Plum Crazy

What's Harder To Catch?

“The glitter, the makeup and the curls in our hair make cheerleading so deceiving,” Smith said. “We look like pretty little things. Well, most athletes throw balls around. We throw other cheerleaders around. What’s harder? What’s harder to catch?”

Cheerleaders. Most of us envision thin girls in skimpy outfits jumping about. That's what it was when I was a cheerleader in 1978. Well, the girls are still thin and the outfits have gotten even skimpier. But the jumping about? Not so much anymore. These days on high school and college squads, it's pretty hard-core gymnastics.

Cheerleaders can be tossed 20 feet in the air to do aerial gymnastics before being caught by their fellow cheerleaders. And the pyramids? Cheerleaders are hoisting and holding each other on their shoulders. The girls at the base of the pyramid are holding the weight of two cheerleaders on their shoulders. These girls are strong. How many male athletes, outside of body builders, are dealing with that kind of weight on a regular basis?

Cheerleaders are doing all this physically difficult work requiring a lot of strength, and they're paying the price for it in terms of injuries. Life-threatening, paralyzing injuries. But we don't think of them as athletes. We think of them as sex objects. We don't care about what they can do. We only care about how they look.

Shame on us. These girls are athletes. Many of them are gymnasts who go into cheerleading because schools don't want to take on the liability of gymnastic teams. The liability of football teams, of course, is fine. But girls gymnastics? Oh no, not that. So they go into cheerleading to do what they love, because being treated as sex objects is the only way they can get funding for their athletic ability.

Sad commentary on our society.

So Much For That "Maverick" Chuck Hagel

Given some of his recent statements on the war in Iraq, one might have been tempted to think that Chuck Hagel was a man willing to go against the Bush administration. But he's one of the two Senators who voted against the bill to amend chapter 35 of title 28, United States Code, to preserve the independence of United States attorneys. The other was Christopher "Kit" Bonds (R-MO).

Four Senators didn't vote. One is South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson, who didn't vote for obvious reasons. The other three are Biden, McCain, and Mikulski.

Decency and Compassion?

George W. Bush speaking about the immigration raid in New Bedford, MA:

"That's not the way America operates. We're a decent, compassionate country. Those are the kind of things we do not do. We believe in families, and we'll treat people with dignity."

Hmm. Sounds nice. And yet? Not so much of the truth.

Watch the video that Brownfemipower posted here. Babies were separated from their mothers. People were refused enough water. A woman who fainted was just ignored while she lay on the floor.

Decency? Compassion? That was not at all in evidence.

What can you do? You can donate money and/or materials to the families. You can write to your Senators and Representative. If you're in the Boston area, you can get directly involved. You can blog about it, because most people probably don't know about this. In fact, it seems like every other day, I get to see more and more what a privileged, sheltered life I lead. Most of my readers probably live one too. This happened two weeks ago, and I'm ashamed I haven't heard about it until now. Apathy and silence are all it takes for things like this to continue.

Via Ilyka.

See also:
Black Amazon

The Silence of our Friends
Plain(s) Feminist
Pandagon
Zuky

Digital Art Blogging

No cat pictures today. Instead, a digital painting of the Temple d'Amour at Versailles. Done using a photograph and Photoshop.

Summary of the Gonzales Press Conference

A one-man play in three sentences.

Hey, there's the bus. Is that Kyle Sampson under it? Why yes, it is!

Dead Celebrity Finally Laid to Rest

The story behind the burial delay is a lurid one of legal disputes and paternity claims.

No, I'm not talking about Anna Nicole Smith. I'm talking about James Brown. Did you know he wasn't buried for 76 days? I don't recall the non-stop coverage of the delays. I don't recall television coverage of the trials.

What? You say he wasn't an attractive white woman? Oh, I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Right?

Friday Cat Blogging

Portia did something cute today, so you get Friday cat blogging! Emma's just lying on the same old cushion as last week, so she's not getting a new picture posted this week.

Portia sometimes likes to curl up under the quilt. I meanly disturbed her nap by pulling the quilt back so you could see her all tucked in.

Blog Against Sexism Day

For explanations of last four, see as follows:

AutoAdmit
The Words Pussy and Cunt As Insults
Snarky Comments on Threads about Sexism (read the first two comments)
"Non-Partisan" Law Professors

Oh My!

I'm sure I can't imagine how anyone could have gotten the impression that Michael Battle was threatening them from this little old e-mail:

Cummins recounted in an e-mail made public yesterday that the official cautioned that administration officials would "pull their gloves off and offer public criticisms to defend their actions more fully."

I'm sure that Mr. Battle only meant that the weather had warmed up enough that members of the administration didn't feel the need to wear gloves outside. Oh sure, perhaps a bit of over-sharing, but a threat? Come now.

Ann Coulter - Victim

I know I've always said that the worst part about the "old Soviet Union" was that when you said something they didn't like, they'd circulate petitions asking private groups that hold conferences not to voluntarily invite you back to speak. After, of course, you were given press time to explain your remarks.

That is what the old Soviet Union used to do, isn't it?

Bernie Ebbers Is Still Not A Free Man

Given the number of times I wrote about how Bernie Ebbers was still a free man, it's nice to read this: Justices Turn Down Appeal by Ebbers.

Speaking of Hating on the Women

Somerby points out that her Royal Highness Mo of Do also loves to insult male Democrats by referring to them as women.

As I commented over at LGM:

Every time I read something on Times Select and am faced with an ad to Read! The! Best! Of! Maureen! Dowd!*, I feel nauseated. And perplexed, because they're using some new definition of the word "Best" with which I was previously unfamiliar.

*This is pretty much every time. They're pushing her big right now.

Via LGM

Hmm, Looks Like Some Conservatives Have No Problem with Ann Coulter's Remarks

There's been a pretty decent turn-out of conservative bloggers calling on CPAC to never invite Ann Coulter back as a speaker. However, one right-wing blogger who called out Ann's comments got a lot of e-mails the bulk of which were along the lines of "What's your beef with Ann?" Barnett pulls one out as being "typically thoughtful" of the responses:

Ann Coulter hit the nail on the head. John Edwards is a pussified a**hole and faggot. That's right, I wrote it and will say it in public. I don't mean it in the classic sense either. Edwards is an effeminate, back-stabbing, hide-behind-the-law, ambulance chaser who couldn't handle himself in a one-on-one fist fight. So, get your perfume out and go join him. Evidently, you aren't man enough to tell the truth either. You're just another neo-con hack who isn't worth his weight in dogs**t! Stop blogging because you're just making it worse.

Huh. See, this guy doesn't mean that Edwards is a faggot in that he's gay. No, he means it in that he's like a woman! Which, as we know, is a horrible thing. Oh well, that's soooo much better. /sarcasm

Just goes to show ya that Twisty and others are right when they say that the roots of homophobia are in misogyny.

Via Andrew Sullivan

I Suck

After a bout of bad behavior*, I'm grounding myself from the Internets for bit.

Don't let it all go to hell without me!

*Start at that comment and scroll up to the two prior.

Learning German the Natural Berlitz Way

Today, while finishing up Lesson 2 (Übung Nr. 2), I learned a very important fact.

Das ist weder der Hut noch der Mantel. Das ist die Hose.
That is neither the hat nor the overcoat. That is the trousers.

Whew! I'd been confused on that point for a while. I was wondering why everyone was looking at me funny for my choice of headgear.

"Civility" vs Civility

So some guy has posted up a calculation of how often profane words are used on blogs. The measure of profanity was George Carlin's infamous 7 words. The result of this exercise was to prove that left-wing blogs use profanity more often than right-wing blogs. [Apparently there's a challenge to his results.]

In the meantime, a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference refers to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."

I'll take cursing over outright hate-mongering any day.

We're In Ur Country, Taking Ur Advantageous Financial Schemes

Swiss accidentally invade Liechtenstein.

Awesome.

Via Balloon Juice

Rudy Giuliani: Twice Nominated by the Liberal Party

I was wondering when this was going to enter the campaign:

McCain operatives are putting out material that depicts Giuliani riding into City Hall on the shoulders of the New York Liberal Party as a throwback to the old Tammany Hall Democratic machine.

I'm surprised McCain hasn't added "Endorsed Democratic incumbent Mario Cuomo for Governor!" Maybe he's saving that for later.

This does give a somewhat misleading cast to what the article was actually about - that the far right wing are not necessarily enamored of "maverick" McCain, socially liberal Giuliani, and "Multiple Choice" Mitt Romney once they learn details of their political backgrounds. I'm just more familiar with Giuliani* because of my place of birth and city of residence. Knowing all that I do about him, I still find it hard to believe he'll survive all the things about him that will become more publicly spread as campaigns heat up. Twice running on the Liberal ticket, as well as the Republican ticket, and having endorsed a Democrat for governor are two of the things that I think will be real setbacks for Giuliani. We'll see.

*Full disclosure. I voted for Giuliani twice. I would not, however, vote for him for President, as I think he is too authoritarian and temperamentally unsuited for the position.

Obama: Can't Win for Losing

What's the matter with Barack Obama? According to Fox News personalities, it's a couple of things:

He went to a madrassa. Except, you know, he didn't. After being faced with their complete lack of anything resembling fact-checking, Fox News kind of withdrew the claim. Kind of, because Doocy basically said "Obama says it's not true, so we're just putting that out there." Not quite a resounding "We were wrong." "Fair and balanced" doesn't mean "presenting two sides of the story, even when one side is demonstrably false." This is, of course, now an old story, but I reiterate it, because it shows the kind of crap Obama is up against.

Now the ongoing story is how Obama belongs to a "black separatist" church. One that may not even be really, truly Christian! At least not an acceptable sect of Christianity. What's all the brouhaha* about? The Black Value System the church adheres to. So, what are these values? A sampling (you can read them in their entirety at the link provided):

Commitment to the Black Family
The Black family circle must generate strength, stability, and love despite the uncertainty of externals, because these characteristics are required if the developing person is to withstand warping by our racist competitive society. Those Blacks who are blessed with membership in a strong family unit must reach out and expand that blessing to the less fortunate, especially to the children.

Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
We must forswear anti-intellectualism. Continued survival demands that each Black Person be developed to the utmost of his/her mental potential despite the inadequacies of the formal education process. “Real education” fosters understanding of ourselves as well as every aspect of our environment. Also it develops within us the ability to fashion concepts and tools for better utilization of our resources, and more effective solutions to our problems. Since the majority of Blacks have been denied such learning, Black Education must include elements that provide high school graduates with marketable skills, a trade or qualifications for apprenticeships, or proper preparation for college.

Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
“It is becoming harder to find qualified people to work in Chicago” Whether this is true or not, it represents one of the many reasons given by businesses and industries for deserting the Chicago area. We must realize that a location with good facilities, adequate transportation and reputation for producing skilled workers will attract industry. We are in competition with other cities, states, and nations for jobs. High productivity must be a goal of the Black workforce.

Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
To accomplish anything worthwhile requires self-discipline. We must be a community of self-disciplined persons, if we are to actualize and utilize our own human resources instead of perpetually submitting to exploitation by others. Self discipline coupled with a respect for self, will enable each of us to be an instrument of Black Progress, and a model for Black Youth.

Damn, those are some pretty frightening principles! So frightening that they remind me of the advice given to the black community by conservative white columnist Burt Prelutsky.

The real shame should be that millions of black kids are fatherless; that their taste in music is for anything that’s crude, lewd and loud; that their role models are too often basketball players who make more babies than baskets; whose language skills are embarrassingly abysmal; and that, although most of the street punks are peddling drugs for roughly the minimum wage, they regard it as a worthier, more manly pursuit than working at a 7/11 or, God forbid, going to church, school or a library.

While I think the column overall is pretty bad, let's see nonetheless. Fatherlessness. Huh, covered by Commitment to the Black Family, no? "Abysmal language skills"? Covered by Dedication to the Pursuit of Education. "Regarding drug pushing as better than working, going to church, school, or a library?" Adherence to the Black Worth Ethic and Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect. Looks like Obama's church is attempting to take accountability and not rely on whites. You would think this would be applauded by conservatives. Instead, Fox News pulls out the "scary black separatist!" card.

This is racism. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. If you get criticized no matter what you do, that's driven by privilege. By people who fear that if you actually "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps," they'll lose their privilege and be forced to treat you like an equal. I wish that this surprised me. It doesn't. It should be attacked as the pernicious bull it is, though. Loudly and regularly.

Via Shakes

*Brouhaha? Ha ha ha! Kudos to those who get the reference.

Friday Cat Blogging

Yes, I participate in this in a completely undetermined way. I don't normally take pictures of the cats every week. But I did take some a few weeks back that I finally downloaded from the camera. So this Friday, you get cat blogging! Below the fold.

First up, Emma coordinating stylishly with the seat cushion. She matches the living room decor well.

Next, Portia playing with her dolly, which is nearly the same size she is.