Obama Snubs Fox

Fox was the only network station that did not air Obama's press conference last night. Coincidentally, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN got questions from President Obama -- Fox News did not.

Media Politics Obama News

Elizabeth Edwards: John's Affair Made Me Throw Up

Elizabeth Edwards writes about her scumbag husband in her new book:

Campaign cad John Edwards' cheating ways made his wife, Elizabeth, sick to her stomach - literally. After the former presidential hopeful confessed his betrayal, Elizabeth Edwards writes in her new book, "I cried and screamed, I went to the bathroom and threw up."

"He should not have run," she says. . .

Elizabeth, 59, who is terminally ill with cancer, speaks in far more detail than before about her husband's infidelity in her new memoir, "Resilience," due to be published May 12 by Broadway Books. . Even when Edwards confessed to his wife, he lied, claiming he had slipped up just once, Elizabeth writes. His original version of the story "left most of the truth out," she writes.

Presidential Politics Resilience News

CNN Middle School: Obama's 'Swagga' (Video)

Here's the latest idiot news from CNN. Groan.


T.J. Holmes sat down with four men who were never identified by name or title (as if we weren't supposed to care about who they were, just that they were black) to talk about Obama's "swagga." They were sweet and did the best they could with such a ridiculous topic, but anchor Kyra Phillips was way over the top. She asked for the theme song to "Shaft" to be played, she talked about Obama's "flava" and she insisted on getting a fist bump at the end. Here are her choicest moments...

Media Politics Idiot News

Jon Stewart on the Mindless Media's 100 Day Obama Grade & Specter too (Video)

Media Politics Daily Show News

Senator Olympia Snowe: GOP In Jeopardy

Quote of the Day

"It is true that being a Republican moderate sometimes feels like being a cast member of “Survivor” — you are presented with multiple challenges, and you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe. But it is truly a dangerous signal that a Republican senator of nearly three decades no longer felt able to remain in the party."

-- Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine),
New York Times: We Didn’t Have to Lose Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter Pennsylvania Realignment Politics News Senate Maine

Sebelius Confirmed: A Pro Choice HHS Secretary At Last!

The threat of a global pandemic persuaded obstructionist Republicans to cease ranting about Kathleen Sebelius' pro choice position long enough to take a vote. The pro choice Health and Human Services Secretary was confirmed by a vote of 65-31.

Tennessee's anti-choice Republican duo voted nay.

Sebelius won just 8 Republican votes (plus the newly Democratic Specter). The 8 are: Kit Bond, Sam Brownback, Susan Collins, Judd Gregg, Dick Lugar, Pat Roberts, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich (Sen. Sessions did not vote).

Democratic Politics Pro Choice News

Girl Culture (Video)

Laura Greenfield on "girl culture."


via Sociological Images

Feminist Politics Social Roles News Gender Misogyny

Tennessee Lawmaker Would Punish Babies by Denying Birth Certificates

When it comes to having the most insane and just plain mean-spirited lawmakers, Tennessee is always competitive. Between the anti-gay bills, anti-woman bills, anti-baby bills, anti-immigrant bills and pro-gun bills up for consideration by the current wannabe Tennessee Taliban Legislature, it's hard to single out the most insane and mean-spirited bill, but this unconstitutional one from lunatic Rep. Stacey Campfield is definitely in the running:

No birth certificates for children of undocumented mothers (HB0817 Campfield): Prohibits registration of a birth certificate for a child of an illegal immigrant mother unless the father is a U.S. citizen and he provides a written agreement for financial support of the child until age 18. This bill is blatantly unconstitutional and would not survive a legal challenge. Companion bill is SB1241 (Bunch).

Via ACLU-TN (pdf).

Tennessee Politics GOP News Stacey Campfield

Sen. Arlen Specter to Switch Parties!

Sen. Arlen Specter has had it with being a Know-Nothing Republican. He is so out of there. Specter announced today that he is switching parties. Like I said, thank the Goddess that the Republican Party is dying! And Arlen Specter (D-PA!) is too smart to go down with the increasingly irrelevant and lonely southern minority party.

Next up, a sixty seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate and health care reform for you and me! With Specter, we have 59 Dems in the Senate, just waiting impatiently for Al Franken to arrive and make it 60!
BTW, how many of the vanishing breed of Republicans are left in the Northeast? Two? And they are both in Maine and feeling the pressure.

Chris Cillizza reports from the Washington Post:

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election."

He added: "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

Specter's full historic statement

Update: Specter told the president, "I'm a loyal Democrat. I support your agenda."

Democratic Politics Progressive News Senate Pennsylvania

Bea Arthur Will Be Missed (Video)

I hear that women-centered movies are now referred to as counterprogramming. That's what Bea Arthur did for women; she provided counterprogramming for us, but on television. The video clip below is from an episode of Maude on the subject of abortion; it ran two months before Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. It is, I think, a good example of how the good old days of the 1970s were, in many ways, more liberal than any days we've seen since.

As one of the stars of Golden Girls, Ms. Arthur became part of a beloved family ritual for myself and my daughters. She will be missed.

Bea Arthur died on Saturday at age 86.


Video via Gloria Feldt's tribute to Bea Arthur:

Maude, already a grandmother in her late 40's, decides she should not go through with the pregnancy and has an abortion. Watch the video to see how her daughter speaks of abortion as it should be. It was a little slice of realism rarely seen today, when the option of abortion is so often pushed again into the virtual back room and rarely mentioned in pop culture.

Arthur won Emmys for both "Maude" and "Golden Girls". She was inducted into Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2008, an honor well-deserved for her lifetime of extraordinary work.

Photo via Broadsheet: Remembering Bea Arthur, feminist TV pioneer, AP/Reed Saxon: Beatrice Arthur accepts an Emmy award for "The Golden Girls" in 1988.

Feminist Politics Progressive News Gender Equality Abortion

Jon Stewart: Sweden's Socialistic Nightmare (Video)

In the video clip below Jon Stewart talks about my favorite country. You know, the country where women earn 95 cents to the male dollar, as opposed to 78 cents in the U.S. The country where women make up almost half of Congress, as opposed to 17 percent in the U.S. The country where women don't get fired for taking a few days off to care for a sick child as opposed to pretending we don't have children in order to get ahead in the U.S. Jon brings us a must-see special report on Sweden's Evil Socialism. Hilarious!


Feminist Politics Liberal Progressive News Social Democracy Gender Discrimination Misogyny

Poll: The Republican Party is Dying

The GOP is writhing on its death bed, according to the latest Washington Post / ABC News Poll. That poll finds that the percent of people who identify as Republican is remarkably similar to Dick Cheney's approval rating.

A mere 21 percent of Americans identify as Republican. That's down from 25 percent last month!

And how many times has Cheney's scary mouth been in the news since last month? Admittedly, Cheney's had some help from the 'Just Vote No on Everything' obstructionists in Congress.

Meanwhile, Americans who identify as Democratic number 35 percent. Independents weigh in at 38 percent. Stay tuned. Next month, the GOP may well plummet into the teens.

C'mon Cheney!!

Liberal Politics Progressive News Poll

Pandemic Flu Threat: Aren't You Glad the GOP is Not in Charge? (Video)

Worrying about a potential pandemic flu is bad enough without the nagging question of whether or not the U.S. Government can deal with the threat of pandemic flu better than it dealt with Katrina.

It certainly does not inspire confidence to know that Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine fought against and removed the funding for pandemic flu preparedness from the economic stimulus package.

Said Sen. Collins:

"[T]hese decisions are difficult. For example, I think everybody in the room is concerned about a pandemic flu. Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill? No, we should not. So, after discussion, we agreed that we would cut the funding for that, knowing that we can deal with that issue later."

Sen. Susan Collins - Was it worth it?

Ultra conservative Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) -- whose fondest dream is to shrink and defund government - is now looking to Washington for a little government aid to help with the unforeseen problem of a pandemic flu threat!

And as the SEIU points out (petition here), this is a bad time to be without a Secretary of Health and Human Services. And we are without one because of extremist conservative politicos.

The Nation: GOP Know-Nothings Fought Pandemic Preparedness
Europe Urges Citizens to Avoid U.S. and Mexico Travel

Swine flu cases rise to 40 in the U.S.

Liberal Politics Swine Flu News Maine Texas

Feminist Lesbian Wins Iceland by a Landslide

And another piece of the planet goes left. Yay! Iceland's first feminist and the modern world's first openly lesbian Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir won her office by a landslide! Together the Social Democrats and the Left Greens pulled in 51.5 percent of the vote.

Iceland has two Leftist parties, and we can't even get one genuinely feminist or even liberal party here in the U.S. Why does it seem like every democracy in the world except the backwards U.S. has a multiple party system?

Iceland's feminist and lesbian Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir won easily on the Social Democratic ticket as voters "punished" conservatives for Iceland's "economic meltdown." After 18 years of power, the conservative Independence Party pulled in a pitiful 23.7 percent of the vote. Reportedly, that's "far below" the right-wingers' all time low of 27 percent back in 1987.

Feminist Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir told supporters: ''Our time has come.''

It's Official: Lesbian Rules Iceland
Iceland to Name First Lesbian Prime Minister

Feminist Politics Gender News Gay Women's History Feminist Trailblazer EU Progressive Iceland

And the Feminist Secretary of State Slays Another Anti-Choice GOPer (Video)

In the video clip below, Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) conveniently forgets that the esteemed founding fathers of this nation were racists and misogynists too.

To this day, the hallowed U.S. Constitution is full of racist and sexist language, but never mind that. What's important is that Margaret Sanger was racist and how dare Hillary Rodham Clinton have anything whatsoever to do with Planned Parenthood!! The nerve of the woman!

I guess that's why women can't get into the history books. The Foremothers were just too racist. And if we removed a few racist founding fathers from the history texts? There might at long last be room for a few women of all color.

Needless to say, Secretary Clinton puts the sanctimonious male supremacist and hypocritical blathering fool in his place.


Michelle Goldberg: THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST SECRETARY OF STATE LOOKS LIKE -- Given all the taboos, controversy, and hypocrisy that have surrounded abortion as an international public-health issue, this was an amazingly brave statement:

When I think about the suffering that I have seen, of women around the world. I’ve been in hospitals in Brazil, where half the women were enthusiastically and joyfully greeting new babies, and the other half were fighting for their lives against botched abortions. I’ve been in African countries where 12 and 13-year-old girls are bearing children. I have been in Asian countries where the denial of family planning consigns women to lives of oppression and hardship. So we have a very fundamental disagreement. . We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health, and reproductive health includes access to abortion, that I believe should be safe, legal and rare.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Jodi Jacobson at RH Reality Check:

Clinton's statement was certainly the most courageous a Secretary of State--or any Administration official--has ever made on reproductive rights and one of the most courageous statements made by a Secretary of State of any kind, on any issue, ever, because it was made in the face of over 20 years of political silence on the issue. And it was made about an issue made increasingly taboo by the very stigma and silence that people like Smith have worked so hard to perpetuate.

Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and hopefully for years to come as Secretary of State, Clinton is and will be a heroine to women throughout the world and a path-breaking leader in an Administration that continues to make history.

TGW -- Hillary: Reproductive Health Includes Access to Abortion (Video)

Feminist Politics News Pro Choice Hillary Clinton Reproductive Freedom Margaret Sanger

Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Attacks Al Gore (& Embarrasses Tennessee, Again) (Video)

In today's hearing on climate change, Tennessee's Marsha Blackburn suggested (to his face) that Al Gore's motivation for sponsoring climate change legislation is greed. That's right, the woman who has built her career on the backs of poor people in this poor state thinks (sic) Al Gore has been signing up for derision and mockery from the flat-earthers for the last 3-4 decades simply because the man is greedy.

Some days a deep and abiding outrage over the unbearable male domination in this country makes me think I should always cast my vote for a woman, even if she is to the right of Attila the Hun. Then I remember Marsha Blackburn and come to my senses.

Steve Benen:

By the time Blackburn had said, "I'm not making accusations..." the laughter in the room was audible. She was unambiguously attacking Gore's integrity, arguing that he's working on the issue to enrich himself. It was quite a ridiculous display, even for Blackburn.


I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us. And I have invested in it. But every penny that I have made, I have put right into a non-profit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness about why we have to take on this challenge. And Congresswoman, if you're, if you believe the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don't know me. -- Al Gore

The largest corporate carbon polluters in America, 14 years ago, asked their own people to conduct a review of all of this science. And their own people told them, "What the international scientific community is saying is correct, there is no legitimate basis for denying it." Then, these large polluters committed a massive fraud far larger than Bernie Madoff's fraud. They are the Bernie Madoffs of global warming. They ordered the censoring and removal of the scientific review that they themselves conducted, and like Bernie Madoff, they lied to the people who trusted them in order to make money. -- Al Gore

After Appearing In Gore Ads Last Year, Gingrich Now Decries Green Economy Bill As ‘Path Of Destruction’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al Gore . . called a House measure that would curb the gases blamed for global warming one of the most important bills ever in Congress.

Gender Global Warming Politics News Climate Change Tennessee Flatearthers

Larry Summers Caught Sleeping on the Job (Literally)

Caption This!


The famously sexist Larry Summers caught sleeping at a meeting in the Roosevelt Room while his boss President Obama addresses credit card industry officials.

Photo via: Larry Summers' cat-nap at credit talks

Feminist Politics News Obama

Hillary: Reproductive Health Includes Access to Abortion (Video)

"Keeping women and men in ignorance and denied the access to services actually increases the rate of abortion." -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 4/22/09

And watch the video clip of Hillary answering Ron Paul's question on empire mentality.

Feminist Politics News Pro Choice Hillary Clinton Reproductive Freedom Congress

MoveOn's Investigate Torture (Cheney) Ad (Video)

Bush Politics Obama DOJ News

Hillary: Cheney Is Not 'A Particularly Reliable Source' (Video)

I love it when the GOP menz attempt to grill Hillary. Hear me cackle!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was testifying on Capitol Hill this morning when she was asked about former Vice President Dick Cheney's request to declassify documents showing the "success" of harsh interrogation torture techniques approved by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 terror.

"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him [Cheney] a particularly reliable source," she said.


Pressed by California Republican Dana Rohrabacher about whether she would advise President Obama to release the documents, Clinton replied: "I'm not going to share that with you," Clinton said.

The former first lady, former senator and former presidential candidate used her knowledge of Washington's gotcha politics to dodge some other bullets too. It was a feisty performance, with a lot of Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee piling on. .

And South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis, asked Clinton why had not been more openly critical about forced abortions during her visit to China. Clinton said that she opposes China's policy of forcing women to have abortions, and has ever since she was first lady.

"Why didn't you say it as secretary of State?" Inglis asked.

"I just did," Clinton replied.

She also clashed on abortion with New Jersey Republican Chris Smith, defending her support for family planning and contraception on the international stage. Smith questioned how Clinton could accept an award honoring Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, a group Smith said had "killed over 305,000 children by abortion in the U.S. and millions more worldwide."

Replied Clinton: "I deeply respect your passionate views" but "we obviously have a profound disagreement." And, she added, "We are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including reproductive health care."


"Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) told Clinton 'You make your New York homeys proud.'"

Feminist Politics News Gender Hillary Clinton Chavez Cheney

Tennessee Lawmakers Busy Themselves With 19 Gun Bills!

Quote of the Day

“I’m very disappointed with the state Legislature. With unemployment, health care costs soaring, 20 percent cuts in budgets, if you look at education, all those major issues, and this Legislature wants to deal with guns in parks and guns in bars. It baffles the mind that they’re up there with 19 bills dealing with guns. And I hope Nashvillians will stand with us to say this is ridiculous.”

-- Jerry Maynard, Nashville Councilman

Anyone coming to Tennessee might want to rethink that. If our totally insane lawmakers have their gun-happy way, we'll have guns in our bars, guns in our restaurants, and guns in our parks. I can think of safer places to visit.

Absurd Politics Tennessee Cowboys He-Man News

Gavin Newsom Announces Bid for Governor of California (Video)

Goddess I'd love to see this man win and turn all of California into San Francisco. The perfectly liberal San Francisco mayor makes it official in the video clip below.


LGBT Same-Sex Gay Marriage News Gender Gavin Newsom Politics

A Gaythering Storm (Video)

The stars come out to mock the ridiculous and homophobic ad put out by the bigoted National Organization for Marriage (who are also prejudiced against single mother families).

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

LGBT Same-Sex Gay Marriage News Gender Discrimination Feminist Politics Heterosexism

President Beefcake, Dick Cheney, & the Search for Maturity

Just when you thought the hysterical cable and internet chatter about President Obama having the nerve to shake hands with a world leader (!) was finally subsiding, here comes Dick Cheney.

Echoing the sentiment of right-wingers everywhere, Dick Cheney warns us that shaking hands is a terrible and awful sign of weakness!

Obama shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, therefore Obama is a sissy, and all our enemies will now perceive Obama to be a "weak president," grumbles pro-torture Dick. President Obama should totally follow the Bush and Cheney grown-up model of giving world leaders the silent treatment.

No wonder the men prefer to keep women out of politics. Otherwise, their mamas might make the testy doods behave. Speaking of the search for maturity in America, how do you like the cover of the forthcoming Washingtonian, featuring your topless President? The ABC News boyz dub it: President Beefcake.

Absurd Politics Obama Shakes Hands Chavez He-Man News

Norml Launches Nation-wide TV Ad Campaign: 'Legalization: Yes We Can' (Video)

In honor of 4.20, Norml begins a nation-wide tv ad campaign today, addressed to Pres. Obama -- First-Ever Nationwide Pro-Marijuana TV Ad Campaign Is Launched in Conjunction with ‘4/20.′ Watch it below! And The New York Times kicked off 4.20 with a piece on the increasing acceptance of the need to legalize weed:

"[A]ny time you’ve got Glenn Beck and Barney Frank agreeing on something, it’s either a sign that change is impending or that the end times are here.”

Legalization: Yes We Can

After Brian got caught smoking pot on last night's Family Guy, he mounted a campaign to legalize it! And NPR has, Last Dance With Mary Jane? Not Yet

Prohibition Drug War News Obama Politics

Miss California's Gay Marriage Answer: 'Opposite Marriage' Is Best (Video)

"I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other . . . we live in a land that you can choose same sex marriage or opposite marriage," said Miss California (Carrie Prejean) at the Miss USA pageant.


Miss California: My Anti-Gay Marriage Answer "Cost Me My Crown"

LGBT Same-Sex Gay Marriage News Gender Discrimination Feminist Politics Heterosexism

Misogyny Watch: Mercedes Benz, Nissan, BMW (Video)

Speaking of the eternally adolescent male culture, I stumbled across the following ads over at The Illusionists (there are more). She writes:

Before you go any further, please just stop for a second and contemplate the fact that these ads, like any ads, were produced after a series of meetings in between the ad agency and the client. . . These ads didn’t simply come out of the blue. Everything was deliberate and at no stage did anyone raise an objection strong enough to stop the ads. Because sexism and objectification are fun, right? Had the ads discriminated against a racial minority, with racist stereotypes, the people at the ad agency would have likely been crucified. But women are a whole other target. Misogyny is so deeply ingrained in our culture that some of the most prestigious car manufacturers can get away with this.

Dumb Blondes Don't Buy Mercedes Benz


Nissan: Objectification is Funny


Feminist Politics News Gender Sexist Ads Patriarchy

Feminists Don Beards to Protest Sexism at Male Dominated L'Oreal

Why should women buy products from L'Oreal if the company doesn't hire women? That's what feminists in Paris want to know.

So feminist activists staged a bearded protest to call attention to the sexist hiring practices at the male dominated L'Oreal.

Feminists demonstrating against sex discrimination? What an extraordinary idea!

PARIS (AFP) — Feminist activists wearing fake beards staged a bizarre protest against L'Oreal in central Paris on Thursday, saying the company did not have enough women managers despite being a cosmetics producer. . . Mimicking L'Oreal's famous advertising slogan, activists handed out a leaflet entitled "Because you're worth it" and held up placards with photos of company directors all with beards scrawled on their faces, including the women.

Related: L'Oréal found out for hiring only white shampoo-promoters (July 2007)

Feminist Activist Politics News Gender Sexist Discrimination Paris

It's Not Susan Boyle Who Needs a Make-Over (Links & Cry Me A River Video)

Never mind that I want to throw things at my monitor every time I see the rolling eyes and hear the rude judges react to Susan Boyle. Did anyone see Susan Boyle on Larry King the other night? Larry brought up the subject of Susan changing, by which he meant she should get a makeover. And they told us junior high wouldn't last forever! All I want is for Larry King to ask a man when he's going to get a make-over and conform to the infantile standards of a shallow, eternally adolescent culture.

Hey Larry King, when are you going to get some Botox?

What women are saying:

Susan at That's Me on the Left: Susan Boyle and Hillary Clinton: After watching the behavior of many in the audience and the judges in the above video, I couldn't help but think of Hillary Clinton.

Tanya Gold: It wasn't singer Susan Boyle who was ugly on Britain's Got Talent so much as our reaction to her: This lust for homogeneity in female beauty means that when someone who doesn’t resemble a diagram in a plastic surgeon’s office steps up to the microphone, people fall about and treat us to despicable sub-John Gielgud gestures of amazement. . Because Britain’s Got Malice. Sing, Susan, sing - to an ugly crowd that doesn’t deserve you.

Patricia Williams: I know those sneers. I've heard them too: I grew up in a culture of racial hierarchy, where being black and female automatically meant that you were oxen-like, stupid, undesired. Such measures are insidiously, seductively easy and they are powerful; hence I spent my life grasping for that Susan Boyle moment when I might open my mouth and rock the world to its foundations.

Amy Wilentz: Susan Boyle's extraordinary ordinariness: Please please please, Susan! The vintage women of the world beg you: Don't lose a pound. Don't buy a new wardrobe. No highlights! No Botox! Don't touch chin one, or chin two.

Lisa Schwarzbaum: In our pop-minded culture so slavishly obsessed with packaging — the right face, the right clothes, the right attitudes, the right Facebook posts — the unpackaged artistic power of the unstyled, un-hip, un-kissed Ms. Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace. She pierced my defenses. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective from time to time.

Sadie at Jezebel: To attempt this sort of show, but not to buy into the accepted mold, was an act of impunity that seemed to disregard of all the rules of the game, and made one fear that here was another deluded, oblivious person being exploited for laughs. Our joy was as much relief as surprise. And that joy is very real.

Elizabeth Snead: Susan Boyle already gets a makeover? Oh, NOOOO!

Susan Boyle: Cry Me a River

video via

Feminist Politics News Gender Sexism

The Susan Roesgen Show & Fox News: Network of the People's Revolution (Video)

Susan Roesgen -- the CNN reporter who waded smack into the middle of an angry Tea Party and proceeded to challenge a man with a sign portraying Obama as Hitler and then pronounced the crowd to be "anti CNN" and "not really family viewing" -- is now on vacation.

CNN says this is a previously planned vacation, but no one believes that.

Meanwhile TVNewser reports that Susan Roesgen's admittedly opinionated coverage was somewhat influenced by the shouts of "Damn CNN" and "Shut up, bitch." that the woman was subjected to while surrounded by the angry men. Not to mention the slew of beyond-the-pale signs, such as: "American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama's Ovens" (see photos & video).

Contrast opinionated Susan Roesgen with opinionated Keith Olbermann. Olbermann will disagree with anyone as long as she is NOT in the same room with him. Seriously, can you imagine Olbermann wading into one of these parties? To be fair to Keith, I wouldn't go there either. More to the point, can you imagine Olbermann inviting anyone whom he disagrees with on to his show? The one and only time I saw Keith do that, he waited until the woman was gone and then lunged with a cowardly attack.

The Susan Roesgen Show opposite Keith Olbermann's Countdown - CNN could bill it as: Ovaries vs. Balls!

Below is Jon Stewart's hilarious spot-on coverage of the cable news coverage of the Tea Parties and of the surreal reversal of the Left and the Right . . . Everything the Right hated, they now embrace . . . In the new world order, Fox News is the network of the People's Revolution! Heh. And what does it say about our media when the best analysis is found on the Comedy Channel?

Daddy, Why is that Lady Yelling at You?

Media Gender Politics Fox News Tea Parties Jon Stewart News Media CNN MSNBC

ACLU Threatens to Sue Tennessee Schools for Filtering Gay Web Sites

The ACLU will file lawsuits unless 107 of Tennessee's public school systems (including Metro Nashville and Knox County) stop the homophobic policy of blocking access to LGBT websites. The school systems must stop the discrimination by April 29.

With a few exceptions, Tennessee schools have a long history of being administered from a cave. That would be a patriarchal bible-thumping cave. The last I heard schools had progressed to the extent that they offered diversity workshops about race and ethnicity and race and ethnicity.

Visions of diversity that include students who fall into LGBT and/or feminist communities are apparently taboo or filtered out of the cave. There was a time when high school students from across the state commented here at TGW. That was before someone in the cave clamped down and filtered out scary words like lesbian and women.

Websites blocked by Tennessee schools include the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Students looking for advice on how to cope with homophobia are out of luck. Students looking for LGBT jobs, internships, or scholarships are out of luck. Students looking for an education outside the bible-thumping cave are out of luck.

The Tennessee school systems guilty of discrimination do not accept responsibility for censoring educational LGBT sites. They blame the internet filtering service. The internet filtering service blames Tennessee schools.

ABC News -- Last December, when Andrew Emitt starting looking for college scholarships, he turned to his high school library, hoping to find Web sites that would guide him. But the Tennessee 17-year-old is gay, and when he searched for organizations that might be friendly to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) students, he hit a firewall.

What he discovered is that 107 schools in Tennessee -- including his, Knoxville Central High School -- use software that can block Web sites catering to gay issues. Emitt couldn't find any education sites, but he could find those that promoted "reparative therapy," which promises to change homosexuals to heterosexuals.

"I wasn't looking for anything sexual or inappropriate," said Emitt. "I was looking for information about scholarships for LGBT students, and I couldn't get to it because of this software. . .

"If a gay student wanted to... get information about organizations that can help him, he wouldn't be able to," Metro High School student Eric Austin told ABC's affiliate in Nashville. "It would be like an African American student not being able to get to the NAACP's Web site," said Austin, who is also seeking redress. The ACLU claims these blocks violate the First Amendment and the federal Equal Access Law.

Tennessean: ACLU demands schools allow access to gay Websites
Knoxville News Sentinel: ACLU wants schools to unblock access to gay Web sites / Photo of Gay high school senior Andrew Emitt via ABC News.

LGBT Same-Sex Censorship News Gender Discrimination Feminist Politics Tennessee

Burger King Ad Harms Children (Video)

For all those who doubt that clueless adolescent males are in charge of everything, here's Burger King with an ad campaign destined to erase all doubt. This is one sick and excessively capitalistic culture. Burger King aspires to destroy the innocence of children -- for 99 cents. . . . "because nothing sells fast food to children better than provocatively-dressed women shaking their asses to a remix of Sir-Mix-a-lot’s “Baby Got Back” — the same song once judged by MTV to be too sexual for prime-time television."

Burger King to Children: Booty is Booty

Send a letter - Tell Nickelodeon and Burger King: SpongeBob and Sexualization Don't Mix.

New Agenda: ACTION ALERT: Sponge Bob Likes Big Square Booty?
Sun-Times: NEW LOW' | Burger chain's commercial featuring shaking rumps is too much for some parents - The ad shows the Burger King dancing with women wearing rectangular pants. He even measures their bottoms. The music by Sir Mix-A-Lot includes the lyric "booty is booty."
Marketing Daily: Burger King SpongeBob Ad Too Sexual?

Capitalism Feminist Politics News Gender Sexism

HBO Developing Feminist Show Called 'Women's Studies'

I left HBO because of the litany of male-centered shows, and because I couldn't stomach Bill Maher's sexism anymore. A feminist show called Women's Studies might bring me back.

The new feminist show will star Julie White as a former feminist “it” girl author who now teaches at a small northeastern liberal arts school. If Julie White is in it I can guarantee it will be funny.

HBO is exploring gender politics with "Women's Studies," a comedy project from former "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" exec producer Ben Karlin and "NYPD Blue" alumna Theresa Rebeck.

Feminist Politics News Gender

CNN's Susan Roesgen: Tea Parties Are Not for Family Viewing (Video)

Watch this woman! Susan Roesgen provides some rare coverage of the Fox News Tea Parties, aka, the 'Boohoo, Republicans Are Out of Power' parties. I like this woman. If the not exactly demur CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen was a man, she'd already have her own prime time show - opposite Keith Olbermann. And if Ms. Roesgen gets flak for this, Anderson Cooper should also get a wrist slap for his off-color tea bagging jokes.


"You get the general tenor of this. . . anti-government, anti-CNN since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox and since I can't really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing."

Via Media Matters and h/t to Women on the Web

About Nashville's Tea Party:
From what I could hear through a muddy and ineffective sound system at the Plaza (their intellectual ignorance of economic history is matched by their technical ignorance of the audio dynamics of amplification), none of the speakers were actually proposing things that would concretely expand employment, improve education, diminish poverty, or fix health care. They want government to just ... stop. It's pretty clear that about two-thirds of the country thinks differently. That's not a reason to silence a dissenting voice, but it could be grounds for rethinking the message.

For more Tea Bag Party coverage, see Save the Rich.

"But the teabaggers... honestly, I still have no idea what it was about. I mean, I know it was about tribal allegiance against Barack Mumia Saddam Obama III. But it wasn't actually about anything else."

-- Atrios

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Susan Boyle Becomes Overnight Superstar: The Viral Video

This is the seriously feel-good video of overnight superstar Susan Boyle. The video of her performance -- on the UK version of American Idol, Britain's Got Talent -- has gone viral -- seven million plus viewers and still going! Even judgmental Simon was in awe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And in case you don't realize what Susan Boyle was/is up against, scroll down to the column excerpt from the president of Britney Spears' fan club.

Susan Boyle Sings on Britain's Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 @ Yahoo! Video

Vancouver Sun: Susan Boyle: Unemployed 47-year-old virgin becomes overnight music superstar -- When 47-year-old small town spinster Susan Boyle stepped on to the stage of Britain's Got Talent and announced she was unemployed, had never been married and "never been kissed, actually," few in the audience would have wondered why. With unkempt hair and Leonid Breshnev eyebrows, and mention of her ten-year-old cat "Pebbles," the Blackburn, Scotland lass resembled basically every other reality TV talent show timewaster who talks big and delivers nothing but personal humiliation on a national stage.

But then Susan Boyle opened her mouth and sang I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, and her world changed forever.

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Afghan Women Protest Barbaric Marital Rape Law

Today's New York Times has a riveting story about the courageous Afghan women who are risking their lives by defying the barbaric men who write male supremacist laws like the marital rape law.

It was not that long ago when marital rape was perfectly legal here in the U.S. It wasn't until the Women's Liberation movement of the 1970s that a husband's right to rape his wife was seriously challenged:

Until 1976, marital rape was legal in every state in the United States. Although marital rape is now a crime in all 50 states in the U.S., some states still don't consider it as serious as other forms of rape.

But this is what happens in barbaric countries where men get to write the laws. Here in Tennessee, we have a few women lawmakers (17%) and after a ten year battle in the barbaric male dominated Tennessee legislature, a law was finally passed making it illegal to rape your wife. That little feminist miracle happened in the year of 2005 (!).

New York Times:

“Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”

The women scattered as the men moved in.

“We want our rights!” one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”

The women ran to the bus and dove inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.

“Whores!”

But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.

It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.

With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.

“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”

Update: Afghan Women Attacked for Protesting Marriage Law: Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming "dogs!" on Wednesday to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women.

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