Quote of the Day

"Nobody expects you to go get a job as Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

                                                                                               -Christine

Call for happy-thought sending

Everyone send out some happy thoughts (or your version thereof) to Sierra, a sweet puppyface of my friend Stephanie.

Sierra has been diagnosed with lymphoma, but is being treated and is progressing positively. Stephanie is obviously a huge part of that.

A hero to so many animals (and to people who care about animals), Stephanie has been in animal rescue and fostering and advocacy for eons. Personally and professionally.

Her mix-and-match pack at home is awesome.

She has a great post up right now about canine chemotherapy, a subject I knew little about. Read it. (And add her blog to your roll; she's a great writer, too.)

So send those happy thoughts.

Happy birthday, Baubie

Happy birthday, Baubie!

We miss you.

And don't worry- I'm eating, I'm eating.

Back in the good ol' days

'Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced his resignation from the Supreme Court on Friday after 34 years, may be the last justice from a time when ability and independence, rather than perceived ideology, were viewed as the crucial qualifications for a seat on the court. He was nominated in 1975 by President Gerald R. Ford, who said all he wanted was “the finest legal mind I could find."' (emphasis mine)

read me:
The End of an Era, for Court and Nation (from NYT)

"In an interview last week, he said that every one of the dozen justices appointed to the court since 1971, including himself, was more conservative than his or her predecessor."


Let's hope Obama reverses this trend.

It should seem odd to all of us that if we went back several decades on the Court, we'd see a far more liberal collection of justices. Not that they were so wacky and radical, but that it's easier to nominate a conservative now.

Conservatives often talk about the good ol' days. At least in this case, I might agree, nomination-wise.
So let's give 'em what they're asking for- a liberal justice.

Nope, this looks nothing like my lists... nope

(Thanks to Liza and her finding stuff.)

I hear snarling and maniacal laughter...

(Wherein I rant a little and then make a point or two:)

Is it just me, or are the Republicans seeming like the Lion King's nasty pack of hyenas, lately?

To say that they will filibuster Obama's nomination - a nominee who DOESN'T EVEN EXIST yet - is insane. That just doesn't happen for Supreme Court Justices. There are other ways of interrogating them and challenging them and their qualifications. These tantrums are getting old.

The Republicans can't say that they will just vote "no" on the nominee because the Obama administration won't put up a candidate who isn't qualified. The Republicans could only vote against the nominee if they could prove s/he wasn't qualified. That would probably be hard to prove, given the thorough extent to which Obama's team is likely to vet her/him.

During the Bush years, the Repubs could run wild with all the mean-spirited and illegal activities they wanted, because these activities were lead by W. And now they are cranky because no one is kowtowing to their sense of entitlement. Seriously, guys, you may be upset, but just take whatever meds you've gone off of, and start acting like moderately-rational adults! I'd even accept acting like Congressmen and Senators. But you aren't even close to reaching that level lately.

When Stevens joined the court, he was certainly considered a moderate conservative. And the court has drifted to the right around him - he's been there that long - to the point where he is now the Court's leading liberal.

If Obama didn't pick a nominee just as liberal (and hopefully someone relatively young), he would be a fool. It would be foolish to think that the Republicans would "appreciate" or be in any way happy about anyone other than another Roberts-type or Thomas-type. I know it's impossible to get Stevens's type of shepherding and influence over the other justices for important, tight votes as soon as the new justice arrived. But that could come with time, with the right candidate.

I don't think Obama is a fool - quite the opposite; that's what's frustrating here. While optimism and idealism are wonderful qualities to bring to any leadership position, naivete is not. Especially naivete that one hangs onto past its usefulness.

Come on, Mr. President. You have the political capital from the Health Care win. If you don't spend it now, it's gone. Truly replace Justice Stevens to the extent that you can - with someone who is a liberal. Don't go for the easy confirmation; go for the right one, even if it's hard.

Yakko's Nations of the World

I had this running through my head.
And now, so can you.



We could probably pin down the year this was made by the countries that no longer exist named here.
We could also just look it up, the date.
But I prefer the harder way.
(Shocking, I know.)

"Do You Know What Your State Just Did?!" episode 1: The Rebel Yell... about taxes, not slavery

My sister and brother-in-law live in Virginia.

They will make the distinction that it's Alexandria they live in - "NORTHERN Virginia, Halley!" - also known as the less-frightening, really-we-used-to-be-part-of-DC* Virginia. And they will also make the distinction that they voted for the other guy and would have nothing to do with the reactionary, racist, misogynist slug currently running the place and trying to bring it back a few centuries.

But still.

Until Northern Virginia becomes a state (not a terrible idea), I still get to hold up examples of its regular "No way, they didn't really just do that, did they?" actions, and sit smugly across the river in DC, with our gay marriages and our ... you know, lack of federal representation.

In what I expect to be an ongoing (if occasional) series, may I present the inaugural episode of "Do You Know What Your State Just Did?!"

By now, you've probably heard of the Governor's plan to bring back the Celebrate Confederate History initiative, and make April Confederate History Month. And you've probably heard how he didn't include slavery in his first proclamation, because he wanted to only include "significant" historical elements. He just wanted to focus more on history, he said.

Right, because slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War.

For details and insightful commentary, see of course Rachel Maddow, in conversation with Melissa Harris Lacewell. Start around the 4:30 mark: Bob McDonnell's "History"

Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch this.

What was shocking to me was that on a friend's Facebook wall (a nice woman I only somewhat know after meeting in an Arts Mgmt class), I got backlash for suggesting that there was any kind of problem with celebrating Confederate history, especially in the way it was being presented. (To be fair, many people just disagreed, perfectly respectfully.) And then, as these things always go, the tone eventually turned.


Everything was going along fine (some agreeing with the original poster's sentiment, "Really, Virginia? Confederate History Month?", but many other ideas, too), until some dude start screaming about how "this girl" (aka - me) thinks all southerners are bigots and racists, and how he thinks you should just celebrate the men and women who died, and the Civil War wasn't about slavery, but that's what the Northerners always say it is. The South just didn't want to be taxed.

Riiiight.

("But it is a significant part": it = slavery)

I was shocked that in this day and age, I was in the minority on this discussion thread (of a dozen people). Most of them thought the initiative was a fine idea.

I'll end with an exchange between my friend and the nasty guy.

GUY: (...)  Everyone is so busy trying to be politically correct and have actually forgotten there is more to it than just slavery.

FRIEND: I'm really not trying to pick a fight at all and I'm asking this with legitimate curiosity: What else is there that you are referring to?  Honestly, I used to defend Confederate history with this same language...I suppose this was related to growing up in the area we did...but then I could never really figure out what else there was to it all.

The RNC is now doing damage control.

And almost as bad as this whole business of "celebrating" the history (and not just learning it, in whatever mangled form it comes in), is the fact that McDonnell is just doing this to rally support from the Republican base. He is using it more as a tool to manipulate people more than anything else.

Though I wouldn't be surprised to find a Confederate flag in his office. You know, just as a symbol of history.




*While Alexandria and Arlington did indeed used to be part of the District, they went back to VA for the Civil War in order to keep their slaves, which at the very least makes their background a bit... murkier.

Happy AWPing

To all my little AWPers, have a fabulous time in Denver.

The last (and only) time I was there, it was on a train stop of a cross-country rail trip. (Fine, we got off in Salt Lake City, so technically not fully across the country. It was the middle of night and the twelve of us wandered the streets looking for lodging, watching for roving gangs of Mormons.)


After packing too much in Boston (this was pre-InterFuture, okay?), I was miserable with my awkward assemblage of bags - a duffel bag with wheels and a useless handle, a sleeping bag, and a food bag (all required items, but in too large a scale). In Chicago there were no little wheelie luggage carts to be found anywhere in or around our Union Station stop. I would've paid a small fortune for one. But alas, no. [Insert tears here.]

Denver will always have a special place in my heart for its Office Max that carried luggage carts and was within a twenty minute walk of the train station. The love I felt for this town, measured in suitcases, would've broken that little cart, which neatly carried all my crap for the remainder of the two-week trip. When the cart broke a few years later, after helping me with countless apartment moves, I said a little prayer of gratitude for it (and for Denver) before tossing the mangled, metal carcass into the trash.

By the way, there was nothing else in downtown Denver. Seriously. It was about 6p when we rolled into town and everything else had closed. Try not to get knocked up out of boredom.

What Happened at Constance McMillen's Prom

(Reposted from http://nmisscommentor.com/2010/04/04/what-happened-at-constance-mcmillans-prom/. EDIT: That site is back up, but I'll leave this here.)

What Happened At Constance McMillen’s Prom

Here’s the news, from a source I view as extremely reliable. The prom
the school district promised at the country club in Fulton was a ruse.
Only seven kids, Constance, and her date showed, and at the same time,
everyone else held a “real” prom at a secret location out in the
county.

This is all after the school district had represented to Judge Davidson
that Constance was invited to a parent-sponsored prom to be held at
Tupelo Furniture Market. The school represented that Constance was
invited in court filings, testimony, and representations by the school
district and its lawyers. In reality, Constance had not been invited,
but, based on the representations by the district and its counsel, Judge
Davidson denied Constance’s request for a preliminary injunction that
she could go to the prom.

The school reneged, or possibly didn’t ever intend to follow through on
its representations to the court. The parents didn’t want Constance at
the prom and didn’t want to be sued (as they told the Clarion Ledger),
and so on Tuesday announced the cancellation of the prom.

But what they’d done was secretly relocated it.

Shortly thereafter, the school’s attorney announced (on Wednesday) that
“the prom” was to be held at the Fulton Country Club on Friday. But
yet only seven kids showed up.

Meanwhile, there’s a rumor that school officials were directly involved
in setting up the “fake” prom.

I have several distinct reactions here. First, there’s a cowardice and
dishonesty to this that I would hope even folks who don’t accept
Constance McMillan’s right to be herself would find reprehensible.
Second, at times it’s crossed my mind that there were some folks out
there working in school systems who really loved the kind of petty crap
that went on in high school and get far too much pleasure out of
reliving it (this is not a comment on school professionals generally!).
At second hand, I’m sensing that in the folks making the decisions for
the school in Itawamba County. Third, at the back of my mind this
whole time has been my experience of being a ninth grader when the
Fifth Circuit decided they’d had it, and that it was time for complete
(rather than token) integration of public education in Mississippi.
One outcome was an immediate cancellation of school-sponsored proms,
leading in turn to private proms that, in the white community, became
sort of junior auxiliaries for the Ole Miss (or the like) greek system,
with all the exclusion and related snottiness that could imply.

I do have this recall of Kent Moorhead (to his credit) as president of
the student council a year ahead of me at Oxford High, making a large
thing out of trying to bring back school sponsored buses to out-of-town
football games (I think he won on that one) and school proms (he lost
that one). I’d hope for some student leader to join Constance in
telling the grownups how to behave, but I’m not holding my breath.