Didya ever pick up a turn of phrase from another blogger?

I find myself thinking "this is a real thing in the world" from time to time. That's a title used for an ongoing series over at Shakesville, and boy oh boy, does it apply to this product.




h/t neatorama

By the way kids...

Did you know that once you vote in an election, you should trust those you've elected to do the right thing, and not try to have further input?


What? You're writing a letter to your congressman? Why do you want to micromanage Congress?

Note: This post is not actually about the U.S. legislature.

Cryptic? perhaps

Calling people Klan members directly or by implication unless they're actually burning crosses or lynching people, is, at the very least, tacky. When the people you're talking about comprise a mixed race group including most of the POC in a larger very very white group and they're trying to fix an organization that has been unresponsive to all attempts to make it more democratic in the way it works, man, that's really classy.


And I wonder why I get so much use out of the fyyff tag.


Oh, I am feeling so belledame-ish right now.

I'm speechless

Well,not really, just disgusted.


You've surely seen the SockObama by now. If you haven't, there it is on the left for your edification you lucky people. Some people find the toy rather racist.In fact, the folks who make itgot a bunch of emails to that effect, and they are miffed. They wrote an email in response, but only sent to those whose emails had the correct tone. They not only say the toy is not racist, but if you think it is, you're the racist, you lousy racist you. It's people like you who are causing the racial problems that tear this nation apart.

We at TheSockObama Co. are saddened that some individuals have chosen to misinterpret our plush toy. It is not, nor has it ever been our objective to hurt, dismay or anger anyone. We guess there is an element of naviete [sic] on our part, in that we don't think in terms of myths, fables, fairy tales and folklore. We simply made a casual and affectionate observation one night, and a charming association between a candidate and a toy we had when we were little.

A toy company that doesn't think in terms of myths, fables and so on? That must be some toy company. And a charming association? Between Obama and a monkey. Charming, my black ass!

We wonder now if this might be a great opportunity to take this moment to really try and transcend still existing racial biases. We think that if we can do this together, maybe it will behoove us a nation and maybe we'll even begin to truly communicate with one another more tenderly, more real even.

Note to pretentious racist asshats: using fancy words incorrectly makes you look really, really foolish. It would behoove you to know how a word is meant to be used before just throwing it into a sentence.
The whole letter is at New York Magazine's Daily Intel.

via Shakesville.

Ah, Fox News... so entertaining!

I mean, this was meant for a joke, right? (Take a gander at this post over at Bitch, Ph.D., and we can all have a laugh.)

Okay, okay, I know they weren't joking, but I just don't want to believe they don't know the Lincoln -Douglas debate were not between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, who didn't even spell his name the same fucking way. But when I see this video, well, I have to admit these guys are even more ignorant than I thought.

And thanks to Wonkette for her original post, which inspired me to make a new tag.

Worst. Rap. Ever.

Apparently, God hates me personally, or I wouldn't ever have seen this. Someone on The Blend said these folks aren't supposed to listen to secular music. I ask you, do you see any evidence at all here that these kids ever have?

Yeah, I didn't mention the group by name, but I'm so sick of mentioning them that I just decided not to this time.

I swore I wasn't gonna mention him again...

But I couldn't help myself. Fred Phelps has an all-new website, called godhatesireland.com. Check out the banner he's using:



So, now God hates America, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, and, of course, "fags" of every nationality. The Westboro Baptist church would slash its webhosting bills dramatically by combining all of its websites into one. It could be called something like "God hates everyone except Fred Phelps, his wife, and those of his kids who are still speaking to him dot com."

The reason Ireland is now the object of Freddy's vitriol is that civil partnership legislation is being introduced there, with the full backing of the Prime minister. Read the story at 365gay.com.

via Pam's House Blend

Barack Obama ringtones

Dumbest marketing idea since--oh, probably since about 5 minutes ago. Have your cell phone advertise your favorite candidate every time it rings , because the kids just love those ringtones. Check 'em out. As HuffPo points out, the first one's the only one that even sounds like a ringtone.

Why kick someone while she's down...

When you can just jump on her with both feet?

I've been thinking about taking up crochet again. I used to do it when I was a kid and may have a achieved granny-square proficiency. This time, I could get past that point, and one day, who knows, maybe even learn to knit.

So, in searching around knitting and crochet-related sites, I came upon Warm Up America, and remembered one of my friends was looking for some sort of crafty venture for people at church to do together. Great, I thought, and set out to see if I could find some additional possible recipients for our hand-crafted donations.

And then I happened on a link to Gifts for the Unborn. I tried to figure out what the name of this group might mean (teeny little hats and booties that a fetus wears inside the womb?) but when I got to the site, I realized that I while may be imaginative, but I never could've thought this up:

Gifts for the Unborn offers small gifts to mothers when they first test positive in a crisis pregnancy. The special gift package consists of a newborn infant's picture frame plus a care product (like a baby washcloth, bib, soap, lotion or shampoo) and a pair of baby booties or socks.

By placing all three gift items in a transparent plastic bag and presenting them to the women, we hope the moms might turn away from any thoughts of abortion after being touched by this simple, affirmative pro-life message.

So the whole point of this organization is to dissuade pregnant women from having abortions by giving them cute wee booties for cute wee little baby feet. How do they find these pregnant women and distribute these "gifts"? "[T]hrough more than 428 crisis pregnancy agencies." Of course--what better setting for an underhanded strategy like this? The website has the nerve to refer to this as a "subtle, positive approach."

As I found out from my research, there are organizations of knitters and crocheters (and sewers) who send scarves and hats and blankets and all manner of things to babies who've actually been born, and people having chemo, and homeless people, and kids in foster care... and the list goes on. Surely this type of cruel emotional manipulation is not the best way in which these folks can indulge their impulse to share their needlework with the less fortunate. Perhaps it might be helpful to sending these items to people who actually need and want them.

Attack of the smooching baby dykes continues in the PNW

Two fourteen-year-old girls,
Maika Rich and Jocelyn O'Neal, were kicked off a bus in Portland, Oregon for kissing. Radical Russ has the story at Pam's House Blend.

The good news is the driver will be punished for violating the bus company policies against a) putting minors off a bus,and b) ejecting anyone from a bus without providing other means of transport. What the punishment will be is not clear yet.

The real question is: what the heck is going on in the Pacific Northwest with the extreme reaction to kissing teen lesbians? First, that incident in Gig Harbor, Washington when the school released the videotaped kiss to the parents of one of the kids, and now this. I've never been up that way, so I don't have a clue. Anyone?

Update from Fight OUT Loud via Russ at the Blend:

Fight OUT Loud has been in contact with the girls and their families. We have been guiding and assisting them in getting some sort of resolution. We have also issued an "action email alert" to our over 1000 members, which has resulted in flooding the offices of Trimet, the mayor's office, and the tourism board.

I have been in constant contact with the Portland Mayor's office as well, which has no direct control over TriMet or discipling the bus driver. While they cannot directly affect TriMet, I feel they have a duty and obligation to pressure the bus company to do the right thing and (a) fire the driver, (b) at the very least remove the driver from the route so the GLBT youth will not have to come in contact with him on the way to the Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center, a safe haven for gay youth, and (c) make the punishment of the driver public to help put to rest the concerns of the girls and the community as a whole.

I would greatly appreciate if you could help spread the word about our efforts. To see how exactly what our efforts are and the services we provide, go to our webpage (www.fightoutloud.org) and check out our "action alerts". We really need to lend our voices to these girls and express our outrage at the whole situation.

-Waymon Hudson
President of Fight OUT Loud
www.fightoutloud.org

Fred Phelps--irrefragably evil

I've figured it out: Fred Phelps has a bet on with someone that he can use the word "irrefragable" in a speech every single day.

To hear what the hateful old bastard has to say about the new grandchild of another hateful old bastard, proceed to Pam's House Blend. You can even see his comments. I've transcribed them and put them in comments over there.

Honest to God, I'd like to go one fucking day without having to read about something like this. Just one. Is that too much to ask? I guess I could not read any blogs (or newspapers, or magazines), or turn on the TV, and live under a damn rock. Sometimes that rock seems pretty inviting.

All Falwell, all the time

Several posts ago, I said I wouldn't blog any more about Falwell's death. Then the Westboro Baptist Church wingnuts got involved. "Okay, one more post," I thought, "then I'm finished." Then Ann Coulter put her oar in. After that, I thought, okay, this story has gotten as interesting (or bizarre) as it's going to, so there's no need to give it a lick of attention. Right?

Well, it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part. Now it seems a student at Liberty University decided that the best way to discourage WBC protests of Falwell's would be to set off a bomb or two. Here's the story on CNN.

I won't say I won't ever mention Falwell here again--who knows what further wackiness will ensue.

On an odd but positive note, people have been finding me because The Bisexualist is the #1 Google hit for "cause of Falwell's death."

Ann Coulter is a vicious bitch

Ugh. That is all. As you were.

Yo, Orlando--represent!

Remember when people made fun of Jimmy Carter for quoting Dylan? Not nearly as funny as a Republican congressman quoting LL Cool J. Go to Think Progress to see Representative Ric Keller, uh, represent. It could be worse--at least he didn't quote the part about pulling out his jammy and making it go "blaw."

Are we in bizarro world?

The Westboro Baptist Church--you know, Fred Phelps and friends--are going to "preach" at Jerry Falwell's funeral. Why? Among other things, it seems they didn't like Rev. Falwell's "God loves everyone" doctrine.
I get it--they're talking about the other Jerry Falwell, the nice one, not the one who said feminists, pagans and homosexuals are the reason the WTC isn't there anymore. Besides, he was apparently an Arminian*, and you know how they are.

Pam's House Blend has an image of the press release. Go there if you must read this sort of bullshit for yourself. Go ahead, you know you want to, and this way you don't actually have to go to the WBC site.

*No, he didn't change his name from Falwellian. Seriously, I have read this Arminian/Calvinist thing before, as well as other seeming minor doctrinal differences between various schools of thought and frankly, I have never figured out what the heck the big deal is. That's what happens when you don't have a good grounding in Christian theology. That's just one more thing that makes me a prime example of the type of person Rev. Falwell (the nice one) said makes this country great.

Bisexual Judge In Sex Case Asked To Step Down

I saw this headline pop up on my site today, and of course I looked the story up. There's no further reference to the judge's sexual orientation, either as a source of the alleged bias or otherwise. I searched a bit on the judges name and "bias," and found no other accounts of this story. So, what the heck does this have to do with bisexuality? Anyone?