Damnit ACORN, why you gotta give liberal social service organizations a bad name?!?

As I am sure most of you know at this point, two very inspired young conservatives on a shoe-string budget set out with nothing but a fake pimp coat and some very revealing skirts to take down the non-profit organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). ACORN is an organization that helps with voter registration, housing, immigration, taxes, health care, wage reform, and many other things for underserved and needy populations. It has been the notorious target of many conservative organizations and has been thought of generally by conservatives to be kinda shady in the past, particularly when it came to voter registration drives.

Thus, it is unsurprising that two enterprising young wannabe conservative reporters would chose to target this organization in some sort of sting operation. What is surprising is what they were able to show. In office after office (Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, San Bernardino, Calif., and San Diego) the two young wannabes posed as a politician pimp and prostitute looking to create a brothel using underaged girls trafficked in illegally from El Salvador. They then caught on tape ACORN staff more then willing to help them set up their "business" and work out ways around any legal issues they might have. Some of the videos and the things that the staff say in them are just downright amazing.

Naturally there will be an investigation, but ACORN has already fired most of the people in the videos and is taking steps towards better training for the people who do work for them. They have also lost a lot of the government funding that they have received. All of which does seems to point to at least some sort of culpability to what is being shown in these here videos and most importantly ACORN has definitely lost a whole heck of a lot of face with these videos coming out whether they are true or not. And in a time where the county I live in is considering cutting all of the funds of legit and wonderful human service organizations, it makes me terribly sad to see such a widely know liberal human service organization giving the rest of us liberals and our organizations a bad name. Seriously people, WTF?

Place to see all of the videos and the back story as they tell it

ACORN Website

Washington Post Article on how the two wannabes got together

thank god for pooches

... especially mine. she's too perfect for words.

science in the WRONG hands part II

thanks to hotstuff and feministing, i have been alerted to a horrible website:

horrible website: sense and sexuality

in the spirit of the linda richman from "coffee talk" (aka mike meyers, watch it!), that website promotes neither sense nor sexuality, discuss.

in the words of feminsting:"I think I can safely say this is the biggest piece of crap website on sex I've ever seen. And that's saying a lot. Between the straight up lies and scare tactics, the sexism, and the hearts making up the DNA strand on the homepage (cause women are just made for love, not sex) - I don't even know where to start."

i hesitate to start, b/c there is so much wrong with this website, but i figured i should start with what i know the most about: hpv. this website uses hpv as it's #1 scare tactic other than a broken heart.

the fact is a large majority of sexually active people will have a genital hpv infection in their lifetime. it's the most common std and for most people there are no symptoms. the best way to prevent hpv is the hpv vaccine, though if you have had 2 or more partners chances are you have already had at least one type of genital hpv. condoms do provide some protection, but not 100%. the best way for sexually active women to protect themselves against genital cancers associated with hpv is to go their gynecologist regularly (and you are all doing that ladies, right?!)

this website, and other puritanical forces twist these facts to their advantage. this website claims "all science, no spin," a clear indication that there is spin. they write as if any risk is not worth taking. we all know that sex is risky, and that includes to emotional health. but risks are an important of life, no?

ok, back to my professional hat, the authors have definitely done their homework. they have read the scientific articles, as indicated by use of terms such as "transformation zone" and referring to an article that found hpv under fingernails. they use the latter to say that mutual masturbation isn't ok, either. that was NOT stated by the investigation's author and is not known yet. and when science doesn't go their way they make statements like this one: "And of course no vaccine prevents a broken heart."

let me put it this way folks, hpv is common. to prevent it and its consequences get the vaccine (if you are young) and go to the doctor. however, the risk of getting it should not be used to prevent a healthy sex life.

Research results in the wrong hands always leads to a good time...

Did you know that "One in 20 women has NEVER had sex sober because they lack body confidence"??? That's right, according to the article in the Daily Mail (a reputable source I know) a new study has found that women enjoy both drinking and sex, and God forbid they also enjoy putting those two things together. But the real news here is that apparently, when a woman decides to have a drink on a date and then having some sexy time on that same date, they are actually doing it because they lack body confidence. Not because it is fun, not because it is enjoyable, not even because it is some sort of social norm, or even a social lubricant, but really it is because all of us ladies out here are very self conscious about our bodies and need to toss back a few before we can let those men get a good look at us. While the study in question may have found, as suggested by this oh so well written article, that a few drinks helps the ladies loosen there inhibitions and become more adventurous, how exactly does that directly translate into lacking body confidence I would love to know!

Also, it says that on average the women in the study had eight partners but was drunk with at least five of them. What the heck kind of random thing is that to say. For example, lets take a 35 years old woman who has had eight long term partners and also likes to drink sometimes. More then likely she probably got drunk with her partners at least once or twice and I would guess could possibly even have had drunken sex with her partners once or twice. So, even though she probably didn't have drunken sex with her partners every time she had sex with them, she probably did have drunken sex with them at least once. Making their sentence true, but what the heck does that even really mean??? Is that supposed to be a bad thing and some indication that she lacks body confidence?

Seriously people, can't a lady have her drink and enjoy her sex too? WTF?

Silly Article

the uninsured deserve better, illustrated

first of all, check out this map by npr of the uninsured by district. some of the districts have more than 30% for <65 year olds!!!
map

you can also stratify by poltical party. this maps goes with a story npr titles
who's representing the uninsured. seriously, who the heck is?!

and then i would like to add this genius of a sign from this website

and another funny:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Thank God for Smoking Bans!

As was alluded to in previous posts I have been doing quite a bit of traveling in the past two months or so, one trip of which was to a beautiful wedding in Jackson, MS (Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan!!!). This wedding was charming in all the ways that only a traditional southern wedding could be and both myself and my manfriend had a wonderful time. The one thing that did catch me quite off guard though was walking into the location of the after party, which was held at a local sports bar, and finding it to be full of smoke. Thankfully the bride and groom had reserved a room for us which was not completely open to the main part of the bar, but nonetheless there was no escaping the smoke. Being someone who has lived on the west coast now for seven years, with only trips to places on the east coast that have also adopted smoking bans, I had totally forgotten that there might still be places in which one can smoke indoors. After getting over the initial shock, the after party was a total blast, but I do want to give a big old thank God for smoking bans and for the lack of need to have all pieces of clothing washed or dry cleaned constantly because of the all encompassing, pervasive smell of smoke!

thank you mary travers

mary travers of peter, paul and mary, passed away yesterday. below is an old clip of the group singing pete seeger's "if i had a hammer." although i was certainly not alive when their music was part of the soundtrack of the protest movement, it still moves me.

the obit



also, i can't help but post another moving vid:

And they wonder why we have such a low literacy rate?!?

Effective October 2, 2009 the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate their neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library. That's right, you heard me, the State Legislature did not give them enough funds to keep the libraries open and thus the public libraries are closing down. Does this sound familiar at all? Does everyone remember when the Seattle Public Libraries were all closed down for a week of Monday, Aug. 31 through Sunday, Sept. 6 due to, yes you heard it here, budget cuts. Are we headed down a path similar to that of Philadelphia?

Yes I know these are hard times, I know budgets around the country are being cut and purse strings are being tightened, but it breaks my heart to think that systems as integral to public knowledge, learning, and social programing as the public library system are being so cut back on that they are being shut down all together. I mean seriously people, in a country that touts needing better education and higher literacy standards, should we really being making it hard for our public libraries to stay open? WTF?

Thanks C for sharing this story with us!

Philadelphia Library Closing Announcement

Seattle Library Temporary Closing Announcement

spa day for girls?! am i the only one that finds this gross?

apparently spa birthday parties are all the rage for little girls. am i the only one that finds this gross? i know that many girls go through a pretty in pink stage and a lot come out the other side forgetting all about it, at least consciously (maybe i did. i don't know.) but, geez this level of indulgence in superficiality for little girls seems a bit too over the top for me. maybe there could a "right" way to do this? what do you think readers?

Freaking WiFi!!!!! WTF???

Ok, so I have done quite a bit of traveling in the past couple of months due to it being summer and whatnot. Some of it was for pleasure, some of it was work related, and some of it was wedding related. And what I have come to realize is that where you can and cannot get free WiFi does not make any freaking sense at all. (And as a side note, really, why the heck do we call it WiFi anyway, it is really wireless fidelity?????)

Virgin America from Seattle to SF = Free WiFi
Virgin America from SF to DC =/= Free WiFi

Delta has no WiFi at all of any kind, yet American Airlines offers on its larger flights WiFi for an exorbitant amount of money if you think about the amount that you pay per month for Internet at home.

Sea-Tac Airport has WiFi for free only in certain sections, Atlanta Airport doesn't have it in any sections, and yet the Jackson Mississippi Airport offers it to all for Free.

But what really gets my goat is the way that fancy hotels gouge you on WiFi. I recently was forced to stay overnight in a not so nice motel in Dallas (thanks American Airlines for cancelling my flight and offering me no other options but to stay overnight in Dallas), but, much to my surprise, they had free WiFi. Then I stayed in a perfectly nice hotel in Jackson, MS that also offered free WiFi. But when I stayed in a downright fancy Hyatt in downtown Atlanta they freaking charged me an arm and a leg per day for WiFi use. Thats right, the most expensivo of all the hotels that I stayed in this summer and on top of it all I payed significantly more then I do per month for Internet at home for a mere two days of Internet use at this silly fancy pants hotel. So seriously people, WTF???? Why this WiFi injustice????

thank god for great books, including this one....

nyt book review

9/11

like many americans, i have a complicated relationship with 9/11. i hate that it happened. it is seared in my memory as an awful day. but, i also really don't like what it was used to justify. i wanted to throw things at the tv every 40th time giuliani said it during his presidential campaign, and every time cheney says it i despise what he stands for even more.

mostly, though, the day makes me homesick. i was working puerto rico that day. the planes hit while was i counting trees in the forest. meanwhile, my brother saw the smoke from his dorm, my mom was in the subway headed a block away from the towers and my dad was trapped in queens. they were all happy i wasn't there, but i wasn't. i may be one of very few people who has never watched the footage. really, i've never seen it, on purpose.

plenty of people have much sadder memories of 9/11 than i do, whether they be of lost loved ones or in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (see article on the mental emergency below). i wish them all well on this anniversary and still hope that good can come out this tragic loss.

mental health emergency from 9/11

corporation=individual?! since when, in real life...

... as opposed to how our supreme court has been seeing it lately. for information on this transformation (and if you like your info in movie format), see corporation. the trailer is below, though i don't recommend watching it WUIS (watching under the influence of sleepiness... i had to try a few times, but it was my first year of grad school... it is a really good and informative film).

why am i bringing this up now? well b/c the supremo court, with it's newest wise latina, is hearing arguments that corporations deserve the rights of individuals in terms of 1st amendment.

the skinny is that citizens united, a group that has produced such titles as "aclu: at war with america" and "intelligence failure: how bill clinton's national security policy set the stage for 9/11", produced a movie called "hilary: the movie." they wanted to air it, but it the elections officials found it violated the mccain-feingold campaign finance law, which bans the broadcast, cable or satellite transmission of “electioneering communications” paid for by corporations in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before the general election.

according to the nyt, citizens united are set to win against the federal elections commission. the question is by how much. here's hoping a very narrow exception that is made, and our next campaigns are not even more heavily financed by the corporations that already create havoc through their lobbyist, etc.

nyt article about the case

titles by citizens united

source watch on their funders

Thank God for J&J and T&T!

After a wonderful, but very rainy, Labor Day weekend camping trip to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of J & J I can definitely say that the hotties are back and better then ever!!!!

So I want to start off our return right by giving a big old thank God for J & J and as you can see from the picture above, an additional thank God to Twine & Tarps for keeping us dry during a weekend of rain!

All told, we are glad to be back to the blog after our little summer hiatus and hope that you will be joining us with your comments and suggestions as we engage again in regularly throwing out the question, are you there God, WTF?