Hello, America. Do you really want this man to be President?

This took place in 1986, that much should be made very clear. However, it's appalling no matter when it took place (not to mention it's not even remotely funny, not that a rape "joke" could be), and given McCain's poor record on women's rights, reproductive issues, etc., his hilaaarious Chelsea Clinton joke, the story about how he called his wife a trollop and a cunt, and how he almost had a fundraiser with Clayton Williams, who joked about rape too, this is certainly notable as part of a trend.


The Comedy Stylings of Shecky McCain

In Arizona, we’ve seen a pattern of this sort of humor. Long time Arizonenses remember the “seizure world” comment that poked fun at the elderly, ironic now that he’s the oldest candidate for president (I guess it was inevitable that it would become ironic). I managed to dig up this gem from his 1986 race for US Senate, as quoted in the Tucson Citizen:

Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’

I find rape jokes are always a sign of class, don’t you?

At the time, McCain’s spokesperson (Torrie Clark, yes, that one) alleged that this was story was some manipulation by the Richard Kimball campaign. Yep, it’s always the other guy’s fault. I wonder if the reporter on that story, Norma Coile, was treated to the screaming phone call that McCain has treated so many local reporters to when they dare write a negative story about him.

UPDATE - Because you demanded it, here is a PDF of the original article from 1986.

SOURCE: Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion via Feministe, Crooks and Liars.

(This entry is public and therefore free to be linked. PLEASE DO.)

Mayor of Sexy Gavin Newsom to run for Governor of Sexy

How come none of you Californians on my flist told me about this? SHAME ON YOU. You may convince me to move out of Texas yet. *

(*Not really. I don't know when I'd even get the chance. But I'd sure think about it.)

I've been having a bad day already (anyone want to rent me during the summers? I'm cute, smart, and can cook and clean for myself), so I request pictures of Mr. Newsom. And other sexy pols. Gender does not matter, and bonus points for strategically Blingee'd pictures.


Look at this man. You know you want him to governate you.

CAPSLOCK REQUIRED IN COMMENTS.

This does not apply to any lifelong Republicans on my flist; this is addressed specifically at (fair-weather) Democrats.

I'm posting this in my journal because I think it's rude to go into someone else's journal and say something like this, but it needs to be said. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

Any Democrat who will vote for John McCain because their candidate does not get the nomination is either ignorant or throwing a hissy fit. Or both.

That goes for whoever gets the nomination, although it will undoubtedly be Obama at this point.

The differences between Obama and Clinton exist, but they are few. The differences between Obama/Clinton and McCain are great and vital to you.

John McCain is anti-working/middle class, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-anyone who's not white, anti-choice, anti-peace, anti-human. He is a warmonger, he supports overturning Roe v. Wade, he supports Don't Ask Don't Tell, he supports torture even though he says he doesn't, he voted against the GI Bill, he's supported a ban on flag desecration, wants to increase prisons and use of the death penalty, supports abstinence-only education, supports bans on abortion, supports allowing creationism being taught in schools, and voted no on several proposals to give more funding to schools. He's called his wife a trollop and a cunt. He may not have had the macaca moment, but he did have the "gook" comment. He has supported the flying of the confederate flag, and voted against the Civil Rights Act renewal and against Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The list goes on. He is rated 0% by the ACLU and 7% by the NAACP (and for good reason). He is not a maverick, he is not a moderate, he is not an independent. He is a Republican and a hard-line conservative.

John McCain has nothing in common with real Democrats, except, apparently, for a very fickle tempter. I cannot stomach any Democrat who's going to throw a fit and vote for McCain because they don't get their way. If that's okay with you, it's not okay with me, and you're welcome to take me off your friends list, because I'm not going to shut up about why it's stupid.

geekgirlofdoom said she wanted to see an Obama/Edwards picspam. not that I would ever have enough pictures to do that, ahem. I aim to please! :)

( shiny happy politicians! )

I did a very minor friends cut. If you were cut, you either haven't updated in a long time or we never talk. No hard feelings! :)

If you stayed, I'm going to commit more to commenting. ♥

If you stayed and don't want to, every day is defriending amnesty day.

The last part of the book.

Chapters 1-9
Chapters 10-17

( BUT I WANNA BE A VAMPIRE. )

Starting from chapter 10, through page 345/chapter 17.

Chapters 1-9.

( EDWARD IS WATCHING YOU. )

Final part: Chapters 18-Epilogue

My notes are going to be long, so I'm just going to post them in parts as I read. It'll keep you tortured with me entertained while I read. Here's chapters 1-9. Spoilers, obviously.

( in which she falls a lot. )

Next part: Chapters 10-17

enlisted_smile said she'd like to see a post with a list of what feminism means to me. I am more than happy to comply. Given all the BS that's happened lately in real life and online, if anyone else wants to see me post on a particular feminist issue I'll do that as well.

( this is what a feminist looks like )

The American Family Association has just launched a letter and call-in campaign to have the Luke/Noah storyline removed from the day time soap opera As the World Turns.

Procter & Gamble has set up a 1-800 number to poll responses.

The number is 1-800-331-3774.
Press 1 for English/2 for Spanish [if you don't get this, don't worry, I didn't either].
Press 2 to get to that AtWT poll.
Then press 1 to tell them you want the storyline to continue.

( The AFA's plead to stop the homosexual lifestyle; WARNING: content is repulsive and likely to make you want to hit things. )

It's only Wednesday and this has already been the Official Worst Week Ever For Women In Fandom (TM). It's been a bad week for girls in bands and by extent those girls who listen to those bands, it's been a bad week for smart teenage witches and the actresses who play them, and it's been a bad week for anyone who dares to be female or female-shaped in fandom. This isn't new. Whether it's women participating in fandom or producing the works that create fandom, it's not always a pretty place. But I don't think I've seen so much pile up in so little time. I'm not going to go in to depth on these -- that would take forever. What I am going to do is say this:

This is an appreciate post. Women in fandom, we put up with mindless offensive objectification, demonization of our sexuality and/or just our femaleness, misogyny and internalized sexism, and many times the intersections of all kinds of prejudice. And the entire time? WE'RE STILL ROCKIN'. There are amazing women. There are amazing women who write books or sing or play an instrument or play our favorite characters or tell jokes or draw or make icons or just join in on the fun any way we can. We rock it and we are fabulous.

If you have a picspam, you can link to it (for the sake of others' loading time, no more than a few pictures per comment here!). If you want to make icons, go for it. If you're inspired to write a short fanfic about your favorite female in fandom (extra points for tying in the subject!), that's fantastic. If you want to tell us why you love a particular gal, awesome. Do whatever you want to do to celebrate our female characters/idols and women in fandom.

This entry is public, so feel free to pimp it! More is definitely merrier.
<a href="http://likespring.livejournal.com/514791.html"><font size="5"><B>Fandom Women Appreciation</b></font></a>

This entry is public, so if you're wandering by feel free to comment.

There's been a bit of discussion about warnings on fanfiction this year -- some of them I've read, some of them I haven't, so maybe this has already been said, but nonetheless, here it is -- and there have also been a couple of incidents that brought me back to this. So it's been something that has been on my mind for a while and a story I read last night finally prompted me to finally really formulate my thoughts on this. My thoughts on warnings, let me show you them.

( cut for length and non-graphic discussion of rape )

High School Musical 2

102 total:
41 Sharpay Evans (subliminal message! join sharpaytastic!)
15 Ryan Evans
34 Gabriella Montez
36 Troy Bolton
20 Chad Danforth
04 Others

   

( like a common thread, you're pullin' me )

*

Marie Antoinette

17 total

   

( I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. )

*

Pop

13 total:
06 Aly & AJ
01 JC Chasez & Chace Crawford
06 Rihanna

   

( my engine's ready to explode )

No fancy rules, but comments are appreciated & of course credit! ♥

For the last question, assume that both parties have relatively the same amount of money, financial and household responsibilities, but the male still refuses to let the female pay for anything (but does not make a habit of doing the same to male friends).

Poll #1145073
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Is it sexist if a man will open doors for women and women only (and/or is upset if a woman opens the door for him)?

Is it sexist if a man will pull out chairs for women and women only (and/or is offended if a woman does the same for him)?

Is it sexist for the man to always pay for every aspect of a date even if the woman has a job?

It has been a rarity in modern political life: a wide-open race for the nomination of both parties. But whatever happens from here on out, this campaign will always be remembered for the emergence of the first serious woman candidate for president: Barack Obama.

ASDFLJ. NO.

Obama would be the first female president because he's not a hard-headed loner? Um, no? None of those are inherently female characteristics, and I daresay we've already had some presidents who met the same characteristics Newsweek lists. The fact that Obama doesn't appear to be another Bush who will surround himself with yes-men and refuse to work with others in no way makes him a "female" candidate. I mean, seriously? He's not really challenging gender norms in any way and he's not facing any kind of problems as a result of that.

And to illustrate Obama's "femaleness," the picture they choose is one of him holding a little boy. Because nothing says female like babies!

Seriously, Newsweek?

I may complain, but I really have a great life. I have so many downright amazing opportunities. Among those are meeting spybarbie, who is awesome, and getting to watch Bill Clinton speak and then shake his hand.



( lots of pictures, plus a couple videos )

YEAH, THAT IS ME AND CHELSEA CLINTON.

( some more! not a lot because my camera was dying. But I got the important picture! )

I was impressed! Chelsea really knew her stuff, and she was really adorable. She was very well-received, too, got quite a few declarations of love.

I was able to ask a question and I asked about what I posted about a couple of days ago, about vision being watered down v. standing up and fighting, and she talked about that. She mentioned the global gag rule during one question. She was asked about gay rights and explicitly mentioned how we need more work on transgender rights, which was a surprise, but a good one. I had a great time.

So John McCain, who has been so outspoken on torture, voted against the ban on waterboarding. His reasoning might not sound so bad at first. He said that since waterboarding is torture and torture is illegal, there is no need for this ban. But, wait. Haven't we been playing around with that whole premise in the first place? Is waterboarding torture, they ask? Is waterboarding illegal? I think the answer to both is yes, but obviously it's not so clear-cut to some people -- to the people who matter. But more importantly, if it's already illegal in his opinion, what harm is one more safeguard against it? There is no harm in that, only good.

John McCain is not a "maverick" just because right-wing talk radio hates him. He is not the almost-Democratic exception to the Republicans, and any Democrat or progressive who says they'd vote for McCain if Clinton/Obama gets the nomination is, sorry, an idiot. He's a warmonger (100 more years!), anti-choice, anti-gay, supports DADT, supports a ban on flag desecration, wants to increase prisons and use of the death penalty, supports allowing creationism being taught in schools, voted no on several proposals to give more funding to schools, supports abstinence-only education, and oh, did I mention, 100 more years? Maybe a thousand. You get the picture.

This is your average friending meme, except the rule is you have to compliment yourself! Pimp your positives, toot your own horn, whatever you want to call it. Tell people why they should be your friend. Because they should! "I like cats" is interesting, but not good enough for this friending meme. Tell us you're smart, tell us what you excel at, tell us you are a regular comedian or you're loyal or you're ambitious. Go for it! ♥

Form ♥
<B>Name:</b> <B>Age:</b> <b>Location:</b> <B>Fandoms:</b> <B>Other major interests:</b> <B>A quote to live by:</b> <B>In my journal, you'll find:</b> <B>I am <I>awesome</i> because:</b> <B>Anything else:</b>

Pimp it! ♥
<a href="http://likespring.livejournal.com/457046.html"><B><font color="#ef1da2" size="5">POSITIVELY FRIENDLY<BR>FRIENDING MEME</font></b></a>