Friday, March 11, 2011

headline of the day

Genetic Errors Nixed Penis Spines, Enlarged Our Brains

via

here is more on the story

of the ELEVEN year old girl who was gang raped. a lot of people in this town ARE BLAMING HER. she is ELEVEN. let me repeat that. ELEVEN

it's not a question of where HER mother and father were. it's a question of WHERE WERE THE MAMAS AND DADDIES OF THE BOYS AND MEN WHO RAPED HER.

it's also NOT a racial issue (not with me at any rate). this happens across all color lines. all religious lines. all ethnic lines. all class lines.

it's about the BLAMING of girls and women. it's about our society. when a town seems to care more about the (allegedly) guilty than the victim.

(here is yesterday's posting)

Cleveland on edge after girl's gang rape

Racial tensions that simmered before alleged assault are now at a boil

By CINDY HORSWELL HOUSTON CHRONICLE

.........

Meanwhile, Houston community activist Quanell X rolled into town Thursday evening and held a rally questioning the ongoing investigation that has resulted in 18 black men and boys in Cleveland being charged with sexually assaulting the 11-year-old Hispanic girl.

Quanell spoke before a standing-room only crowd in a community building he rented after a predominantly minority church withdrew an invitation for him to speak and law enforcement officials advised him to cancel the meeting because of "racial unrest between black and Hispanic groups."

While calling for the black community to conduct a prayer vigil with Hispanic residents, he said Hispanics "have a right to be angry with black men who ravaged a young girl ... but the first house you need to stop at is her Mama and Daddy's house!" The audience cheered and hollered amen...............

Thursday, March 10, 2011

who d'a thunk it?

Spock wastes time on the USS Enterprise browsing Facebook

yesterday i read an account of the GANG rape of an 11 year old girl

it took place in texas. there were at least 18 boys and men involved and from what i read, it looks like there are a lot more. i didn't read the article in the new york times. i forgot what source it was. i CAN tell you, i was SHOCKED at what i read (the style of writing that is). the writer said something about the entire (little) town being at odds over this rape. ODDS? what the fuck? what's to be at odds over? an 11 year old girl is gang raped by boys AND ADULT MEN who film it and take pictures of it. it's seen all over by all sorts of people and the town is of two different minds here? what? an 11 year old ASKED for it? what? an 11 year old consensually had 'sex' with twenty something boys and men? where is the division in this town? the boys were FORCED by this 11 year old (sexy siren who looked older and acted older and dressed like a slut and wore make up like a slut) TO have 'SEX' with her? one after the other that is. on and on and on. the next one then the next one then the next one. any way, the reporter of this article didn't exactly come out and say why the town was divided, ripped in half over this. i really really really wanted to know.

then this morning i read this and i shook my head knowingly. (and like i said, i didn't first read about it in the times. there are plenty of OTHER sources that have 'rape-friendly' reporting)

The New York Times' Rape-Friendly Reporting

By Mac McClelland

.......................
"Gang Rape of Schoolgirl, and Arrests, Shake Texas Town," the Times article covering the atrocities, is a collection of one perpetrator-excusing, victim-blaming insult after another. It starts right after the lede and some further information about the suspects, who include middle schoolers and a 27-year-old. Then:

The case has rocked this East Texas community to its core and left many residents in the working-class neighborhood where the attack took place with unanswered questions. Among them is, if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act? [Italics mine.]

Hmm. My editors let me get away with passive voice, too, but in this case it seems inappropriate, as does the peculiar verb choice, which gives the suspects a little bit of a pass. If the allegations are proved, then the young men of Cleveland, Texas, committed these dreadful acts. However, by the story's semantics, they didn't allegedly do anything. They were coerced into it by some unnamed influence or entity....................

wow, a navy investigation

that actually LOOKS like it's bringing out the TRUTH

if we KNOW what's broken, admit what's broken, we can then take the steps to FIX what's broken

Navy Report Attacks "Pervasive" Tailhook Mentality
By Adam Weinstein

...............That Navy inquest (PDF) was completed earlier this month. Predictably, several heads (including Honors') have rolled. But the investigation—authored by Rear Adm. Gerald R. Beaman, a former FBI agent—went much, much farther: It launched a broadside attack on "the continuing remnants of a pervasive culture in Naval Aviation that mistakenly accepts that a certain, extreme level of coarse humor is acceptable" in training warfighters. Beaman's report is perhaps the boldest indictment of sexist, anti-gay dudebrah-ism ever written by a high-ranking military officer, and his words (the highlights of which are below) must be read to be believed. And as the Navy prepares to fully integrate women into the submarine service, Beaman's withering criticisms may be the catalyst for change in an officer's corps that has historically associated jock behavior with good morale...............

pic: Wikimedia Commons/wangtopgun

hmmmmmmmmmm

The Libyan Dictatorship Partially Owns the Company Scoring Your Kids' Standardized Tests

DAN DIMAGGIO FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Last week the New York Times ran a stunning piece about the investments made by the Libyan dictatorship's sovereign wealth fund. According to the article, the fund owns a 3.27 percent stake (valued at $453 million) in Pearson, publishers of the Economist, the Financial Times, and Penguin Books, making it the company's third largest shareholder.
What the Times does not mention is that Pearson is also one of the biggest standardized testing companies in the U.S., touting themselves on their website as "the largest commercial processor of student assessments." They score statewide tests for 30 states, as well as the SATs and ACTs. In fact, Pearson's North American education division is responsible for almost half the company's profits....................

ohhhhhhhhhh lions and tigers and bears OH MY

just skip to 4:53

via

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

i warned you NOT to mess with me

via twisted vintage

(actually, i had seen this photo before and knew the story behind it. if YOU want to know, go to the link above and read the comments. it's quite interesting AND SHORT)

i'm not lying. THE cutest video EVER

i do so LOVE HER

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Prisoners Help Build Patriot Missiles
By Noah Shachtman

This spring, the United Arab Emirates is expected to close a deal for $7 billion dollars’ worth of American arms. Nearly half of the cash will be spent on Patriot missiles, which cost as much as $5.9 million apiece.

But what makes those eye-popping sums even more shocking is that some of the workers manufacturing parts for those Patriot missiles are prisoners, earning as little as 23 cents an hour. (Credit Justin Rohrlich with the catch.)

The work is done by Unicor, previously known as Federal Prison Industries. It’s a government-owned corporation, established during the Depression, that employs about 20,000 inmates in 70 prisons to make everything from clothing to office furniture to solar panels to military electronics..................

pic: u.s. army

equals?

(powerful stuff this!)

i read a story last week on this very same subject

although i have forgotten where. it had a TOTALLY different take though. it said hollywood didn't give a flying fuck WHOSE son saadi was. hollywood was hollywood and money was money.

now THIS story is saying the total opposite (which i'm suspecting is true - THIS week. i think LAST week was another way)

now everyone has a conscience? i don't know if saadi shares his father's feelings or not. my point is, saadi was the SAME man 2 months ago as he is TODAY. if he IS indeed his father's son (you know what i mean here), he should have been ignored and sent packingTWO MONTHS ago. why now? oh yeah, THE WORLD IS WATCHING THE (perhaps, but i don't know) BLOODY (literally) money NOW.

i have railed all along about qaddafi (muammar that is). he is a filthy hearted individual. he kills people including people on the lockerbee plane. we NEVER should have befriended him. we NEVER should have allowed him into OUR country (we have, a few times). HE'S A FUCKING TERRORIST. WAS AND WILL BE UNTIL HE TAKES HIS LAST BREATH.

if saadi is his father's son, HE should have never been allowed here. people should NEVER have done business with him (knowingly). if he's NOT his father's son, that's different. i have no issues with him being here and doing business here.

Hollywood Feels Ripples From Libya

By MICHAEL CIEPLY

LOS ANGELES — Things have gotten chilly here for Natural Selection, the film production company backed by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s son Saadi.

On its office line, a recorded message has been the only answer for much of the last week.

Outside the company’s suite on Sunset Boulevard — across the street from the Hustler store and under a billboard promoting the Jerry Weintraub documentary “His Way” — a parking spot identified as Natural Selection’s is blocked by a battered white van with four flat tires. (An attendant’s notice taped to the back is dated Feb. 2.)

And Mathew Beckerman, the producer who made a splash in Variety last year with word that he had rounded up $100 million in financing for the company from Mr. Qaddafi and others, is suddenly getting a very cold shoulder.

Over the weekend, Mr. Beckerman’s name was deleted from the producer credits of a documentary, “Live at Preservation Hall: Louisiana Fairytale,” on the official Web site of the South by Southwest festival, which begins this week in Austin, Tex........

-pic:

Vito Amati/WireImage

Saadi el-Qaddafi, left, with the Hollywood producer Mathew Beckerman at a party during the Toronto film festival in 2009.

ok, i found (if not the EXACT article, something VERY close to it):

Qaddafi's Son Bankrolls `Mafia Killer' Movie While Father Clings to Power

By Kristen Schweizer

Al-Saadi Qaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, may manage to keep his Hollywood investment business going even as his father fights off a rebellion at home.
Al-Saadi, a 37-year-old former professional soccer player, has invested in a $100 million Los Angeles-based film production fund called Natural Selection, founded by Matty Beckerman. He may be able to continue to push film productions for that fund as his father struggles to contain a revolt in Libya that has left hundreds dead.
“This son is quiet and legitimate and less political than his father,” said Wendy Mitchell, head of news at London-based film trade magazine Screen International. “It’s hard to get money to invest in films so I’m not sure people would necessarily go the other way. They were doing good business before all this happened.”.........

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

via bob cesca

from center for american progress

chart of the day

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh

Massachusetts voters can now register as ‘Pirates’
By Eric W. Dolan

The Massachusetts Election Division has approved the Massachusetts Pirate Party as a political designation, allowing voters in the state to register as a "Pirate."

The party strives to increase government transparency, promote personal privacy, reinforce the spread of knowledge through copyright reform, and abolish patents.

"We live in a country founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," the Massachusetts Pirate Party said in a statement. "For many people, those ideals are not real. The Supreme Court and Congress have expanded the power of corporations and made them more powerful than people. Increasingly government officials ignore open meeting laws, make deals favorable to corporations behind closed doors and sell off our public information to private interests."............

i can just hear him say the word "folks" with that little bit of

spittle drooling from his mouth (ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww)

Exclusive: Limbaugh’s parent company still using actors to fake radio call-ins, exec tells Raw
By David Edwards

The company responsible for syndicating big conservative radio names like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity has been using paid actors to call in to their radio shows.

According to a recent report in Tablet Magazine, Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, hired actors to call in as guests.

A website for the Premiere On Call service was taken offline before the report was published, but a cached version of the website is still available.

However, when Raw Story contacted Premiere's entertainment division, one individual who spoke off the record claimed that the service was still being offered.

"Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service," the website said. "We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners."...............

i liked this movie a great deal (back in the day)

and i just (coincidentially) watched the trailer for it again last week (as part of ifc's best trailers ever). not sure it would still hold up, but guess what? i'm going to give it a shot