[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. --L.]
- Fox News grotesquely smears immigrants by blaming them for over 2,000 deaths annually — based on wild speculation (Crooks and Liars)
- Knowing Fox News, they will neither correct this nor apologize for it. But every Latino immigrant on the planet should know that Fox News is now openly smearing them.
- Fox News grotesquely smears immigrants by blaming them for over 2,000 deaths annually — based on wild speculation (Crooks and Liars)
- Knowing Fox News, they will neither correct this nor apologize for it. But every Latino immigrant on the planet should know that Fox News is now openly smearing them.
- Have the Toxic Dispersants BP Poured into Gulf Gusher Ever Been Tested? (Firedoglake)
- [Note: this article makes an unsupported jump from "these chemicals might be dangerous" to "these chemicals ARE dangerous". -L.]
As the BP Oil Disaster continues to unfold, there is growing alarm that the “mitigation” measures BP is using, massive application of a toxic oil dispersant, may turn out to be a horrific mistake.
[...] we’re told by the manufacturer that it can’t reveal the dispersants’ exact composition, because it is a trade secret — as in, we can’t have competitors to undermine our monopoly because we’re making a killing. No kidding.
[But on the gripping hand, it would be totally hilarious if their secret recipe was watered-down baking soda. -L.]
Aside from the grotesque government irresponsibility this suggests, I can’t think of a clearer case for eminent domain.
Earth to the Obama Administration: Get the formula, now. Match it up with chemicals for which we already have toxicity tests. Publish what we know immediately. Get extensive samples as applied. Run as many additional tests on it as quickly as possible (knowing we won’t know long-run effects for a long time).
And if you haven’t done this already, you need to explain why.
- Gimme the Business (Talking Points Memo)
- Steele speaks out on lesbian-themed bondage event: "It's what happens in a business."
- SEXIST BEATDOWN: La Cage Aux Miley Edition
- [Trigger warning for, you know, some sarcastic invocation rape myths and misogynist language. -L.]
So! On the Slut Panel, we discussed some ridiculous circumstances under which people might call you a slut, in manners overt or covert, or otherwise indicate that they are freaked the fuck out by your sexuality and want you to SHUT IT DOWN right away. They include!
* Having some sex!
* Having TOO MUCH of the sex!
* Having THE WRONG KINDS of sex!
* NOT having the sex, but being perceived as extremely sexy, due to
* Having breasts, or
* Wearing outfits that people think are hot,[etc redacted -L.]
AMANDA: … it seems that the sign of grownupedness is ladies without pants, and so if you’re a lady, take off your pants, and if you’re a man, get some ladies and take off their pants. Lady Gaga has of course complicated this equation by making sexiness also about dressing like bizarre animals. Which is hilarious, because now when you have parents clutching their pearls over this, they also necessarily have to be like “And what’s with the kids these days with the bird costumes?”
SADY: … it’s interesting to me, though, [that] the ONLY OPTION is publicly performing “virgin” or publicly performing “SEX SEX LOOK AT ME IT’S POSSIBLE I MIGHT BE HAVING SEX.” For ladies. Dudes are just allowed to grow up gracefully, more often. And there’s nothing wrong with being licked! Or spinning around a pole, if you want to do that! It’s just like… she HAS to announce adulthood with these very public, very overt signifiers of sexuality. [...]
SADY: … And, yeah, you ought notta be eroticizing the teenagers. But constantly monitoring this one specific female teenager to determine whether she’s inappropriately sexy is, like… Not that much less creepy? …
AMANDA: … It is extremely creepy, and it’s directly related to people being freaked out about their own interest in Miley Cyrus. But like, for 17 year old boys and ladies, a crush on Miley is extremely reasonable? And Miley is, as I read in a recent story, 17 AND A HALF. A half! She’s almost 18. Let her wear not-pants!
- California parole agency breaks up sex-offender encampment in Anaheim
- In Orange County, where more than a third of the paroled sex offenders are homeless, police estimated that 30 or 40 had taken to camping on the streets in this industrial stretch.
The situation appeared to stem from Jessica's Law, the 2006 statute that forbids sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or other places where children gather, severely limiting lodging options in densely populated cities.
- Case is made vs. US marriage law – The Boston Globe
- A lawyer for 17 gays and lesbians who wed in Massachusetts urged a federal judge yesterday to strike down the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman, calling it an unconstitutional intrusion on a matter previously left to states.
The case is widely considered the first serious legal challenge in the nation to the Defense of Marriage Act, and puts the Obama administration in the awkward position of defending a law that it says it opposes but believes is constitutional. [...]
Bonauto said that because of the law, the federal government treats the plaintiffs — seven gay and lesbian couples and three men whose husbands have died — as second-class citizens. They are ineligible for numerous federal benefits that heterosexual couples receive, including health insurance for spouses of federal employees, retirement and survivor benefits under the Social Security Act, and eligibility to file joint federal income tax returns.
- German Parliament Approves Greek Rescue – New York Times
- BERLIN — After one of its most heated debates in years, the German Parliament voted Friday to approve its part of the emergency package arranged by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
- California sues former CalPERS officials for fraud | Politics in the Zeros
- Attorney General Jerry Brown promises more to come, including quite possibly criminal charges. Today, two former high-ranking CalPERS [the California public pension fund] officials were sued for fraud while acting as placement agents for investment firms wanting CalPERS to invest with them. Alfred R. Villalobos made $47 million doing this.
- 221b Baker Street Illustration
- I first drew the 221B Baker Street illustration in pen and ink in 1995. At that time I read the entire collection of sixty Sherlock Holmes stories twice in a row, back to back, and took notes of every detail I could find of the Baker Street flat which began to take shape in my imagination. In the years since that time, this illustration has appeared on many other other web sites, and in various languages. It has also appeared in print publications around the world such as the Financial Times in London.
As I mentioned in the interview with the Financial Times, this is the only depiction I know of that deals with the challenges found in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone and reconciles them with the various descriptions found in other stories. If one could just ignore that story, then constructing a floor plan would be very easy — and most reconstructions of the Baker Street have apparently done just that. The Baker Street illustration published in Strand Magazine in 1950 addresses some of the problems in The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone but doesn't deal with details found in other stories. I've posted my notes on every detail I've found so you can judge for yourself.
The Link(s): Fri, May 7th, 11am by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.