Ross Douthat on the word additions/removals to the updated edition of the Oxford children's dictionary:
"There's something awfully depressing about the idea that the word "database" is more relevant to your average British ten-year-old than the word "guinea pig.""
Monday, December 8, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Aren't we, nation, battered just like this pup?
So, The Defenders of Wildlife video (the one where the wolves have "nowhere to hide") has now made the rounds, informing us all that Sarah Palin signed a bill to pay aerial hunters a bounty of $150 for the severed foreleg of a grey wolf.
Picture the exact opposite of that political move. Would it be something like cradling a wounded, three-legged puppy? To spread awareness about the cruelty of puppy mills? Say, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial?
Because BARACK OBAMA DID THAT.
I can't believe I missed this story the first time around, but I caught the link in context of the Human Society Legislative Fund's endorsement of the Democratic ticket (their first ever presidential endorsement). It seems that Baby, a ten-year-old poodle, was rescued from a California puppy mill, where "her leg had been so badly mangled in her former cage that it had to be amputated, and her vocal cords had been cut so the puppy mill owners did not have to listen to the dog's constant cries to be let out of her cage," and her new owner has written a book about the evils of the industry, photographing Baby with celebrities and visting Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation.
You cannot make up stuff like this. In addition to the best. photo. ever, check out the caption, courtesy of HSLF's President, Michael Markarian:
"The solemn setting is a reminder of causes that are worth fighting for, and the image of battered Baby safe in Obama’s embrace sends the message that change is possible for these creatures, too."
Picture the exact opposite of that political move. Would it be something like cradling a wounded, three-legged puppy? To spread awareness about the cruelty of puppy mills? Say, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial?
Because BARACK OBAMA DID THAT.
I can't believe I missed this story the first time around, but I caught the link in context of the Human Society Legislative Fund's endorsement of the Democratic ticket (their first ever presidential endorsement). It seems that Baby, a ten-year-old poodle, was rescued from a California puppy mill, where "her leg had been so badly mangled in her former cage that it had to be amputated, and her vocal cords had been cut so the puppy mill owners did not have to listen to the dog's constant cries to be let out of her cage," and her new owner has written a book about the evils of the industry, photographing Baby with celebrities and visting Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation.
You cannot make up stuff like this. In addition to the best. photo. ever, check out the caption, courtesy of HSLF's President, Michael Markarian:
"The solemn setting is a reminder of causes that are worth fighting for, and the image of battered Baby safe in Obama’s embrace sends the message that change is possible for these creatures, too."
Monday, October 6, 2008
Regarding my silence
To friends and readers-
A few of you have asked about my lack of posts in recent weeks, to which I wanted to respond:
a) It warms my heart that you noticed! Thanks for reading!
b) I'm currently in the thick of that fall rite of passage - studying for the GREs and applying to graduate schools. Lunch breaks and spare moments at work (and recently, there haven't been many) are, for the time being, spent doing polynomial practice sets and researching for my policy proposal. I hope to be back posting about such critical topics as lipstick and new Metrobuses sometime in the next month or two. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by. I'll pipe up again soon.
-Katie
A few of you have asked about my lack of posts in recent weeks, to which I wanted to respond:
a) It warms my heart that you noticed! Thanks for reading!
b) I'm currently in the thick of that fall rite of passage - studying for the GREs and applying to graduate schools. Lunch breaks and spare moments at work (and recently, there haven't been many) are, for the time being, spent doing polynomial practice sets and researching for my policy proposal. I hope to be back posting about such critical topics as lipstick and new Metrobuses sometime in the next month or two. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by. I'll pipe up again soon.
-Katie
Thursday, September 11, 2008
On rape kits and Sarah Palin
I caught wind of the 'Mayor Palin charging women for their own rape kits' story on Feministing a couple days ago, but wasn't entirely convinced by the 2000 article in question that Palin was involved in the passage of the statute forcing rape victims to cover the cost of a forensic kit or even had it brought to her attention during her tenure as governor.
So I figured I'd hold my tongue since the evidence wasn't all there - you know, the whole "the difference between us and our enemies is how we treat our enemies" principle that keeps leading Democrats to noble defeat? But (former Alaska Gov.) Tony Knowles is out there on the press circuit now and happy to make the association, and since he's the guy that actually overturned the abhorrent law, I'm going to follow his lead and say, at least, the following:
How blessed is Sarah Palin's life that every single woman and girl in her life has remained untouched by sexual violence? To my mind, there is no other possible explanation for how Mayor Palin could have countenced this sort of victim-blaming travesty of a law. No woman (and, I'd hope, no man) who counted a survivor among their relatives, friends, or even aquaintances could allow this to stand.
When I used to give sexual assault awareness presentations in college, we'd describe the process of a rape kit to our skeptical peers who believed in the myth of the regretful girl who woke up the next morning and called consensual sex rape. No "faker" would endure the evidence collection, we'd explain, because there exists no forensic procedure more invasive or humiliating to a crime victim, who is stripped, photographed, inspected, and subjected to the swabbing, scraping, and plucking of her most intimate areas - all this after she's survived the most violating crime imaginable. The idea that a woman could survive a rape, survive a rape kit, and then be slapped with the bill for the privilege makes me ill.
I can't begin to fathom how Sarah Palin could have lived with this law. I afford her the courtesy of my initial assumption of her ignorance for no reason other than I can't stomach the alternate possibility.
So I figured I'd hold my tongue since the evidence wasn't all there - you know, the whole "the difference between us and our enemies is how we treat our enemies" principle that keeps leading Democrats to noble defeat? But (former Alaska Gov.) Tony Knowles is out there on the press circuit now and happy to make the association, and since he's the guy that actually overturned the abhorrent law, I'm going to follow his lead and say, at least, the following:
How blessed is Sarah Palin's life that every single woman and girl in her life has remained untouched by sexual violence? To my mind, there is no other possible explanation for how Mayor Palin could have countenced this sort of victim-blaming travesty of a law. No woman (and, I'd hope, no man) who counted a survivor among their relatives, friends, or even aquaintances could allow this to stand.
When I used to give sexual assault awareness presentations in college, we'd describe the process of a rape kit to our skeptical peers who believed in the myth of the regretful girl who woke up the next morning and called consensual sex rape. No "faker" would endure the evidence collection, we'd explain, because there exists no forensic procedure more invasive or humiliating to a crime victim, who is stripped, photographed, inspected, and subjected to the swabbing, scraping, and plucking of her most intimate areas - all this after she's survived the most violating crime imaginable. The idea that a woman could survive a rape, survive a rape kit, and then be slapped with the bill for the privilege makes me ill.
I can't begin to fathom how Sarah Palin could have lived with this law. I afford her the courtesy of my initial assumption of her ignorance for no reason other than I can't stomach the alternate possibility.
The Pentagon Memorial
Officially dedicated this morning, open to the public starting this evening.
The Washington Post has a nice microsite with stories, video, and a virtual tour of the memorial. My impression is of a thoughtful and understated tribute; a lot of the concepts behind the design of the space and the spare-looking benches are elegant and very, very moving. I look forward to seeing it for myself.
I was startled to read "seven years ago" in describing today's anniversary. Not to indulge the 'how quickly time passes' cliché, especially given how much has transpired since 2001, but the memory does seem fresh enough that I'm floored to realize that three of the Pentagon memorial's youngest honorees, the eleven-year-old passengers on Flight 77, would have just started college.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
I know not how I was wrong, only how wrong I was
Most disappointing revelation of the political season?
It seems I've been laboring under a delusion (for years!) about the true identity of my favorite rhetorical apparatus! Chiasmus, I hardly knew ye.
It seems I've been laboring under a delusion (for years!) about the true identity of my favorite rhetorical apparatus! Chiasmus, I hardly knew ye.
Costofwar.com + Vanity Snark =
I love it.
goodness knows when Vanity Fair started carrying water for the Daily Kos set, but those rascals over at VF's "Politics and Power" blog took the now-infamous tab of Cindy's convention look and ran with it, resulting in this fun little balance sheet:
goodness knows when Vanity Fair started carrying water for the Daily Kos set, but those rascals over at VF's "Politics and Power" blog took the now-infamous tab of Cindy's convention look and ran with it, resulting in this fun little balance sheet:
"That got us thinking: what does $300,000 mean to Americans who don't have the luxury of inheriting a gargantuan beer fortune?To Cindy McCain, $300,000 is the price of an outfit.
To most Americans, $300,000 buys ...
... one and a half houses, given the national median home price of $206,500.
... a year's worth of health care for 750 people.
... the full array of back-to-school supplies and clothes for 500 kids.
... enough gas to drive cross-country 543 times.
... 365 round-trip flights from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage, Alaska. (John McCain should have splurged on at least one.)
... a three-course steak dinner (at Mat-su Resort) and a movie ticket (for the Mat-su Cinema) for every man, woman, and child in Wasilla, Alaska.
... enough money for three Troopergate investigations."
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