Early on Monday, we learned that the new Verizon Droid does, indeed, swap "semi-functional, giggling-brat-vanity for a bare knuckle bucket of does."

Now, we have the visual evidence. It's evidence a defense attorney would rather enjoy.

The Droid is, apparently, not a smartphone at all. It is a robotphone, according to Verizon's latest TV ad. Yes, it punches its way through steel walls and crushes rocks. Which, I believe, is known in English classes as poetry.



The lyrical content is only heightened when the giggling-brat-vanity words are uttered by an announcer who sounds like he had a previous career as an enforcer with one of the Gambino bambinos.

As the contempt drips from his lips, we see various iPhone-like devices all blinged out in pinks and purples and sequins. They look like purses.

And the subtext, which is about as covert as a right cross from an inebriated wedding crasher, is that the Droid is for boys and the iPhone is for fans of "Project Runway" and "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

Yes, your Droid is your Mixed Martial Arts-lovin', bone-crushin' robot that's going to turn you into a man. And that's what all boys want, right?

Manly Sauce

Women don't use smartphones! They are too difficult and manly for women to need or operate. My interest in phones is lost if I don't have at LEAST a five dozen swarovski crystals all over it and a screen that doubles as a mirror. As long as it has a mirror, we ladies are good Y/Y?

I really want this Droid, but its penis is too powerful for me to handle :(

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/fJe98wP3rI0/were-still-war-photo-day-november-10-2009

Members of Fort Hood-based 15th Sustainment Brigade observe a moment of
silence in front of the brigade headquarters, Nov. 8, for those that were killed and wounded in the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5. (US Army photo via army.mil.)

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/l4tuYcSh_9o/need-read-november-10-2009

Today's must reads:

• The Price of Health Care Reform: Abortion Rights? (MoJo)
• Obama Seeks Revision of Plan’s Abortion Limits (NYT)
• Tea Partiers' Next Target: The Climate Bill (MoJo)
• The Reinvention Of Robert Gates (The New Republic)
  
• US Knew of Fort Hood Suspect’s Tie to Radical Cleric (NYT)
• An End to California's Water Wars? (MoJo)
• In '05, Sen. Jeff Sessions called judicial filibusters "unconscionable." This week, he'll lead the charge on one (The Washington Monthly)
  
• Women Join Iraq's Elite Police Officer Corps (NYT)
• Huckabee Ambivalent About White House Run (Politico)
• Phony Conservative Anti-Elitism, Revealed! (The New Republic)
  
• Conservative Christian Group Calls for "No More Muslims" In Military (MoJo)
• Mother Jones Contributor Charged With Spying (MoJo)

Get more stuff like this: Follow Mother Jones on twitter! You can check out what we are tweeting and follow the staff of @MotherJones with one click.

UK kids think Hitler 'was German football coach'

LONDON — One in 20 British children think Adolf Hitler was Germany's national football coach, while six percent believe the Holocaust was a celebration at the end of World War II, according to a new poll.

One in five also mixed up Hitler's propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels with Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who wrote a diary of her time hiding from the Nazis in an attic.

The results of the multiple choice poll, published by a war veterans' charity, reveal that while a majority of children have basic knowledge about the two world wars, a significant minority have no clue.

The survey of 2,000 children was published ahead of Remembrance Day on November 11, when many western nations celebrate the signing of the armistice that ended World War I.

Given a choice of answers, 77 percent of the children aged 9-15 recognised Hitler as leader of the Nazi party, but 13.5 percent thought he invented gravity in 1650 and seven percent thought he coached Germany's football team.

Likewise, 61 percent knew who Goebbels was but 21 percent thought he was a "well-known Jew who wrote a diary in the attic" -- and 14 percent thought he was Britain's defence secretary at the start of the World War II.

While 85 percent knew what the Holocaust was, six percent thought it was the celebration at the end of the war. Auschwitz was correctly identified by 70 percent -- but 15 percent thought it was a WWII based theme park.

A question about which country launched the first nuclear weapon caused some confusion. More than 41 percent knew it was the United States, but 31 percent said it was target country Japan, and 19 percent said it was Germany.

"Some of the answers to this poll have shocked us," said Major Jim Panton, chief executive of charity Erskine, adding: "Schoolchildren are the future of our country and it is important that we help them to learn about our history."

The full results of the survey can be seen on the charity's website at: www.erskine.org.uk/news/general-news/.

This is a link to an example website

I have no words, but I do have face + palm

I think I must have lived under a rock for ever, I had no idea that some halal and kosher meat involved this type of slaughter.

----
Ministers allow ritual slaughter

THE religious ritual slaughter of conscious animals will be allowed to continue at some Australian abattoirs, after a decision by federal and state agriculture ministers.

The move has angered animal welfare groups, which have waited two years for a review ordered by the previous federal government into the practice of ritually slaughtering animals by cutting their throats while they are still conscious for some halal and kosher exports to the Middle East.

RSPCA Australia said it was an ''unconscionable decision'' for a government that said it was committed to animal welfare. ''No animal should have to feel the pain of having its throat cut while fully conscious - it is simply cruel and inhumane,'' said the RSPCA's scientific officer, Melina Tensen.

( abattoirs have been allowed to kill animals without stunning for more than two years after being granted exemptions )

Source

How I feel: restless

*blows off dust*
( Emo rantage behind the cut. Consider yourself warned. )

Alright - I think I'm done! And just to recap for those who didn't click the cut, things are fine. Just...completely peachy.

And now, to bed.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

How I feel: ♥

In NY, same-sex marriage bill hangs in balance

WHO: AIDS leading cause of death, disease in women (November 09, 2009 - Y! - AP - By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER)

GENEVA – In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization said Monday that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age, with others including lack of access to contraceptives and iron deficiency, the WHO said. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex, according to the U.N. agency.
( cut )

Now Christian Fundies tell me that condoms and abortions are the source of all that is evil, again.

• 13:22 Listening to Swings Shubert Alley by Mel Torme tinyurl.com/yje9ohk #rhapsody #musicmonday #
• 14:10 My blood numbers are all normal, even triglycerides, except for anemia . And that uncontrolled hypertension thing #
• 14:14 Yummy roasted chicken tostados from the original Barnaby's is my new fave. #
• 14:21 twitpic.com/owvau - roasted chicken tostadas #
• 15:46 Listening to Young Man Blues: Live In Glasgow Part 1 by Bert Jansch tinyurl.com/ykqk4dx #rhapsody #musicmonday #
• 18:57 Bugcatch is stopping by the Hillcroft Droubi's for whole wheat pita, tabouli, baba ganoush, & hummus. Tabouli is green from parlsey & mint! #

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'THIS IS A HEALTH CARE BILL, NOT AN ABORTION BILL'



In an interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper President Obama said he did not support any change in current abortion laws through the health care bill -- a implicit rebuke to the House for passing an amendment that could considerably restrict women's access to abortions. The president said that he doesn't want to change "the status quo" one way or another.

TAPPER: Here's a question a lot of Senate Democrats want to know. You said, when you gave your joint address to Congress, that under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions. This amendment passed Saturday night which not only prohibits abortion coverage in the public option, but also prohibits women who receive subsidies from taking out plans that -- that provide abortion coverage. Does that meet the promise that you set out or does it over reach, does it go too far?


OBAMA: You know, I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices, because one of the pledges I made in that same speech was to say that if you're happy and satisfied with the insurance that you have, that it's not going to change. So, you know, this is going to be a complex set of negotiations. I'm confident that we can actually arrive at this place where neither side feels that it's being betrayed. But it's going to take some time.

TAPPER: Do you think that amendment is status quo or does it lean a little bit in one direction or the other?

OBAMA: I think that there are strong feelings on both sides. And what that tells me is that there needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we're not changing the status quo. And that's the goal. The goal here is to make sure that people who have health insurance have greater stability and security, people who don't have health insurance get the ability to buy it affordably and that we're driving down costs.

And, you know, I think everybody understands that there's going to be work to be done on the Senate side. It's not going to match up perfectly with the House side. But obviously, it was a historic night for the House. We've never been this far. And I'm very confident that my colleagues in the Senate are going to say to themselves that we've got to get this done.

Let's use Medicare, which nearly every American understands. Just create "Medicare Part E" where the "E" represents "everybody." Just let any citizen in the US buy into Medicare.

It would be so easy. No need to reinvent the wheel with this so-called "public option" that's a whole new program from the ground up. Medicare already exists. It works. Some people will like it, others won't - just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy the President is so comfortable with.

Just pass a simple bill - it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people - that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it.

Thus, Medicare Part E would be revenue neutral!

To make it available to people of low income, Congress could raise the rates slightly for all currently non-eligible people (like me - under 65) to cover the cost of below-200%-of-poverty people. Revenue neutral again.

This blows up all the rumors about death panels and grandma and everything else: everybody knows what Medicare is. Those who scorn it can go with United Healthcare and it's $100 million/year CEO. Those who like Medicare can buy into Part E. Simplicity itself.

Of course, we'd like a few fixes, like letting negotiate drug prices, and fill some of the other holes Republicans and AARP and the big insurance lobbyists have drilled into Medicare so people have to buy "supplemental" insurance, but that can wait for the second round. Let's get this done first.

Simple stuff. Medicare for anybody who wants it. Private health insurance for those who don't. Easy message. Even Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley can understand it. Sarah Palin can buy into it, or ignore it. No death panels, no granny plugs, nothing. Just a few sentences.

Replace the "you must be disabled or 65" with "here's what it'll cost if you want to buy in, and here's the sliding scale of subsidies we'll give you if you're poor, paid for by everybody else who's buying in." This creates Part E.

And if this fails - if the Congress can't get out from under their corporate overlords - at the very least pass the Kucinich amendment that will allow individual states to create their own single-payer systems, as was done in Canada a generation ago.

Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program The Thom Hartmann Show. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People: A Call To Take Back America," "What Would Jefferson Do?," "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It," and "Cracking The Code: The Art and Science of Political Persuasion." His newest book is Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture.

How I feel: grumpy

Saturday was awesome, as a vendor. Honestly I never hda much of a chance to get out of the booth, we were selling stuff hand over fist. Glorious weather, not too hot or too cold, gentle breeze, bright skies. In the evening someone asked me what I thought of the bands. Ther were bands? Like I said, I din't get out of the booth.

Sunday the temp was the same, but we had rain. Slow and steady, not enough to drive people away, but enough to keep them hidden under shelter. Sale were much slowers and the day was spent trying to keep the inventory dry.

It was a very gentle tap on my shoulder. "Do you really want to work a tent booth at a Renn Faire for six weekends in a row IN THE FREAKIN WINTER?" Short answer, no.

I could do that stuff when I first started working festivals, but I was in my 30's back then, I'm quite a better older now, and I was certainly feeling my age yesterday.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Motherjones/mojoblog/~3/lHuR7kSYA_M/catholic-bishops-call-shots-health-care-reform

We now know that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which in the end run reports to Rome, was involved in the crafting and promotion of the Stupak Amendment, the provision that transformed a tepid health care victory for the Democrats into a serious loss for women’s reproductive rights. Hard as it is to believe, this sober conclave seems to have outstripped even the screaming fundamentalist Protestants in wielding influence over Congressional policymaking in this instance. 

The Stupak Amendment was promulgated by a devout Catholic Democrat from Michigan, who is now being celebrated as a pro-life hero. He and 63 other Democrats insisted on the anti-choice measure, under threat of crushing the whole bill, and they reportedly worked with the USCCB to come up with "acceptable" language for the amendment. The bishops apparently had a direct line to the Repubican leadership, as well:  According to Politico, "Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Republican leader John Boehner to make sure the GOP didn’t play any games with the Stupak (abortion) amendment, sources said.”  

Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, despairs of what he calls the American bishops’ “obsession” with sex and sexual politics. In an interview today, O'Brien said these bishops are supposed to be dedicated to the sick, poor, and vulnerable, all of whom desperately need decent health care. Yet they have shown themselves willing “to burn health care reform” over the abortion issue–a postion that places them out of line with the majority of lay Catholics.

O’Brien points out that a recent poll commissioned by the organization shows that “while Catholic voters are split on President Obama’s ideas for healthcare reform, they do want to see costs lowered and overwhelmingly support a government plan that would make health insurance available to the uninsured.” In addition:

Catholic voters believe the US Catholic bishops are wrong on healthcare reform. Sixty-eight percent disapprove of US bishops saying that all Catholics should oppose the entire healthcare reform plan if it includes coverage for abortion and 56 percent think the bishops should not take a position on healthcare reform legislation in Congress.

Despite what many conservatives argue, Catholic voters are against refusal clauses for institutions that take taxpayer dollars. Sixty-five percent said that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should not be allowed to refuse certain procedures or medications based on religious beliefs. In addition, 60 percent believe that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should be required to include condoms as part of HIV prevention.

</p>

The poll also found that “large majorities of Catholic voters support health insurance coverage for abortions, either in a private or a government-run scheme” in order to protect the life or health of the mother, in cases of rape and incest, or when tests show a fetus has a severe abnormal condition. This makes them somewhat more liberal than the Stupak Amendment, which imposes narrower restrictions. Catholics are even split 50-50 on “whether insurance plans should cover abortion whenever a woman and her doctor decide it is appropriate.” 

So American public policy on health care and reproductive rights is being shaped not by a majority of voters or even a majority of Catholic voters, but by a bunch of celibate men in robes, answering to a reactionary 82-year-old German in the Vatican. Does this mean that in addition to the insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other health care profiteers, we must now wait for His Holiness to weigh in?

Ad from the USCCB

 I don't know what to say. First of all, Shloma Rosenberg is gone. I didn't know him except through the Internets, but he was a completely unforgettable person whose personality was unconfinable to any known parameters, which is why he probably had to ascend. He was also a priest and friend and advisor to many, many, many people on my friends' list. I am sure he's in a good place; my thoughts go out to his friends and family and students and everyone he taught. Now he resides in the Immateria. Blessed be.

My wife's aunt passed on yesterday. My feelings about her are complicated, but my wife's even more so. To Bee, her aunt, I say: may you find the peace in the other world that you could not quite find in this one. 

Last but not least, my friend Nassim has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She is far too young to have cancer period. Those of you who believe in intercession from other worlds, I would like to ask that you say a good word for Nassim, that cancer's ass may be kicked hard.

I'll save the rest for later. 

Westboro Baptist Church Protests Outside Obama Girls' School

Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group that travels around the country holding anti-gay rallies, protested outside the school attended by President Obama's children on Monday morning.

The "church," run by Fred Phelps and composed largely of his extensive family, is known for staging its events for maximum publicity and controversy. In the past, members have demonstrated outside troops' funerals. Recently they have been targeting Jewish temples. Now they're aiming their vitriol at Washington-area schools -- including Sidwell Friends, where Malia and Sasha Obama are students.

A message on Westboro's website refers to the Obama children as "satanic spawn" of a "murderous bastard." Along with various schools, the church is also protesting outside the White House, the World War II memorial, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission field office.

Via ThinkProgress, one of the attendees (and Phelps' granddaughter) posted a picture of the protest on Twitter:

Protesters were carrying signs with anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-Obama slogans, slowing down traffic all along Wisconsin Avenue.

Malia attends the Washington, D.C. Sidwell middle school, where the Phelps family protested Monday; they plan to protest Tuesday at the Bethesda location, where Sasha is a student.

How I feel: okay

Hosing all the ACF mud off rubber floor mats, sticker rack bases, shoes, and other sodden items could be tedious work. However, reframing it as "getting to play in the yard with the hose and get my clothes wet" makes it much more fun!

The bathroom is festooned with drying T-shirts and tote-bags. The first load of table covers is out of the dryer, and the next load is in it. Sorting thru the jewelry stuff will happen later -- I've got a lot of rain-splattered display equipment that may or may not be salvageable.

Side note: my new teal leggings from Decent Exposures (1) are more turquoise than teal, and (2) fit more like workout pants than leggings; I think I should have ordered a size smaller. They're comfortable enough, but definitely around-the-house-only items.

This entry was originally posted at http://stardreamer.dreamwidth.org/554687.html. I prefer that you comment here if you read it here.

Carrie Prejean will finally get to enjoy some alone time tonight ... TMZ has learned the "biblically correct" crusader for "opposite marriage" has been mysteriously removed from an ultra-conservative event in NJ.

Carrie was all set to speak at an event called "Defenders of the Family" ... but after word got out that she sinned with herself in a solo sex tape, Carrie has since been removed from the schedule.

A spokesman for the New Jersey Family Policy Council wouldn't say if they canceled or if Carrie did... but Prejean was still a go just yesterday.

Attempts to reach Carrie's reps were unsuccessful.

Source.