Monday, February 6, 2012 / 6:14 am
Venting My Spleen: The Koch Brothers and the EPA
More scary stuff about how they are everywhere.
by Donna Schoenkopf
Tags: EPA | venting my spleen | Koch Brothers | Congressman James Lankford | Senators Inhofe and Coburn | environment
A couple of years ago I was standing outside the Gordon Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma waiting for our brand new Republican Congressman James Lankford to arrive for his Town Hall Meeting.
I was standing with a bunch of feisty Democrats who were holding signs of protest. (Mine was pink and said “Tax the Rich.” I was, as usual, ahead of my time.)
People who were supporters of Lankford began streaming in and eyed us with suspicion and/or amusement as they walked through the door.
One old geezer guy stopped to have a conversation. He kept saying that the EPA should be abolished.
I hadn't been tuning in to the right wing talk radio shows for a while so I had no idea why he was so vehement about it. But he was. In spades.
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Saturday, February 4, 2012 / 1:58 pm
The Artist’s New Clothes
Critics and awards voters get caught up in uniqueness, and we're left wondering what they've been drinking.
by Nathan Walpow
Tags: movies | The Artist
I saw The Artist last night, and while it was an okay movie, I didn’t think it was the grand piece of cinematic splendor everyone’s making it out to be. It was clever, and the acting was good, and I laughed a few times, but … okay, put it this way. When I’m seeing a movie I’m really into, and I have to take a leak, I’ll hold it no matter how uncomfortable I get. With this, when I had to go, I went. I didn’t even run down the endless hall at the Arclight in Manhattan Beach to miss as little as possible.
Now, my tastes in popular culture are often out of touch with the multitudes’. For example, my list of dislikes includes U2, Tom Hanks, and Modern Family. (Okay, and The Office, 30 Rock, and Community too.) But I was with my wife and two other people, and while at least two of them enjoyed it more than I did, none of them thought it was great. Why then is it getting such critical praise and a bazillion award nominations?
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Friday, February 3, 2012 / 8:24 pm
Erecting Hurdles in the Komen Race for the Cure
VP Karen Handel lets ideology trump science.
by Jim Washburn
Tags: Planned Parenthood | Susan G. Komen | Karen Handel | abortion | breast cancer
So the Susan G. Komen Foundation has provisionally reversed is decision to defund Planned Parenthood, after donors and decent people everywhere were outraged by that decision. Komen’s directors may have been forced to adopt a change in strategy, but don’t expect that they’ve also had a change of heart.
They’ve tried to explain that there was nothing political or pro-life in the new guidelines they adopted that denied funding to any group under investigation, and there certainly is an argument to be made for wanting everything to appear squeaky-clean and above board when you’re asking donors to entrust you with kaboodles of money.
But Jeffrey Goldberg has reported in The Atlantic that three separate inside sources have told him that Komen Senior VP Karen Handel had pushed the new guidelines and that they were tailored specifically to allow Komen to give Planed Parenthood the heave-ho; crafted to work in concert with conservative whack-job congressman Cliff Stearns' investigation of Planned Parenthood. Stearns says he suspects they are using federal funds to provide abortions (which is against the law, thanks to previous conservative whack-jobs), even though every previous investigation has proved unfounded.
The Komen foundation has amended its guidelines to now only cut off funding in the case of conclusive criminal investigations, not political ones, which is how the guideline should have been written by any sensible and even slightly lawyered-up organization.
So, OK, everything’s hunky dory now, or should be, except focus on the dispute has brought to light information that suggests VP Handel may be of a mindset that could change the organization’s Race for the Cure, which she heads, into a steeplechase, erecting ideological hurdles between women and the science and practice of breast cancer health.
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Friday, February 3, 2012 / 5:52 pm
Whoa, Ron Paul! Whoa!
Anonymous found a direct tie between Ron Paul and fervent white supremacists? More proof that Jesus was black.
by Tony Chavira
Tags: Ron Paul | why Ron Paul is wrong about everything ever | white supremacists
I figured Ron Paul was walking the line, but I never figured he stepped this far over it:
The “anti-fascist” wing of the “Anonymous” hacker group has broken into a website run by the white supremacist American Third Position (A3P), and released a document dump consisting of private forum messages, emails, organizational notes, and other personal information.The documents show numerous connections between Republican candidate Ron Paul and these racist Neanderthals; they’re heavily involved in campaigning for Paul, and according to the messages, have held regular meetings with Ron Paul himself: Ron Paul, the American Third Position Party and Stormfront.
Also revealed: Ron Paul has held meetings with A3P and Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party — the notorious UK fascist group with neo-Nazi roots.
Well, I guess I need to go back and amend a few articles…
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Friday, February 3, 2012 / 4:02 pm
Futuristic Technologies, Backwards Cities
Why it's easy to be social online and so damn hard to be social in our crappy city spaces.
by Tony Chavira
Tags: futurism | cities | urbanism | Facebook | Twitter
The British Psychological Society published an interesting article the other day on what your choice of social networking says about your personality. Here’s the good stuff:
People who used Facebook mostly for socialising tended to score more highly on sociability and neuroticism (consistent with past research suggesting that shy people use the site to forge social ties and combat loneliness). Social use of Twitter correlated with higher sociability and openness (but not neuroticism) and with lower scores on conscientiousness. This suggests that social Twitter users don't use it so much to combat loneliness, but more as a form of social procrastination.
What about using the sites as an informational tool? There was an intriguing divergence here. People who said they used Facebook as an informational tool tended to score higher on neuroticism, sociability, extraversion and openness, but lower on conscientiousness and “need for cognition”. Informational users of Twitter were the mirror opposite: they scored higher on conscientiousness and “need for cognition”, but lower on neuroticism, extraversion and sociability. The researchers interpreted these patterns as suggesting that Facebook users seek and share information as a way of avoiding more cognitively demanding sources such as journal articles and newspaper reports. Twitter users, by contrast, use the site for its cognitive stimulation - as a way of uncovering useful information and material without socialising (this was particularly true for older participants).
In other words, people use different sites for different reasons. Yet, the most interesting thing (I feel) is that Facebook has 500 million subscribers while Twitter has 200 million. Does that mean that people are more extroverted in general, or just that people are more extroverted online? Does it mean that two out of every seven people are nervous about direct social interaction and just want to be mentally stimulated? Or does it mean that five out of every seven are highly neurotic and need be to around others?
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Friday, February 3, 2012 / 2:18 pm
And Women Live to Fight Another Day!
Susan G Komen finally wakes up, and FourStory revels in their turnabout.
by Tony Chavira
Tags: health | women's health | Planned Parenthood | Susan G. Komen | feminism!
America's largest breast cancer advocacy group has been forced to make a self-abasing retraction of its plan to cut funding for Planned Parenthood following a huge outcry against the decision.
Susan G Komen for the Cure, a Dallas-based organisation, has announced that it will honour existing grants to Planned Parenthood and allow the organisation to continue to apply for future funding – a U-turn from its earlier decision to cut its annual $650,000 provision.
Obviously, we're talking about the lives of actual people here and not just a public fiasco. Unfortunately, it took the Susan G Komen Foundation a day or two to figure that out. At least they came to their senses (which is a lot more than I can say for Congressional Republicans).
I guess you can only slap the color pink on so many items before the gesture starts to feel a little empty. Relative to actually saving women's lives with breast cancer screenings, I mean.
So here's the score so far: Rebecca Schoenkopf: 1. Dogmatic Extremists: 0.
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Thursday, February 2, 2012 / 12:14 pm
Planned Parenthood Love Letter
What they did for a teenaged me.
by Rebecca Schoenkopf
Tags: health | Planned Parenthood | Susan G. Komen | women | feminism!
With the Florida primary over and no more GOP debates for almost a month (SADFACE!), we liberals have had a momentary breather to focus on other things. And judging by Twitter, that other thing this week has been the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s defunding of breast-cancer screening at Planned Parenthood. (The whole thing seems on its face to have been led by a Georgia Republican new to the Komen Foundation. The Atlantic article linked above details the whole sordid thing.)
We have all had a nice little primal scream about it online, but I would like to say what Planned Parenthood has done for me.
1989. I am 16 years old, and I have started having sex. Thanks to California’s excellent high school health classes, I am all up in birth control like everybody’s business. I use condoms every time (it’s the era of Big AIDS) but also know I need backup so I will not be a sad teen mother and can have a super awesome life.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / 8:00 pm
Yesterday: A Sad Day for Secular Sanity
A religious nation we are not. Maybe some legislators didn't get that memo.
by Tony Chavira
Tags: women's health | creationism | Planned Parenthood
I never figured the people of the great state of Indiana as susceptible to insanity. Then I read this:
Yesterday, after almost no debate, the Indiana State Senate approved a bill that would allow its schools to teach the origin stories of various religions when a class touches on the origin of life. It now moves on to the state's House, where one of its cosponsors is currently the Speaker of the House.
Although the bill as written could be used to create a comparative religion class, its sponsor, Senator Dennis Kruse, has made it clear that he hopes to see it foster the teaching of creationism in science classes. The original text of the bill explicitly mentioned creation science; it has since been modified to mention a variety of religions, including Scientology. In a brief interview, Kruse expressed disdain for evolution, calling it a “Johnny-come-lately” theory.
But that's not all! Social Conservatives were not content with simply reducing the quality of education in our public schools when science education is more important than ever. They also don't want non-profit women's health organizations to spend any money on Planned Parenthood.
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / 10:07 am
Bureaucrat of the Week: Michele Flournoy
She's made the Defense Department smarter and faster.
by Donna Schoenkopf
Tags: bureaucrat of the week | national defense | Michelle Flournoy
She's tall and pretty. Probably in her late forties. Has a pleasant Irish face and smile. And she's really, really smart.
She graduated from Beverly Hills High School, Harvard, and Oxford.
She is the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, and when appointed, was the highest ranking woman in the Pentagon. She was appointed by President Obama. And she is a graceful powerhouse.
I caught her on CSPAN.
(You guys really MUST turn on CSPAN once in a while. It's really the only way to keep up with what goes on in Washington, and if you do turn it on, I think you will have a lot more respect for the people who slog it out in the trenches there. That's why I write these regular pieces on my choice for Bureaucrat of the Week.)
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012 / 9:21 am
The Day the Music Died
Soul Train's Don Cornelius is a suicide at 75.
by Gary Phillips
Tags: Soul Train | dance
Hell of a way to begin Black History Month with the news that Soul Train’s Don Cornelius apparently shot himself to death earlier this morning, February 1. He was said to have been in failing health and suffering from dementia. In its heyday, when I was in high school as a junior and senior, in 1971 and ’72, we couldn’t wait for the show to be on Channel 11 on Saturday afternoons. You could see the latest in fashion and dance moves as the kids did their thing down the Soul Train line. The latest R&B acts, hell even David Bowie doing “Young Americans”, would be on, lip syncing to their top 40 hits and doing brief interview with the baritone voiced Cornelius after a number.
