Feminism, Vaccinations, And Fear

Are vaccines a feminist issue? So asks Amanda Marcotte. And she has some really great points. Even if you disagree with the feminist angle, if you consider the effect on productivity of quarantine, well, it's not so good, right?

Vaccinate your kids.

'Women Don't Write Enough'

Debra Winger, unintentional poster girl for a movement, says:

In the end, however, Winger admits that she thinks the only way women are going to get good parts in Hollywood is if women actually start writing them: "Roles for women. There aren't any. They've been saying that since the 1920s, and it's true. [My theory is that] women don't write enough. Because who do they expect to write these roles? Men?"

Of course the next question is: don't they? Or, aren't they? If they are, are they produced? If they aren't, why not?

Forget What Can Be Seen From Where, THIS Is the Idiocy That Went Tragically Undermocked In '08

Coming in No. 10 is the single most overlooked bit of Palin-trauma from 2008 on this list of media lowlights. (Caution, many f-bombs after the jump. The rest of the list, while humorous, doesn't pack quite the same historic whallop as the Palin clip.)

Forget the rest, it's No. 10 that's my No. 1. It was replayed, but never got the full Tina. In her oh-so-memorable interview with Katie Couric, Palin can't/won't/doesn't provide the name of a single specific newspaper or periodical from which she gets information on The World. Instead, she feebly attempts to characterize the question as an slap at backwoods Alaskans' scant access to real papers from real cities. But: Fail! This is far, far, far worse than an inability to name a Supreme Court Case with which one disagrees. She literally just needed to start reciting the names of newspapers she's heard of, but she can't/won't/doesn't.

For making it ever so slightly easier for people to question my ability to lead a constituency, Sarah Palin, you get my 2008 award for Worst Idea Ever.

Grays: The Good, The Wobbler, The Bad

The Good Grays/Greys:

Davis
Whales
Little mice
Cozy sweaters

The Wobbler:

Skies
Shades of

The Bad:

Hairs




Today I am 30.

Deep Throat - Dead At 95

So we only gained three years of knowing his identity. R.I.P.

Offensive Problems That Are Neither Offensive, Nor Problems

A Macy's employee told a customer that they didn't have what she was looking for and to try the Macy's with a larger African American clientele, except she didn't explain it quite so well, but neither did she explain quite too poorly.

The shopper wanted a size 16-18 formal dress for an event and found nothing but casual wear in her local Macy's woman's department (ah, "woman's" - what a shit euphemism). She was told that the demographics of the store showed that the fancier wear was needed mostly by smaller women - their petite section was huge. Local larger women, it seems, didn't go out to nice places or job interviews, etc. Gross generalization, sure, but common when stores buy products.

Macy's never carries more than an obligatory, single pair of ugly brown pumps in size 11 either. And when it comes to finding my size shoes, I know that I'll have less competition for the few size 11s Nordstrom orders if I shop at a Nordstrom in a more Asian area than in a more African American area. Not all Asian feet are small and not all African American feet are large. But more African American women (and non-Asian women generally, for that matter) have size 11 feet and thus, we all have to duke it out for fashionable footwear.

As some commenters to the post said, they know not to shop for Mexican cheese in a Chinatown Safeway because they're going to be more likely to find it in a more heavily Hispanic area where demand for such cheese is higher.

Using sales records to determine the demand for particular styles, sizing, and products isn't stereotyping, is it?

Sole Searching

It's about more than just avoiding a thunk on the noggin. Showing the sole of your shoe or throwing shoes is a sign of extreme disrespect in the Arab world, according to the above-linked Chron article. There's an imbedded CBS news clip in which the shoe bomber's statements are translated and in which Bush says "so what" if he threw a shoe and he didn't feel the least bit threatened anyway.

I wonder if he knows about the extreme disrespect part? He probably doesn't have to - I doubt such things are important to his world view.

'It's Not Racism; It's Xenophobia'

A local car dealer, should drive more, talk less.

We're Number 26!

CAMS still makes the cut, coming in at 26 in US News's list of top US high schools.

I hate US News, but am still glad to see them recognize my alma mater.

And there's a video!

Full Of Shenanigans

New star-studded Web video protests Proposition 8

Bullshit.

Seriously, I call bullshit.

Anyone patting him or herself on the back for making a funny movie or organizing a rally to oppose prop 8 AFTER NOVEMBER 4 should shut the holy hell up.

EQCA, still waiting for an honest post-election statement from you as well.

Photo-op Shenanigans!

This photo needs the caption "NOT shown actual size."

Maybe the floor slants down to the right?

Part Ouch, Part True. Mostly True Though.

Zing! goes Gawker against LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. I missed their earlier hate letter.

This guy will never be cool with me because he opted to take out a sitting, Dem mayor from my hometown. Fail!

My city deserves better.

'There Is No Front Line'

Monica Brown won a Silver Star for throwing her body across two wounded soldiers under enemy fire in Afghanistan. The two men she saved refused to be interviewed by 60 Minutes - one of them saying women have no business being on the front line. Other fellow soldiers there that day said Brown did her job and did it well, but maybe won her award because she was 18 and a girl, rather than - purely because she displayed heroism.

For her part, Brown says she neither asked for or expected a Silver Star. She'd take back that entire day, if she could.

Her superior officers seem like big fans - so what's up with her peers and the man whose life she saved? Either he's lame and super lucky to be alive, or super lucky to be alive and badly misquoted or wrongly contextualized by 60 Minutes. (btw: correspondent Lara Logan may be my least favorite news correspondent ever - something about her voice and style grate terribly. Oh well.)

So Good, Yet Also Wrong

Vanity Fair profile of Tina Fey? Awesome! But it's written by Maureen Dowd? Damn, lame. Oh well, I'll take my fix anyway I can get it.

Just remember, Tina: I loved you first.