From Amnesty International News, Amnesty International Urges Stricter Limits on Police Taser Use As U.S. Death Toll Reaches 500 Money quote: On Monday, Johnnie Kamahi Warren was the latest to die after a police officer in Dothan, Al. deployed a Taser on him at least twice. The 43-year-old, who was unarmed and allegedly intoxicated, reportedly … Read more
Tattoo representing the Fourth Station: Jesusmeeting his mother As mentioned previously, I’m a tattooed person. Not heavily so, but I’ve got ’em. I also have, after quite a lot of observation of other people’s tattoos and their explanations of why they got them, developed a schema regarding the central elements of getting a tattoo: 1) … Read more
Rush Limbaugh issued a double backflip notpology today for his slut/prostitute/sex tape remarks about Sandra Fluke, saying first that he didn’t mean to attack her personally (err…how do you say that someone is a slut who needs to learn how to have sex less on accident?), and then continuing to misrepresent the content of and … Read more
…demonstrating why dummies are more dangerous than dicks: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Georgetown University’s president, John J. DeGioia, repudiated Rush Limbaugh’s slut/prostitute/sex tape diatribe today by not exactly endorsing Sandra Fluke’s message, but noting that her testimony had been respectful and sincere while condemning speech such as Limbaugh’s as “misogynistic, vitriolic, and a misrepresentation of the position of our student.” He did this in an email sent … Read more
In Limbaugh Land, consumption of these isdetermined not by time but by sluttiness. I’m a big believer– and try to be a big practioner– of giving people the benefit of the doubt in disagreements. Because it’s a nice thing to do, yes, but also because it’s way too easy to do things like assume the … Read more
I write a lot about very particular things that have happened, and then try to extrapolate a larger significance. This is satisfying to me, but I try to be aware that there is definitely a ratchet in people’s brains that rises and lowers according to the specificity of what they encounter, and if the ratchet … Read more
1. Inflicting an enormous judicial penalty on someone because what would otherwise be counted as harassment a) resulted in a suicide, and b) might have been based in bigotry: Dharun Ravi is on trial in New Jersey for spying on his college roommate. Although the Newark Star-Ledger says “Ravi is not charged in connection with … Read more
I really have no place writing this, considering that I have been anything but an avid consumer of new films and TV over, well, the past couple of years. But I really like Amanda Marcotte’s treatment of females in comedy productions engaging in behavior that reveals them to be petty, emotional, short-sighted, vindictive….you know, normal. … Read more
One of the stories I mentioned yesterday was Feministe’s take on a recent…err, presentation given by Virginia Delegate David Albo to his fellow members of the House on how a romantic evening with his wife Rita had been spoiled when the two of them came upon coverage on the Rachel Maddow show about Virginia’s Republican … Read more