arse poetica

No, I Will Not Buy Goodyear Tires.

$%#¢*@&*£%§^$@#&∑+!!!!

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Court Protects Gender Discrimintion.

When I heard this on the news yesterday afternoon, I was so dizzy w/ fury I could've wrecked my car. All I could think -- after thanking the deities for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and cursing the deities for Samuel Alito -- was that Lilly Ledbetter was probably one of those "nice women" who thought feminists were shrill and manhaters and disruptive and unladylike and all the rest of it and therefore did not join (in solidarity with) the women's movement, thinking "their" issues had precious little to do w/ her, and here she is today the victim of institutionalized sexism, the devaluing of women's work, gendered inequality, outright discrimination. Hmm.

Maybe feminists were up to some good back then, demanding such unladylike rights as equal pay for equal work, shoring up the EEOC, fighting for Title VII, &c. Of course I don't know a damn thing about Ms. Ledbetter from Gadsden, Alabama, who may very well have been on the front lines, and bless her if she was, but bless her more now that she's feeling the primitive logic of this "man's world." It ain't small taters, it ain't special interests, and it ain't right.

Of course, I am not suggesting that had Ms. Ledbetter joined the women's movement she would not have suffered this discrimination. That's silly, and the sainted Gloria Steinem would not be immune, damn patriarchy straight to the nether reaches of Hell. I am suggesting, however, that there is strength in numbers, in information, in community, in moving this whole jackassed human experiment forward, godammit, and it will be a good day when the next young Lilly Ledbetter is spared this injury or, failing that, is armed w/ more information about her rights, about common discriminatory practices, and about her recourse when the (hopefully less) inevitable sexist obstacle appears.

Also, f*ck Alito.

Hmm.

Surprising? Probably not.

Who would make the best President?

Obama 2000-Ever?

::sniffle::

Looking at this picture, I think how awesome it could be if Barack and Michelle Obama could be Murka's First Family. Is it remotely possible the country's not racist enough to make this a possibility? 

Barack Obama's quiet rebellion | Salon News.

Senator Freedom Fries Has Another Bright Idea

But this is a good one. Heh.

Send Wolfowitz to Iraq, Says GOP Lawmaker.

Paul Wolfowitz may have been ousted from his post at the World Bank, but a free-speaking GOP lawmaker has an idea to keep the so-called "architect" of the Iraq War from standing in the unemployment line.

"I would like to suggest...that maybe we give Paul Wolfowitz a new job and send him over [to Iraq] as mayor," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., "since the neocons got us in over there."

As deputy secretary of defense from 2000 to 2005, Wolfowitz helped develop the strategy and public rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. He publicly stated that coalition troops would be greeted as liberators, and the nation of Iraq would be largely capable of financing its own rebuilding through oil revenues.

[snip]

Jones, a one-time Democrat who switched his party affiliation for the Republicans' 1994 takeover of Congress, is best known as the one-time staunch Iraq war supporter who called for the House of Representatives' cafeteria to rename its French fries "freedom fries" to protest France's unwillingness to join the operation.

The cafeteria assented, going so far as to rename their French toast "freedom toast."

In 2005, Jones switched his position on both the war and the fries. Earlier this month, he was one of just two House Republicans who voted in favor of a Democratic proposal to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq by September 2008.

Hey, Jones may not be the sharpest tack in the box, pulling that "freedom fries" stunt, but at least he learns from his mistakes, which is something that his compadres in the Lie, Cheat, & Steal Party cannot seem to do. Methinks Jones is onto something here.

Now That's What I Call Problem Solving

Wonderful, but it does beg the question: why did it take so long?

Design That Solves Problems for the World’s Poor.

“A billion customers in the world,” Dr. Paul Polak told a crowd of inventors recently, “are waiting for a $2 pair of eyeglasses, a $10 solar lantern and a $100 house.”

The world’s cleverest designers, said Dr. Polak, a former psychiatrist who now runs an organization helping poor farmers become entrepreneurs, cater to the globe’s richest 10 percent, creating items like wine labels, couture and Maseratis.

“We need a revolution to reverse that silly ratio,” he said.

To that end, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which is housed in Andrew Carnegie’s 64-room mansion on Fifth Avenue and offers a $250 red chrome piggy bank in its gift shop, is honoring inventors dedicated to “the other 90 percent,” particularly the billions of people living on less than $2 a day.

Their creations, on display in the museum garden until Sept. 23, have a sort of forehead-thumping “Why didn’t someone think of that before?” quality.

For example, one of the simplest and yet most elegant designs tackles a job that millions of women and girls spend many hours doing each year — fetching water. Balancing heavy jerry cans on the head may lead to elegant posture, but it is backbreaking work and sometimes causes crippling injuries. The Q-Drum, a circular jerry can, holds 20 gallons, and it rolls smoothly enough for a child to tow it on a rope.

I love this light mat!

"The funeral pyre for thought in America"

Well, that's one way to make your point. But ouch.

Mo. Man Burns Books as Act of Protest.

Tom Wayne amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books. His collection ranges from best sellers like Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," to obscure titles like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910.

But wanting to thin out his collection, he found he couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops, which said they were full. So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books protest what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books. The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit to burn them. Wayne said next time he will get a permit.

He said he envisions monthly bonfires until his supply -- estimated at 20,000 books -- is exhausted. "After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we've slogged through and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you away when you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "And it's a good excuse for fun."

Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more often get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than half of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982.

Killer Weenie

Why does this crack me up so much?

Diabolical Hot Dog by Britton Walters.

Because it's summertime! And I'm unfettered! And my mind can roam! And silliness is deeply necessary when governments are up to this kind of shit.

Friday Dingo Blogging

As you can see, the Dingo is very enthusiastic about helping us weed the big-ass dandelions, &c. in the backyard. How I get anything done w/ this gorgeous face around, I'll never know. Eminently smoochable, this one.

This long weekend it'll be another backyard marathon as db and I try to whip an incorrigible "natural area" (a.k.a. the backyard) into some semblance of comfortable natural order. A tip from yr pals at arse po -- buy stock in Advil now! Our yard is big, there are many weekends ahead, and lately we've been going through that stuff like it's Chiclets.

Breaking Up: Not That Hard to Do When You Think About It for a Nanosecond

I'm shocked. Shock-- Ech.

WOLFOWITZ AND GAL PAL SPLIT UP.

I'm sorry, this woman has been described as a "brilliant feminist." I'm just not seeing how it would be possible to be a feminist by any definition I understand and to have a relationship w/ this man. I mean, for the love of the sweet baby Jesus, this repugnant waste of carbon matter is the "architect" of the current quagmire and arrogant and authoritarian to boot. I'm not trying to get into her bed, because I couldn't care less, but Jesus.

[photo credit]

Tintin Films in the Works!

WOOHOO!! This makes me so happy that I am actually sitting in my chair at work and clapping with glee. Clapping. With glee. When's the last time I did that?? I was thrilled -- thrilled -- when I heard that Peter Jackson was going to direct. I know he's an Oscar® winner for the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and deservedly so), but I'm a fan of his smaller scale Heavenly Creatures [and db loves The Frighteners, ha], and I know he'll do Tintin right.

I grew up reading Tintin and wishing I could travel the whole world like him -- and be brave enough to survive hair-raising adventures in the Congo and remote China and Mt. Everest. Happy memories. And thankfully, I haven't read them in a long time so they haven't been ruined for me by, say, recognizing a neo-imperialist undercurrent in the narrative (as Babar was ruined for me in college). I did notice, of course, that there were no grrls.

As I mentioned before, Tintin and I have a few things in common.

Tintin Travels to Tinseltown | TIME.

He may be fictional, he may have emerged from comic books, but for many, Tintin is an inspirational adventurer for all time. And now, Belgium's greatest hero is set for the ultimate escapade, as two of Hollywood's biggest names, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, have announced plans for three back-to-back features based on his stories.

The films, for Spielberg's DreamWorks studio, will be produced in full digital 3-D using performance-capture technology, which takes points of reference from real life subjects and transfers them to animated characters on the screen. Spielberg and Jackson will each direct at least one movie; there is no word yet on who will helm the third.

The timing could not have been more apt: Tintin's creator, Hergé, was born one hundred years ago on Tuesday. Many credit Hergé, whose real name was Georges Remi, with inventing much of the visual grammar that defines modern comics. His books involve masterly plots and a depth of humor, artistry, detail and characterization. His iconic comic strip hero travelled the world fighting crime and ventured to the moon a full decade before Neil Armstrong.

For an insight into Herge and the Tintin legacy, the documentary film "Tintin and I" is well worth seeing. I only wish it had been longer.

And literally just arrived in my mailbox: the new NY'er, containing an article by Anthony Lane titled "A Boy's World: The Tintin Century."