Well, that’s not quite fair.
This is really only based on the understanding of American History as evidenced by people like Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin. I know that not all Conservatives are that dumb; they just tolerate those who are….
Unfortunately, from what I can tell, it also seems to be what a lot of voters think history is as well. It’s almost hard to laugh at a satire that has this much truth in it…..
From Jimmy Kimmel: “Michelle Bachman’s History of America”:
Filed under Uncategorized
I usually take Alternet with a grain of salt, but this article really stood out for me….
Alternet is has an admittedly Progressive editorial view. Their articles can lack focus, run on too long and be very wordy. They truly need some editorial help to tighten things ups, but they make some very valid points. If you can find them….
But this one really stood out for its quality and point of view. It is really worth clicking the link and reading it in its entirety….
And, given the GOP’s “Southern Strategy” that they have employed since Nixon, it has a real resonance. As the GOP becomes a regional, Southern party, this is something to really keep in mind….
It’s looking more and more like the South may be winning the Second Civil War and we have to think of how to stop this…
This is something I’ve been saying in cocktail conversations for years…
Arguably, the true Conservative position would be to return to the New England view of wealth and the world….
That’s the Traditional way….
For most of our history, American economics, culture and politics have been dominated by a New England-based Yankee aristocracy that was rooted in Puritan communitarian values, educated at the Ivies and marinated in an ethic of noblesse oblige (the conviction that those who possess wealth and power are morally bound to use it for the betterment of society). While they’ve done their share of damage to the notion of democracy in the name of profit (as all financial elites inevitably do), this group has, for the most part, tempered its predatory instincts with a code that valued mass education and human rights; held up public service as both a duty and an honor; and imbued them with the belief that once you made your nut, you had a moral duty to do something positive with it for the betterment of mankind. Your own legacy depended on this.
Among the presidents, this strain gave us both Roosevelts, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, and Poppy Bush — nerdy, wonky intellectuals who, for all their faults, at least took the business of good government seriously. Among financial elites, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet still both partake strongly of this traditional view of wealth as power to be used for good. Even if we don’t like their specific choices, the core impulse to improve the world is a good one — and one that’s been conspicuously absent in other aristocratic cultures.
Which brings us to that other great historical American nobility — the plantation aristocracy of the lowland South, which has been notable throughout its 400-year history for its utter lack of civic interest, its hostility to the very ideas of democracy and human rights, its love of hierarchy, its fear of technology and progress, its reliance on brutality and violence to maintain “order,” and its outright celebration of inequality as an order divinely ordained by God.
Filed under Elections, Politics, The South, Uncategorized
I’ve always been a student of History, so I’m excerpting a bit from a very interesting article on the history of male stripping from Slate.com…
Hot topic- in more ways than one- since “Magic Mike” opened last weekend.
Being a History major in College, I was there the first day “Magic Mike” opened to be sure it was historically accurate. That was a a key concern for me. I’ll probably have to watch it a couple of more times on DVD to double check a few things…
And, all kidding aside, it really is a surprisingly good film….
With some really hot guys who strip…
When Magic Mike shimmied its way to almost $40 million at the box office this past weekend, it wasn’t the first time that men stripped down on screen. Male strippers have been a recurring plot point in recent decades, tearing off their pants in everything from Summer School to The Full Monty to a wide range of sitcoms and a legendary Saturday Night Live skit. This past May the New York Times even declared that male stripping was finally “hitting the mainstream.”
When did men start stripping professionally?
The mid-to-late 1970s. While musclemen have been paid for popping their pecs and otherwise showing off their bodies since at least the late 19th century, it’s only in the ’70s that stripping became a co-ed profession. And there are only a few known reports of male strippers before the late ’70s. In 1973 Jet told of one such dancer who “peeled down to a black G-string, handcuffed himself to the fence outside” Big Ben and bore a banner labeling him as “The body divine—Angel, the lovely male stripper. Book him.” According to the article, no producers came calling, but the cops did. This was a common problem for the early male stripper. Another early appearance of the term comes in a 1974 report on Deviant Behavior, mentioning male strippers in a report on “Marginally Illegal Occupations and Work Systems.” Through the mid-’70s men who took off their clothes in public were likely to receive a citation for indecency.
However, over the course of the late 1970s male dancers became a regular feature at strip clubs across the country. Some strip clubs reserved a few nights each month for male strip shows, with audiences restricted to “ladies only.”
More: The real Magic Mikes: Who were the first male strippers? And what are male strip shows really like?.
Filed under Entertainment, Movies
I am so sick and tired of these fools in Raleigh….
North Carolina had struggled to put Jesse Helms and the pettiness and ignorance he represented behind us….
Then, people go and elect a Republican-controlled legislature that is starting to make Jesse look moderate and reasonable.
First the fools “outlawed” climate change and the related science…
Now, they are attacking North Carolina’s Women just like the national GOP tells them to do….
Sickening…
And it’s really going to be hard to defeat these idiots since they controlled redistricting….
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state legislature voted Monday night to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a state budget that strips money from Planned Parenthood.
The same lawmakers overrode Perdue’s veto and moved to defund Planned Parenthood last year, but a judge blocked the provision, arguing that a state can’t single out a particular health provider. This time around, lawmakers found a way to sidestep legal challenges by not specifically naming Planned Parenthood in the budget. Instead, the bill prevents the state’s Health and Human Services department from contracting with “private providers” of family planning services — effectively, but not explicitly, singling out Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, one of the state’s two Planned Parenthood providers, estimates that it will lose $200,000 as a result of the new budget. Because no state money is used for abortion services, the funding cuts will affect the clinic’s ability to provide affordable birth control, cancer screenings, pap smears and other services for low-income women in the state.
via North Carolina Defunds Planned Parenthood In Midnight Vote, Overriding Veto.
Filed under Elections, Health Care, North Carolina, Politics
A parasite carried by cats could increase the suicide risk in women…
Slightly….
As a staunch kitty advocate, I just find this interesting and somewhat amusing….
And too good not to post….
But stand by your cats!
From NPR:
There’s fresh evidence that cats can be a threat to your mental health.
To be fair, it’s not kitties themselves that are the problem, but a parasite they carry called Toxoplasma gondii.
A study of more than 45,000 Danish women found that those infected with this feline parasite were 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than women who weren’t infected.
That’s not a huge increase, but it’s probably too big to have been caused by chance, says Teodor Postolache, a University of Maryland psychiatrist and senior author of the paper, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Still, the absolute risk of suicide remains very small. Fewer than 1,000 of the women attempted any sort of self-directed violence during the 30-year study span. And just seven committed suicide.
But this isn’t the first time T. gondii infection, or toxoplasmosis, has been associated with behavioral changes in people, Postolache says. Previous studies have shown links to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and even the chance that a person will get in an automobile accident.
The T. gondii parasite lives in the intestines of cats. Cat owners can become infected when they change a litter box, Postolache says. But he says people are more likely to be infected when they eat vegetables or meat that are raw or undercooked.
“People should not give their cats away” because of this study, Postolache says.
Scientists still aren’t sure how the parasite affects a person’s brain, he says. But in rodents, it causes cysts to form in areas of the brain involved in behavior.
More: A Parasite Carried By Cats Could Increase Suicide Risk : Shots – Health Blog : NPR.
Filed under Pets
The news just broke this morning that Andy Griffith has died….
Most people will always remember Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry….
I’ll always remember him for his great performance as Lonesome Rhodes in the great film “A Face in the Crowd.”
He should have at least gotten an Oscar nomination for this….
And I wish more people would watch the film today….
Rest in Peace, Andy….you won’t be forgotten….
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, Television
An interesting hypothesis from Ezekiel Emanuel and Theodore Ruger in today’s New York Times:
Obviously there are other considerations that may have motivated the ruling from Chief Justice Roberts, like not wanting his court to be tarred with another very controversial, politicized decision, but we should not overlook the role his health might have played.
Chief Justice Roberts has a pre-existing condition but is just 57, and thus not eligible for Medicare. Remember his unexplained seizure soon after he became chief justice? If he did not have employer-provided insurance and had to get his own coverage on the individual market, he would be denied health insurance coverage at almost any price. Maybe the appreciation for his precarious insurance status made Chief Justice Roberts more sensitive to the need for the Affordable Care Act and its requirement that insurance be available to all of those with pre-existing conditions.
Filed under Health Care
This is sad news…
Robbie Douglas, aka Don Grady, has passed away…
I loved watching this show when I was a child and Robbie was my favorite…
I’m not going to analyze it any deeper than that….
From The Huffington Post:
Don Grady, who was one of television’s most beloved big brothers as Robbie Douglas on the long-running 1960s hit “My Three Sons,” died Wednesday. He was 68.
His “My Three Sons” co-star Barry Livingston, who played youngest brother Ernie, confirmed Grady’s death to The Associated Press. Livingston said Grady had been suffering from cancer and receiving hospice care at his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. But the exact cause and place of death were not immediately clear.
“It’s the oldest cliche in the world when TV brothers start referring to each other like biological brothers, but he was the oldest, and somebody I looked up to and learned from a great deal about life,” Livingston said.
More: Don Grady Dead: Composer, Star Of ‘My Three Sons’ Dies At 68.
Filed under Television
I love France…
But I struggle with this…
I also love my Amazon Kindle…
However, part of my issue with the Kindle is the pricing. It makes no sense to pay almost the same price for an electronic version of a Best Seller when the Publisher doesn’t have the costs associated with printing and sending a Hard back to a reader. Yet, the cost is frequently almost the same….and the publishers set the prices in the U.S.
Capitalism run amok! The Corporations do own all the information distribution channels in the US…..
I love the French people’s loyalty to the printed book, but it’s just not practical. I love the portability and convenience of my Kindle…
And, let’s be honest, these are the people who developed the Maginot Line….
And thought it would work…
I miss local bookstores, but….
Let’s be real….
From the Guardian (UK):
In contrast to the UK’s famous three-for-two deals, the French state fixes the prices of books and readers pay the same whether they buy online, at a high-street giant or a small bookseller. Discounting is banned. The government boasts that price controls have saved small independent bookshops from the ravages of free-market capitalism that were unleashed in the UK when it abandoned fixed prices in the 1990s. France has more than 3,000 independent local bookshops and 400 in Paris, compared with around 1,000 in the UK and only 130 in London. But online book giants are still eating into small bookshops, many of which struggle to stay afloat.
via Why France is shunning the ebook | Books | The Guardian.
Filed under Entertainment, Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 