leftyjenkins.tumblr.com

positivelypersistentteach replied to your post: My wife just told me that I should be glad I’m not…

You can do it on tumblr too!

True, I could do it through tags I guess.  I really doubt any of my followers are Romney supporters.  On FB, on the other hand, there’d be plenty of entertainment since I know quite a few right wingers IRL.  

I mean, I get that they’re disappointed.  Actually, I’m a little disappointed too.  I wish we could just have universal healthcare.  Maybe if all the crazies move to Canada (WTF on that one? Just proximity?), we will get single payer one day.  

I’ll help them pack.

My wife just told me that I should be glad I’m not on Facebook today (because of all the morons complaining about Obamacare).  Actually, days like this make me want to sign back up.  

I want to troll the healthcare haters so bad.

thecranium:

Happy the ACA was upheld! Sad because I still think the ACA sucks! I’m as confused as CNN right now!

Right there with you. Wish we’d gone with a single payer system when the Dems controlled Congress, but happy that it wasn’t struck down. 

The test must be reliable. It says that kicksandgiggles is a natural personality match for me. 

positivelypersistentteach reblogged your post: assange isn’t a high tech terrorist, he’s a sexual terrorist

Excellent commentary.  Also, as soon as we look for reasons not to investigate accusations of rape, we start making holes for future rapists to escape through.  We shame victims, and we don’t give them much hope for justice which in turn plays into the thinking that it isn’t worth reporting because no one is going to do anything about it.

Agreed. This just seemed like a plot to smear Assange because of the way it was handled at first. My concern at this point is that he should be treated like anyone else and that these allegations shouldn’t lead to him being punished for his professional work and that he shouldn’t be extradited to the U.S.. 

clubjacobin:

leftyjenkins:

clubjacobin:

malheureuxmarxist:

but liberals are willing to overlook rape as long as a man is on “their side”

And a lot of radicals too, unfortunately.

Wait. There are people who believe those accusations are legitimate? Maybe I’ve missed something.

I think what we “believe” is somewhat beside the point. The charges in this case are absolutely credible and deserve to be pursued in some fashion.

I was actually very skeptical about these charges early on and very sympathetic to the idea that they were a CIA plot or at least some kind of dirty tricks to shut down Wikileaks. But developments in the case since then have totally changed my views.

If you haven’t read a full report on the accusations, do so. I think they are pretty compelling, and the fact that they involve separate accounts from two women strengthens them significantly. Moreover, Assange has admitted that a great deal of their accounts are true; as far as I can tell he only disputes the portions of their accounts which move his actions from “being a real asshole” into rape and assault. That doesn’t mean that the accounts are true, but they surely deserve to be investigated fully. What would the basis be for simply dismissing them?

Is it possible that this is all a conspiracy against him? Sure — because that’s always possible, and can never be disproved. But given what Assange has admitted, a conspiracy account requires the CIA or whatever nefarious body to salt the population of Wikileaks supporters in Sweden with attractive young female agents in order to seduce and then falsely accuse Julian Assange. That could make for a good (terrible) novel, but it actually fares pretty badly as a real-life explanation for the known facts of the case, compared to the alternative account.

What’s even more telling IMO is that no one seems to be able to articulate a good reason to think that he is more vulnerable to extradition to the United States from Sweden than from the United Kingdom. In fact Swedish law forbids extradition to a country where the death penalty may be invoked — which I’m sure the United States would not give up. And Britain has been willing to turn over even its own nationals to the United States for terrorism cases. Why on earth would they be unwilling to extradite an Australian citizen for what would be presented as a much more serious charge than those other cases?

So on one side we have a fairly ludicrous conspiracy theory. On the other, we confront the possibility that Assange raped two women (or acted in such a way that they believed they were raped), and now wanting to avoid any responsibility for it, he is using a political defense (whether sincerely or opportunistically) to cover himself. I won’t tell you that you have to believe the second possibility over the first - but I think you must concede that it is plausible and it does a good job of explaining the facts before us.

None of this, by the way, is to deny that there have been some shenanigans in the case. The Interpol red notice when Assange left Sweden appears to have been very unusual for cases of this type. The claim that a grand jury indictment is being sought in the US as we speak is certainly easy to believe. And I still think that the Swedish prosecutor should accept some kind of interview by Skype for the time being, since Assange is not charged but only wanted for questioning. (IMO that is the right demand for the pro-Wikileaks anti-rape community to be raising, but that’s another discussion.)

Without a doubt, we will all join as one to oppose any attempt to extradite Assange to the United States. As anti-imperialists we have that duty to Wikileaks. But as feminists we have a responsibility to women who speak out about being raped, and we cannot fail in that duty either. The very minimum that is required in the case of accusations as credible as these is to join them in pursuing justice in whatever principled way we can.

malheureuxmarxist reblogged your post: assange isn’t a high tech terrorist, he’s a sexual terrorist

Yeah, Assange pretty much admitted that he raped them. This is the account given by Assange’s lawyer

Wow, I did miss something then. I looked around for a bit, but couldn’t find anything about this.

I have heard that his accusers have ties to the CIA.

clubjacobin:

malheureuxmarxist:

but liberals are willing to overlook rape as long as a man is on “their side”

And a lot of radicals too, unfortunately.

Wait. There are people who believe those accusations are legitimate? Maybe I’ve missed something.

kicksandgiggles replied to your post: AthFest - Friday, 20 June 2012

I’m jealous! Tallahassee needs to have cool music festivals.

You should come to AthFest some time for sure.  It’s my favorite time of year!  I just wish it wasn’t so effing hot.  

The Flagpole Music Awards were great last night.  As always, I found several bands that I want to see this weekend.  

Here’s my plan for this evening:

* Get the kids in bed and get out the door!

9p - Reptar (Pulaski Street Stage)

10p - Quiet Hounds (40 Watt)

11p - Twin Tigers (40 Watt)

12a - Lera Lynn (40 Watt)

1a - Modern Skirts (40 Watt)

Just had to consult the internets to see how long ketchup packets last. All the forums were full of answers like “just throw em away, you can allways get more” and “I wouldn’t keep em long enuf to find out”, etc.  They are all morons, because they’re missing the reason why the OP posted the question.

This isn’t a case of a pack rat who is too cheap to buy a new bottle of ketchup. These questions are asked by desperate people who have two delicious McDonalds hashbrowns sitting in front of them with no fucking ketchup to put on them. 

I didn’t ask for ketchup because we always have it at home. Always. But it looks like my stepfather-in-law threw out the bottle.  Grrr… 

Laura had 3 packets in the glovebox of her car.  They’ve likely been there for years.  I’m going for it.  

Wish me luck.

I may have to shut down my computer to avoid reading any more depressing news tonight.  I want to move to another planet.  

thecranium:

That awkward moment when a man is mad his wife gave birth to a girl and everyone is more outraged that he doesn’t know biology than the fact that he murdered the baby.

I’m going to try to limit myself to just one James Van Der Memes a day, but no promises.

www.jamesvandermemes.com <- You should go to there.

kicksandgiggles:

“If I can’t say the word vagina, why are we legislating vaginas? What language should I use?”

— Michigan state Representative Lisa Brown wonders why she was prohibited from using the medically correct term for her vajayjay on the House floor. (via washingtonpoststyle)

I think the term “hoo ha” is more medically relevant.

(via tomesawayfromhome)

I can’t believe this is real life. 

apoplecticskeptic:

“Here’s a question: if Barack Obama had to go through a brutal process of defending the doctrines, sermons and ideology of a church he merely attended, why is Mitt Romney exempted from explaining the doctrines and statements and ideology of a church he was an actual leading official in?”

— Andrew Sullivan, at The Dish.

more.

(via thesmithian)

That’s a very good question…

(via abaldwin360)

Protip: If you want your visit to the doctor to be quick, take your seven month old baby with you.  He didn’t even cry, but everyone rushed to get me finished. 

I get all excited when I see I’ve got mail and then it’s spam.  

Warning: This post may have elements some would call TMI.

So, I had a physical scheduled for this morning.  It’s a requirement of our insurance, which is a good thing I think.  Normally, I’d rely on Mimi to watch Soleil while I went to the doctor.  But she’s in hospital (nothing serious).  And yesterday I had to pick up Granger from his daycare because he had a fever.  We sent Soleil to the daycare today so we wouldn’t waste a day and it’s just us boys.

I called the doctor yesterday to make sure he could come with me.  No problem they said. And it wasn’t really, apart from one little detail.  I had to pee in a cup.  I didn’t want to leave him alone while I went in the bathroom, plus I figured he’d flip if I did anyhow.  So, I picked him up, grabbed the cup, and headed in.  I’ll skip the details, but suffice it to say that peeing in a cup while holding a 7 month old squirming baby boy is no small feat.  I’d say I reached Parenting Level Expert this morning.  

In hindsight, I could have left him in his carrier and he could have chilled on the floor.  That would have made things a little easier.  That’s why I didn’t say that I’d reached Parenting Level Ninja.  

Room to grow, room to grow…