I was going to work on a snappy title for this post, but what the heck. Christian Science Monitor: US Gov’t broke Padilla through intense isolation, say experts Despite warnings, officials used 43 months of severe isolation to force Jose Padilla to tell all he knew about Al Qaeda. After 43 months, was what he knew of any value? Just… Read more »
So what’s with the use of “Jane” as a universal signifier for femaleness? First instance, the “Be Janes” who appeared at BlogHer last year. They were representatives of an online home improvement community on Windows LiveSpaces. Their marketing pitch was a bad match for the conference, and most of the attendees disliked them – but what struck me was the… Read more »
I hope everyone who sees this can take a quick minute to watch this, and then reflect on it as you go through the week. It’s important. The post on blackprof.com that led me to this video A link to the video, in case this embedding thing doesn’t work. The video:
A couple of days ago I read a review of the Bollywood movie Fanaa on the blog Kashmir. I started thinking about how much “information” I accumulate from films and television, especially with popular entertainment from other countries where I don’t have any context for those narratives. If I had caught Fanaa when it screened in Austin, I would have… Read more »
Diane at Dees Diversion explains: I am tired of being referred to as a man I recently went to lunch with a female friend, and after we sat down, the young waiter said “What can I get you guys?” I told him we weren’t guys, and he did that kind of “oh yeah I always say that, huh?” look, smiled,… Read more »
Sepia Mutiny‘s abhi did a post a while back on children being taken to political protests: I feel that taking a child to certain types of protests is like giving a child a gun without teaching them proper gun safety. I believe it is more important to properly educate a child in all aspects of an issue and encourage them… Read more »
Dear Men of the World, Especially But Not Exclusively Those At Bus Stops, STOP STARING AT MY BREASTS. It’s rude. Thanks, Me
Brownfemipower put together a thoroughly enjoyable critique of Queen Latifah’s makeover in E! Channel, Starlicious Make Overs and Racism/Homophobia. An excellent companion piece is disU.N.I.T.Y.: or, letting go of latifah by fecundmellow: call me a renigger (read: reneger), i don’t give a damn. but, dana, you’ve put a homegyrl in a fucked up position. surely many will say i shoulda… Read more »
I’ve written before about Texas and the income tax. However, the following angle never occurred to me: which should you prefer if you are interested in limited government? Southpaw has some thoughts on that question.
Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture? From a screenshot of the Gladney Center for Adoption, a private adoption agency: They had a billboard up in my neighborhood using this same imagery and it bothered me a lot. An adopted child is a puppy who will never fit in with the ducklings in his or her adoptive family,… Read more »