Broadsides: Guiding light

August 31, 2009 by Antonia Zerbisias  

Hey, I know it’s tough out there for kids today. They grow up too fast. Materialism has run rampant. Texting has replaced play and actual contact. And girls especially suffer from body image issues, which lead to self-esteem problems, no thanks to the media. Even six year-olds worry about their weight! School is about to restart and it could set off another round of your daughter fretting about her looks, her popularity, her clothes and…

Broadsides: Facebook him

August 31, 2009 by Antonia Zerbisias  

For all the lovers out there who stalk each other on Facebook — and you know how dangerous that is — this from Throw’d TV: Heh.

unrepentant old hippie: Jesus reacts to anti-choicers at clinic protest

August 31, 2009 by jj  

Is it just me, or does it look like he’s doing a facepalm and going “Oy, vey!”
UPDATE (Monday): The rest of visinvox’s photos from the protest. Interestingly, the anti-choicers were proportionately a lot older and more male than the pro-choicers.  There’s something genuinely creepy about anti-abortion men of any age — I mean, the obsession [...]

the black ewe: Thinking about Skinny

August 31, 2009 by brebisnoire  

I was feeling very alone yesterday. I was trying to get some work done at the tail end of a chaotic summer while the kids spend their last weekend before school starts at the country house with their dad. I was supposed to be focused on work, but instead I could only think about myself. [...]

Creekside: Drill, Iggy, Drill

August 30, 2009 by Alison  


The identity of the author of the anonymously hosted website Republicans For Ignatieff remains a mystery – Who is besmirching Iggy? Is it a dipper? Or is it a Con? But today via David Akin, we learn there is now a real live Republican activist for Iggy attached to those fingers in the picture at left :
REPUBLICANS FOR IGNATIEFF AT THE MISSOURI STATE FAIR

“AUGUST 24, 2009 –This past weekend, Republicans for Ignatieff held its first Ignatieff Meet and Greet at the Missouri State Fair.
The event was a huge success. We distributed our new Republicans for Ignatieff signs and stickers to numerous GOP supporters. Future meet and greets are being planned in Alabama, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, and yes, Canada.
More and more Republicans agree: Michael Ignatieff is the right choice for America, the right choice for Canada and the right choice for Republicans.”

“When Sarah Palin came out and said, drill, baby, drill, it hit a nerve with folks here. It really caught on. If we can get the Canadian version which is “Drill, Iggy, Drill”, or whatever you want to say, we need to utilize that source not only for our energy needs but for our national security needs. I think [Ignatieff] is well-suited to run the Canadian government.”

Hoo boy.
Of course, this would not be the first time a so-called grassroots hoax got a promotion to reality.
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unrepentant old hippie: Operation Rescue humiliated at Carhart Clinic

August 30, 2009 by jj  

The fetus fetishists have a new target, and they’re wasting no time in getting a bead on it.
The target:  Dr. LeRoy Carhart of Nebraska.  The mission:  to keep him from opening a clinic in Kansas to replace Dr. Tiller’s, and ultimately, shut him down completely (read into that what you will).  Since their escalating campaign [...]

unrepentant old hippie: On graves and pissing

August 30, 2009 by jj  

Balbulican points out that, rather than being an occasion to prove that much-vaunted “Conservative Civility” (and imagine that phrase being said in the most mocking of tones, because that’s how I’m thinking it as I type), the death of Ted Kennedy prompted a virulent, full-bore feeding frenzy in the Wankosphere.
The burst of self-righteous rancor spewed [...]

Antigone Magazine: The Feminist Scholar: The Performance of Feminism Issue 1

August 30, 2009 by Kaitlin Blanchard  

Surfacing the Female Leader: The Performance of Laura Roslin
I wasn’t going to blog on this until I had engaged the brilliant Mary McDonnell in her question and answer session at the Toronto sci-fi convention; however, she (sadly) had to leave to attend a memorial for one of the show’s producers–my condolences.
I’m in the process of [...]

unrepentant old hippie: “Justifiable homicide”

August 29, 2009 by jj  

Anti-abortion terrorist Scott Roeder may end up using “justifiable homicide” as a defense for the murder of Dr. George Tiller.
No, really:
The suspect in the killing of abortion provider George Tiller is in talks with a prominent attorney who represents anti-abortion protesters and has long advocated justifiable homicide as a legal defense in such cases.
Scott Roeder, [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Tomato garden FAIL

August 29, 2009 by jj  

Here’s my 14 measly scrawny little FAILURES of tomato plants — they’ve been in the ground (or potted) since the middle of May and what?  I’ve gotten maybe 8 tomatoes from them?  EPIC tomato fail…
(Oh yeah, there are 2 strawberry plants in there as well, and they’re ALSO an epic fruit fail, having yielding about [...]

Antigone Magazine: The Feminist Scholar:Thoughts from a (young?) Feminist

August 29, 2009 by Kaitlin Blanchard  

Dear Readers,
It has been far too long since I have properly blogged and I do apologize.
I would like to offer some reflections on what has been a rather turbulent year. For Antigone this has been both an inspiring and frustrating year. We are so touched and humbled every single day by the submissions we receive [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Senator Kennedy’s funeral

August 28, 2009 by jj  

… takes place tomorrow (Saturday) at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston:
BREAKING NEWS:
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston will preside at the funeral of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy tomorrow at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (the Mission Church). The Rev. J. Donald Monan, a Jesuit priest who was the longtime [...]

Creekside: The Emperor Strikes Back

August 28, 2009 by Alison  

What is Emperor Steve fooling around with in his pocket this time?
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Oooh – it’s the nine new Senators he appointed yesterday.
That makes 27 Cons he’s appointed in less than a year, bringing his posse in the Senate up to 46 out 0f 105 senators.
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G&M : “At an event in Quebec City, the Prime Minister said he had to nominate unelected Conservative supporters to the Senate to ensure that his government, which won a minority last year, gets its legislation approved.”
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There’s some Con Party presidents and backroom operatives and Steve’s communications aide from the PMO among the unelected … plus a hockey analyst who remarked yesterday that his appointment meant he was “going to have to start following [federal politics]” now.
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Three Liberals and one independent are due to resign in coming months, presumbly meaning four more unelected Consenators to enable the party with 22+% of the vote to push their reformy crap through the Senate, but unfortunately we also learned yesterday from the Libs that “Canadians aren’t clamouring for an election”.
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Today Steve appointed former NDP Manitoba premier and NASCO enthusiast Gary Doer to be our new US ambassador.
No, not NASCAR – NASCO : North American SuperCorridor Coalition – the apparently imaginary yet somehow ubiquitous NAFTA Superhighway supporters.
Doer gave the keynote address at NASCO last year and here he is plumping it in his 2007 Manitoba Throne Speech :
“Manitoba is also taking a major role in the development of a Mid-Continent Trade Corridor, connecting our northern Port of Churchill with trade markets throughout the central United States and Mexico. To advance the concept, an alliance has been built with business leaders and state and city governments spanning the entire length of the Corridor.”

Canadian Corridor Ambassador to the US? He’s been ready with that shovel for years.
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unrepentant old hippie: Christofascists say US healthcare system “working”

August 28, 2009 by jj  

Apparently the Ten Commandments have been edited for the sake of brevity, specifically lopping off the ones that deal with stealing and lying.   I’ve noticed the fetus fetishists on Twitter have recently engaged in the anti-health care reform battle with great gusto, bearing false witness for the express Godly purpose of enabling private insurers [...]

Marginal Notes: My Medical Reality and My Medical Drama

August 27, 2009 by Polly Jones  

Once again, I am trapped in an ill-functioning body…essentially trapped in my home as I consume Percocet and Morphine while on the emergency outpatient waitlist for an MRI. How long is the “emergency” outpatient wait? A mere two months. Enough time for me to go crazy with pain; to develop an addition to morphine; to lose out on work and school. The so-called “free market” is not good for the overall economies of regions, but for lining the pockets of an elite few. Indeed, the National Post of all sources reports that the economic cost of waiting for health care…

Creekside: Iggy and Steve : E – I – E – I – No

August 27, 2009 by Alison  

Liberals say they’re in no rush to force fall election
“We’re not having an election on EI,” said Senator David Smith. “I don’t hear Canadians clamouring for an election on this issue.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff agreed to strike the panel [on Employment Insurance] last June as part of an eleventh-hour deal to avert a summer election.

Oh hell, let’s just go with the Jurist’s shorter :
“So it turns out that our last set of confidence threats involved an issue that we don’t think matters enough to be worth an election. But that’s just as well, since we’ve been doing a lousy job of laying the groundwork for one anyway.”

Yo! Iggy! 101 Reasons to Have an Election
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unrepentant old hippie: Stay classy, wingnuts

August 27, 2009 by jj  

Wingnut Daily’s Joseph Farah expectorates a gob of green gooey phlegm about Ted Kennedy:
I know there’s an old adage that one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.
But I don’t subscribe to the idea that when evil and foolish people die we should pretend they were something other than evil and foolish.
And Ted Kennedy was evil [...]

Birth Pangs: Robbing Petra and Pauline

August 27, 2009 by April Reign  

Many of those disrupting meetings on health care to trample by folding, spindling and mutilating Godwin’s Law are the same ones who are virulently against a woman’s right to control her own body. How ironic then that by campaigning against health care for all they are also making it more difficult for women who choose [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Rush: Obama is coming for your wang!

August 27, 2009 by jj  

Is El-Rushbo back on the drugs again?  I only ask because his paranoia seems to be  spiraling out of control lately.
This week, laying the groundwork for what will almost certainly become the next feverish wingnut meme, Rush! insinuated to his credulous listeners that Obama is after their Manly Conservative Appurtenances, starting with Little Rush and [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Now is the time when we

August 27, 2009 by jj  

…juxtapose!
Order of Canada award recipients rally to protest against nuclear weapons:
Hundreds of Order of Canada recipients, representing some of the country’s leading scientific, cultural and political luminaries, are joining a growing global groundswell calling for a multilateral agreement to end the use of nuclear weapons.  [...]

In recent months, a petition has been circulated to recipients [...]

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