slapping MoDo, you will recall, is an unmarried woman.

She engages in spin. Why, some might call her a -- spinster.

Plus -- shrieky MoDo is unmarried to Bill Clinton. Who probably, also, never made a pass at her. Having made passes at, we are told, every female who ever lived and then some.

Now that must hurt.

It could really make one hold a bigtime Clinton grudge.

Plus -- unmarried Maureen, who's probably always been a little ambitious for a girl, maybe a little shrill, a little pushy, a little masculine, a little oh, steely-eyed, therefore maybe, questionably, you know, dykey, a little loud, a little angry, way bitchy, moody, puffy, unstable, emotional, and certainly getting a little long in the tooth, a little wrinkly -- Maureen Down probably has noticed that it is Hillary Clinton, not she, who is the one who's running for President of the United States.

That must sting, deep down inside.

So, you know, Maureen, keep it real, and do let your petty jealousy and untrammeled sexism fly forth freely.

Cry about it.


(Or have you noticed -- ouch -- that no one is interested in your tears?)


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Miss Piggy Republicans Vote in Obama, Edwards

After I bid good-night to two major Hillary-haters, loudmouth sexist pundit Chris "Tweetybird" Matthews, and horrible Andrea "I'm Married to Greenspan" Mitchell all during the Iowa Democratic Caucus coverage, I woke up to the news of the Huckobama win.

I also learned that both Obama and Edwards owed their finish to votes from -- REPUBLICANS. Clinton got 10% of votes from Republicans. Over forty percent (44%) of Obama "voters" were Republicans; over thirty percent (32%) of Edwards "voters" were Republicans.

Oh?

I thought it was a Democratic Caucus?

Nah. It's just an opportunity for a little rat-f*cking.

According to CNN, 44% of those voting for Obama were Republicans. Thirty-two percent of those voting for Edwards were Republicans. 41% of those voting for Obama earn $100K a year or more (was that all those Republicans?).

Someone really feels threatened by the prospect of Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic Party's nomination for President.

And that someone would be -- Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove.

Whose idea it was, I suggest, to get Republicans to vote in the Democratic Primary process in Iowa? Cui bono?

Miss Piggy.

So, before you start stuff in cotton in your ears to keep out the Hillary-hating bombast by the vile Media Whore Media, please keep in mind that the Democratic Party primary election process in Iowa was won by the "Miss Piggy Republican" wing of the Democratic party.

Which ain't no Democratic party wing at all.




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Happy New Year 2008

Happy New Year.


Take a minute out from your busy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day schedule, to accrue good karma by donating Free Rice here.


What are your New Year's resolutions?


What are Preznit Toad-Exploder's resolutions?

What are those of Big Dick?


Thoughts?

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Merry Tibetan Buddhist Christmas 2007

Peace on earth, good will to men.


May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness,

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering,

May all beings never be apart from the great happiness free from suffering.

May all beings remain in the great evenness of mind
free from passion, aggression and ignorance.



(This means you, too, George).

Special Christmas hat-tip to Buddhist Jihad.

Bush Torture Drives Aussie Hicks Insane -- No Release from Inner Gitmo, Ever

It all depends upon what is is.

And the rest of it depends on what isn't isn't.

It depends upon what Dirty Bush's Bushist fascists declare isn't torture.

Sticking bamboo slivers under people's fingernails, though a classic oriental method of torture, isn't torture to Dirty Bush's pro-torture crowd.

Why not? Two reasons.

1. It doesn't kill you, the pain merely makes you wish you were dead.
2. The people we're doing it to aren't really people. They ain't yoo-man, they're terrists. Ee-vil terrists.

It's like stepping on bugs. We don't care. They're just bugs.

OK, so one of these bugs, an Australian bug named David Hicks, held for some time at Hotel Intercontinental Abu Ghraib Gitmo, was released from Gitmo, and now is about to be released from an Aussie jail.

But the torture he endured there has made it impossible for him to leave. The Dirty Bushists have scrambled his brains so bad that he's a useless, agoraphobic, broken shell.

The Melbourne forensic psychiatrist Paul Mullen, who assessed Hicks at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorists in February 2005, said the confinement, institutionalisation and the removal of all initiative would have induced agoraphobia, obsessional behaviours and irrational fear.

Terry Hicks, who saw his son twice at Guantanamo Bay and has visited him regularly at Yatala, said: "It was not good - he had an anxiety thing. They told him he had no choice, he had to go [to Holden Hill] and they put him in the van and took him away. He just regressed back to Guantanamo Bay and he had such anxiety they had to bring him back."

Hicks's agoraphobia and panic attacks are hallmarks of prisoners who have spent prolonged periods in confined isolation. Professor Mullen said he would be suffering psychological damage from his trauma, which included being imprisoned in a container in the hot sun, believing he had been left there to die.

And that's what it's all about, isn't it? Preserving the important "moral values" of Western civilization?

Such as regarding other humans as bugs.

Then squashing them under one's foot.

While singing "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

Because it so is.


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Halliburton/KBR Rape Room gang rape survivor may have been drugged with G/Special K/Rohypnol

The former Halliburton/KBR employee accusing the company of attempting to cover up her gang-rape in Iraq is now speaking out about her ordeal -- imprisoned in container, she alleges; told by her superiors to shut up or lose her job.

read more | digg story

'Tis the Season to Be Jolly -- Dirty Bush-Style, Ho Ho Ho. (Not that kind of ho.) Ho Ho Ho.

Heard enough about KBR Rape in KBR Rape Rooms this holiday season?

I certainly have.

Thus, in the spirit of Christmas, which, as all three constant readers of this blog know full well we celebrate (Buddhist-style -- that would be the peace on earth/good will to men part, the Golden Rule part, and the actual teachings of Jesus part) I humbly offer up these delectable jollities.

(Hat tip to Malcolm of Australia, who cleverly left NE prior to our getting smacked down by several significant storms of snow. Good on ya.)


A TRUE LIST OF MORONIC COMMENTS, OR, WHY THE RIGHTWING CULTURE OF STUPIDITY (SHILLED BY THE SEDITIOUS MEDIA WHORE MEDIA) IS A REALLY REALLY BAD THING

(and if you can't figure out who uttered these utterings, you're reading the wrong damn blog)

"I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." -- at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002


"We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease." --Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001


"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." -- Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001


"I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." -- Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001


"Tribal sovereignty means that; it's sovereign. I mean, you're a -- you've been given sovereignty, and you're viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004 (video clip)

And my very favorite so far:

"I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the
joy of Hannukah." -- at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

Nor can I, Bubble Boy. Nor can I.

Second KBR Rape Case Surfaces: More of the Vile Same

What do the pro-rape crowd and the pro-torture crowd have in common?

Besides the syllable "pro"? And besides both promoting suffering? The suffering of others.

Both the pro-rape crowd and the pro-torture crowd are medievalist.

Medievalists reject modern concepts like the rule of law, human rights, working for the common good, honesty, decency, and so so.

Al Qaeda is medievalist. So are the fundamentalists of Iran. Rightwing crackpot "Christians" are medievalist. They emphasize the "eye for an eye" Old Testament while conveniently ignoring the actual teachings of Jesus. They're part of the Golden Rule: NOT crowd.

So, we're not surprised about selfish, greedy, sexist, murdering, raping, gang-raping power and control freaks like KBR, Halliburton, Blackwater, etc. going into hysterics and then acting out their internal hysteria in the real world.

It's the medievalism, stupid!!




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Full story here.

Dirty Bush's Pro-Rape Crowd: Be Sure to Give Your Rape Kit to the Perp

The Dirty Bush administration has worked long and hard (??) to protect a rapist's right to breed via government-forced maternity.

So it's no surprise that Dirty Bush also believes in protecting rapists -- gang rapists at that -- against the horrors of prosecution.

Because, you know, some of them might wind up in, like, jail! Like Scooter Libby. We wouldn't want to live with that, would we?

So here's the latest Dirty Bush horror story.


Four days into her placement in Iraq, a female Knight, Brown & Root employee gets drugged and then raped. Gang-raped by her fellow employees. Brutally raped and sodomized to the point that she will require surgery. The female employee reports the rape to her superiors at KBR, gets told she'll get fired if she doesn't shut the f*ck up.

Next, and this is my favorite part -- KBR frickin' kidnaps her.

KBR imprisons the rape victim in a container, and kept there so she'll just shut the f*ck up about being gang-raped.

Wow. Spreadin' democracy and the important values of western civilization, like, fer sure.

Then, and this is my favorite part, too -- she manages to call her Dad, who calls his congressman, who calls the Dirty Bush State Department, and gets them to find the kidnapped rape victim and set her free. She's examined by the military, who do a rape kit, as they should. And give her medical care.

What happens to the rape kit?

Surprise! The Dirty Bush State Department gives the rape kit not to the victim, nor to law enforcement (what's that, Daddy?), but to KBR, the people who kidnapped her, and the people who are protecting her gang-rapists!!

KBR is protecting them to this day. Are their names Knight, Brown, and Root?

Be sure to write nice letters to KBR. Everybody loses stuff. Like rape kits. Everybody has to give rape kits back to the people who are trying to cover up the crime. Everybody kidnaps their raped employees. Don't they? Don't they have a duty to their stockholders to get that broad to just shut the f*ck up?

The Saudis, Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Talibangelical Dirty Bushists like KBR are all of one mind about this rape thing.

When your child gets gang-raped, it's all his or her goddamned fault!! If they hadn'ta been there, they wouldna gotten raped, would they?

And we can do with them whatever the f*ck we want.

End of story.




(INSERT SMILEY FACE HERE)




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The Pro-Torture Crowd of Dirty Bush: Feckless, Reckless & Lawless. Completely Out of Control

Oh my.

All those CIA torture pictures got "disappeared." Oh myomy.

In fact, they hardly even existed at all.

And even if they did exist, which they did not, they showed only things like Valerie Plame's identity, which the White House must protect at all costs. Or Al-Qaeda might sue us. Or something. Or it might show ways to hold your breath so long that waterboarding wouldn't drown somebody. Like showing pictures of putting bamboo slivers under someone's fingernails will show them how to make that not hurt so much that it makes them want to die, which is the actual point of torture, or did we forget about that part silly silly me.

So it's not about destruction of evidence.

What. You don't believe me?

You think that, um, destroying evidence = consciousness of guilt?

NO way.

Not in Bubble Boy's universe.


Wink wink.

Nudge nudge.

Say no more.



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Another GOP Fake Heterosexual Soon-to-be-Ex-Senator-Trent Lott Bites the Apparent Dust In Hookergate Repeat

Well, well, well.

Just when you think snark is just snark, and a cigar is sometimes just a cigar, the Greedy Old Pervert party shows you that their Bushist-fascist so-called reality is really real, and is reallly stranger than fiction.

In a deja vu all over again moment worthy of both Yogi Berra and JimmyJeffGuckertGannon, turns out that on Senator-about-to-not-be Trent Lott's staff was a real regular member.

A charming male hooker with a wonderful website, and a fabulous sense of professionalism.

The boy . . . is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.

Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn’t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.” However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions.

“All I can say at this point is no comment,” Nicholas told us. “It’s the professional thing for me to do.”

In a subsequent e-mail message, Nicholas confirmed that another publication is working on a story about a “possible relationship” between Lott and himself, but Nicholas also “politely declined” an interview for that story.

“As I said before, Lott has quite a bit on his plate right now and I don’t really want to add fuel to the embers,” Nicholas told Big Head DC.

More here.

And here's Bejamin's website. Very professional.


Hat tip to the incomparable General JC Christian, patriot.

Aussies Humiliate Dirty Bush "Arse-Licker" Howard; US Bushist Fascism Next to Fall

I prefer instant karma, but eventual karma works for me, too.

Handwriting's on the wall, all you Bushist fascists. Dirty Bush's Poodle Blair's gone. Dirty Bush's Arse-licker John Howard's gone.

You're next.

All of you who have bankrupted this country. Morally, fiscally, every which way bar none.

You deserve a good waterboarding. Really.

Because -- y'all are really really really bad bad boys.

Let's start with Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove. How hard will he squeal, ya think?

I think he'll go "wee wee wee" -- all the way home.



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Bitchy Nappy-headed Ho Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove Calls Calling Senator Clinton "a bitch" Key Secret Sexist Tactic

Well, some of us, at least, are not surprised.

Why is Newsweak paying this nasty sexist propagandist to spread his propaganda?

Maybe "Miss Piggy" Karl and Newsweek, and all their pussy propaganda minions are all on the rag.

Otherwise, it's inexplicable, is it not?

No Girlz Allowed

Swiftboating.

It's so Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove.

Consider this SwiftBoating of Senators Clinton, Obama, Edwards.

I have it on the very best authority that this is satire. If so, it's brilliant.

If not, it's inadvertent satire. Which is arguably even more brilliant -- where brilliance is in the mind of the beholders.

More here.

"Help me, nuclear Armageddon, you're my only hope!"

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O-kay.

Let's be fair.

Ronnie Reagan didn't think actual nukes in Pakistan were any big frickin' deal, either. That's how they got away with having 'em in the first place.

But the reason our Savior George W. Bush doesn't care about the actual nukes in actual Pakistan where the actual Osama who actually attacked our country actually is -- is that Bubble Boy needs an actual Armageddon.

I mean, really. It's his only hope.

Bubble Boy ain't skeered of no Arma-geddon. Nope. Quoth Preznit Toad-Exploder -- "Bring it ON!"

He needs a deus ex machina to save him. Big-time. He knows he's fucked everything up. He just needs a nice nuclear war, an actual Armageddon, and he and all his Bushist cohorts will be vacuumed up into heaven.

And all will be forgiven, down to his dirtiest dirty Bush dirty deed.

(Unless them pesky Booodhists turn out to be right all along, in which case . . . . . well, karma, cause and effect . . . . well, you know. How low can you go, eh?)

The Hillary Clinton Conversion Syndrome

As is perfectly clear, I'm waaaay to the left of Senator Clinton. And I want to smack the blood-on-their-hands Naderites upside the head. Possibly on a permanent basis. (Metaphor, metaphor).

You heard me complaining below about all media whore media's continuing sexist coverage of the Senator, and it's still going on today.

My spies in Limbaugh-land say that he's ranting on about "single women" and how they're going to decide the election. As if there's something wrong with that? Who cares?

And I've read some columns, oddly, where other right-wingers are going all nutty on "single women" (who comprise a quarter of the population -- and I'd guess the other 25% of the 50% female population would be -- married women?) and calling them "slutty"?

As if calling women "slutty" will keep them from casting their vote? Ee-ew. How Anita Hill swiftboaty.

Now we have Charles Krauthammer, who apparently doesn't know any better, putting a metaphoric pubic hair on our public coke can.

His argument against Hillary Clinton is: don't vote for her because she's married to Bill Clinton, and presidents shouldn't be married to former presidents.

I kid you not. That's his frickin' beef.

Well, Charlie, that's pretty dumb of you. You on the rag, or something?

It's idiotic on its face.

Plus, you know, a lot of people LIKED having a surplus, and not being involved in big-time foreign wars, and not killing a lot of our troops and other people's civilians, trying to expand health care for all, and protecting the environment, and not pissing money away on mercenaries, and working on energy independence, and having a FEMA that worked, and improving our infrastructure, taking the Al Qaeda threat seriously, and upholding the rule of law, and generally having a professional and competent government.

So again, I am waaay to the left of Hillary Clinton, but I thought I'd let all my fearless readers know that columns and comments by right-wingers like Krauthammer are really starting to get to me.

I read that column, "Americans reject a co-presidency," with something like shock and awe.

This wild vile sexist swiftboat spin is creating in me and in many of us something like a Hillary Conversion Syndrome.

I just sent her money. Stop these sexist rants, reichwingers, or I swear, I'll send again.



.Hillary Clinton
Clinton and sexism
gender controversy (sic)

None Dare Call It Sexist

Here's a fine sexist slam-down of Clinton brought to you by the New York Times. They're so enlightened. Really.

And for a walk down memory lane, here's an earlier article about a fine sexist slam down of Clinton, brought to you by the Washington Post. It's all about cleavage. And remember, WaPo is so enlightened. Really.

And here's Taylor Marsh, pointing out the fine sexist slam-down of Clinton by "neutral" media whore Tim Russert. He's so enlightened. Really.

The Daily Howler's coverage of the frat boy pile-on was right on point:

(Liveblogger Garance) FRANKE-RUTA: OK, this is now everybody—and I do mean everybody—against Clinton. It makes her look brave for just standing there, this small determined woman being attacked by three men on either side of her, two male moderators, and the entire male Republican field. Each of the critics on his own would be more effective, but taken as whole, the optics of this are uncomfortable.

You know, it really doesn't matter that she gets peppered with snide question set-ups about having been merely a President's wifie, though that happened some years back (can you believe Timmeh taking up time on national TV to mention that the Senator is a "wonderful woman" with "a great husband"?) and trivializes her completely, which is of course, the point.

What a load of crap.

Clinton regularly gets blamed for being AT ONE TIME too weak AND too strong (oh, and the NY Times publishes a whole article about this, whilst merrily swiftboating Clinton sexistly on its front page!).

Useless jealous Heather spinster semi-femi MoDo trashes Clinton in every way for every stupid reason -- like giving away a cat (hunh?) -- all the frickin' time, but the blood on the torturing hands of illiterate sadist Bubble Boy, former enthusiastic Toad-exploder, don't really bother that MoDo much. Just get fix her up with that other stupid NYT columnist, Tierney, who worries 24/7 about who will educated women marry. (Answer: not you.). And bemoans the fact that more women than men are going to college (but didn't give a shit when the figures were reversed. Hmm. )

But it's ok to call Senator Hillary Clinton a nappy-headed ho, see? Just don't say it like that! Sure, all her supporters are really Anita Hill nutty/slutties! And that's ok! Because we don't give a crap about them anyhow, they're just a buncha frickin' broads!


I love how the boys love to play the gender card in national politics, do not you?

It works like this: if you're a gurrrl, and you complain about sexism, that's you being sexist, because you're a gurrrrl.

You can't even mention sexism, because that would be playing the gender card, which you can't do, because you're a gurrrl.

It's the perfect double bind!

Therefore, the only way you can criticize sexism and not play the gender card, is to just shut up about it, bitch.

And isn't shutting up uppity bitches what it's all about in the first place?

Duh.




Hillary Clinton
Clinton and sexism
sexist