You Know What?

Enough is enough.

Here is the Rude Pundit's entire post, because I could not resist:

Shorter Bush Saturday Address:

Here's Bush's vicious radio talk today, where he mentioned 9/11 about nine times, in haiku form:

L'etat c'est moi, 'kay?
Once you accept that, you fucks,
We'll all get along.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/12/shorter-bush-saturday-address-heres.html

And here's my question:

How long are we going to let this criminal -- because that's what he is, a self-confessed criminal, who has wiped his ass on the Constitution of the United States of America -- how long are we going to leave him in office?

Because Enough is, in fact, Enough.

We are become the Enemy.

He has turned us into the Evil Empire.

Do we just sit here and allow it?

Bits of Progress

Two bumper stickers I saw while I was driving around the Fort yesterday:

First one:

ENOUGH is ENOUGH: Vote DEMOCRAT!

Second one:

You Keep Believing:
I'll Keep Evolving.

The second one was outside the Books-A-Million bookstore, which is, I regret to say, the best bookstore in the Fort. It had, yesterday, utterly no new fiction, and two huge tables full of Narnia displays and books on how to pray and how to teach your child to pray, and little cuddly bears that, when hugged, would recite prayers to your child, and this was right by the eleven rows of bibles and Christian fiction, and I have nothing against this, honest I do not, I would just like some actual books, as well, in the sole bookstore of any note in the city I live in.

(This is the bookstore, by the way, that regularly gets harassed by the local religious right because it has, back inthe way back, one tiny section of sex-ed books, and, in the same area, under "Social Sciences," about two dozen books of gay fiction.)

Squick

This makes me ill:

For her 17th wedding anniversay Jeanette Yarborough wanted to do something special for her husband. In addition to planning a hotel getaway for the weekend, Ms. Yarborough paid a surgeon $5,000 to reattach her hymen, making her appear to be a virgin again.
"It's the ultimate gift for the man who has everything," says Ms. Yarborough...

Via Pandagon: http://www.pandagon.net/archives/2005/12/post_11.html#trackbacks

What sort of sick culture are we running here?

I can recall, back in the day, when I was first teaching, getting in a brief discussion with one of my classes about why guys would want to marry virgins -- this was when I was teaching the Odyssey, and discussing why it was important, to the Greeks, that women be virgins when they marry --- and I remember one guy in the back row speaking up and admitting the truth: he was about nineteen and not afraid to speak it. "Cause if she's a virgin," he said, "she won't have nobody to compare me with."

So all right then. That's one thing.

But these are women in their thirties and forties, with kids, getting themselves made into fake virgins, with enormous attendant discomfort, apparently, so that their hubbies can have some sort of sick thrill over "deflowering" them.

And their hubbies like it?

(The women themselves don't like it, the article goes on to make clear: one woman admits it's two years before she can enjoy sex again. But hey: worth the price if hubby is going to have a good night, in't it?)

There are some sick relationships out there. That's all I say.

Our Boy Bush

The boy in the bubble accidently admits that 30,000 dead Iraqis, more or less, (not to mention over 2000 dead American soldiers), was nothing to him:

“Q: Since the inception of the Iraqi war, I’d like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators.”

“Bush: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say, 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of our own troops.”

(snip)

While it’s a relief, I suppose, to know that Bush understands that his war has killed at least 30,000 Iraqis, does even that figure mean anything to him?

He acted as though it was a totally acceptable number.

In fact, as David Sirota has noted, Bush in the very next breadth made a joke as he interrupted the next questioner to say, “I’ll repeat the question. If I don’t like it, I’ll make it up.” The White House transcript reads: “(Laughter and applause.)”

That is the definition of obscenity.

To segue from the deaths of 30,000 Iraqis and 2,140 U.S soldiers to a poor attempt at humor is to reveal a frightening callousness.

What will it take for Bush to grasp the meaning and the magnitude of 2,140 dead U.S. soldiers and 30,000 dead Iraqis or more?

He has said over and over again that he came to liberate the people of Iraq and deliver them the gift of freedom.

But he didn’t liberate those 30,000 or those 100,000. They didn’t get to unwrap their gift, or if they did, it blew up in their faces.

Each dead Iraqi has a name.

Each dead Iraqi leaves a family that will never be the same again.

At what point does the President acknowledge the horrific pain he has inflicted on the people of Iraq?

Mentioning a mere number and then blithely moving on does not cut it.

Such indifference permitted their mass killing in the first place.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1214-29.htm

Grading

I'm working on grades for the semester, figuring quiz grades at the moment. Quiz grades are also how I reckon attendance, since I give a daily reading quiz in all my classes.

So I'm working on the reading quiz grades in the Diverse Cultures Class. You'll recall that that's the class where I taught four cultures/Literatures -- Asian, Jewish, Gay, and Feminist Literatures.

Guess which segment had the highest number of absences? In other words, which quarter did the students stay away from in droves?

Not gay lit -- which was what I would have expected, here in the Bible belt. Heavens no.

Feminist lit. How they hated that feminism.

Far worse than gay guys, those evil feminists.

I admit, that was a surprise to me.

More on Tulane

Here's more on Tulane's "re-tooling," this from The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Last week university officials announced a sweeping restructuring that will slice $60-million from the annual budget and will result in the layoffs of 233 faculty members, the elimination of 14 doctoral programs and 5 undergraduate majors, and the suspension of 8 athletic teams.

(snip)

The changes are wide-ranging:

The university will go from 45 doctoral programs to 18. Fourteen will be totally eliminated: economics, English, French, historical preservation, law, political science, sociology, water resources planning management, social work, and five in engineering. Other Ph.D. programs may be combined.

At the undergraduate level, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering will be reorganized into two new schools — the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science and Engineering. Five undergraduate majors will be eliminated — four in engineering, plus exercise-and-sports sciences.

Of the 233 faculty members laid off, 53 are from academic departments and 180 are from the medical school. The medical school took the biggest hit because the smaller population of New Orleans will result in fewer patients and less revenue, Mr. Cowen said.

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i17/17a00101.htm

Elsewhere in the article, it says that the programs that got cut are the weaker programs, and that the graduate students weren't just dumped -- they were mostly moved on to other programs: which is likely the case. I can't imagine a graduate student from Tulane finding it hard to be accepted into another program.

Still: how depressing. My lovely city.

The kid's grandmother is coming today to fetch her down to Metairie for the holidays. Then, on the 23rd, mr. delagar and I are traveling down there to spend a week or so, over the break. I'll see for myself how things are in the city, I guess.

Tulane Cuts Its Graduate School

mr. delagar was up the hill yesterday, where his dissertation director told him Tulane had cut its English graduate program in the wake of Katrina. "The whole thing?" I said. "It fired all the grad students?"

I couldn't believe it, so I went online to have a look.

It's worse than that -- Tulane has cut all its graduate programs:


Five undergraduate majors have been eliminated, all in science and engineering, and many other programs have been consolidated. The graduate school has been shut down.

The medical school faculty is being reduced by 180 positions, to 345, largely because only two hospitals are operating in New Orleans.

Over all, Tulane is reducing its full-time faculty and staff to 4,000, from 4,700. The cutbacks include job losses for 26 tenured professors whose programs are being dropped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/education/09tulane.html

Other news is worse:

The facts on the ground are sobering. Power and other utilities have not been restored in many places. The city government has laid off much of its work force, and nearly all the public schools remain closed. On Thursday, Tulane University, the city's largest employer, announced major budget cuts.

It is unclear when the levees will be repaired, and it will probably take years and tens of billions of dollars to fortify them. Without assurances about the levees, many exiles do not want to move back. The longer the uncertainty lasts, the more likely it is that they will put down roots elsewhere.

More than 75 percent of the city's population of 460,000 is gone, by some estimates, and it would appear to make little sense to spend enormous sums revitalizing areas if they are to be sparsely populated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/weekinreview/11levy.html

I knew things were bad in the city -- I've been gathering that from the bits I hear from my family -- but this is really depressing.

Lackwits Try to Argue

Worldview Weekend, put out by American Family Online, sent me this little gem in my email -- not once, but six times -- it case I didn't get around to opening it the first five times, I reckon:

Recently Brandi Chambless was told by a Bartlett, Tennessee branch library staff member that she could not use a public shelf to display a Nativity scene along with an announcement about a Christmas concert at Broadmoor Baptist Church.

The shelf is open to the public for advertising upcoming community activities.

The library official told Brandi that a donkey, sheep and other farm animals, along with a Shepherd boy, could be displayed but the Wise men; Joseph, Mary and the Baby Jesus were inappropriate "religious figures" and must be removed. The library official sited a written policy that does not allow any display in the library that was religious. This policy of the Memphis-Shelby County Libraries deems "any item which promotes a particular religion or sectarian religious belief" to be unacceptable for display in the library.

If this is truly the policy of the Memphis-Shelby County Library then they need to remove every book and resource from every shelf and leave them completely and totally empty.

Why?

Because Webster's dictionary defines a religion as a collection of beliefs, therefore, every book in the Memphis Library system is promoting someone's religious belief.

We can thank the wise man that is the Mayor of Bartlett for over-ruling the Memphis-Shelby County library's ridiculous policy.

However, this incident brings to light the need for our local libraries to be influenced by the community and not the liberal American Library Association of which the Memphis libraries are members.

The American Library Association has a long history of being hostile to Christian values including suing to stop the enforcement of a federal law that would withhold federal funds from any library or school that does not filter internet pornography from children. Judith Krug, of the American Library Association, bemoaned internet filtering software for libraries saying, "blocking material leads to censorship. That goes for pornography and bestiality too. If you don't like it, don't look at it."

Well, two can play that game; if the Nativity scene at the library offends you then don't look at it.

Note that there is no huge freedom of speech crisis in Memphis -- some staff member wanted to advertise a religious service, some other staff member objected, a mayor settled the issue in an appropriate fashion. (Because this is, after all, a public space the staff member wanted to advertise in, not a state space, so it is, in fact, appropriate for her to advertise religious services there -- duh.)

So what we've got here is the American Family Online whipping up a hissy fit over nothing -- no shock there -- and attempting to demonize librarians while they're at it. How dare librarians be against censorship! Those evil librarians!

I really love this definition of religion, while we're on the subject. A collection of beliefs. Yes, right. You do realize that makes pornography and bestiality religion, American Family Online folks, don't you? And therefore, under your definition of the term, something that has to be protected by our Constitution? And given special rights and tax breaks?

Lackwits.

How I wish

This were not the sad truth:

You cannot reason with people who could give a fuck about being wrong. Reason has been tried. And it has been tried. And it has been tried. And it has been found lacking. This country is not being run by so called “reasonable conservatives.” It is being run by that 43% of the population who actually sincerely believe that there is a fucking war on Christmas being perpetrated by secular liberals. Ponder that. All the nice little bon-mots and civil conversations with your David Brookses and your George Wills are merely self delusion. Pretending it is not so might feel good, but I don’t really think it’s solving anything, or moving your agenda. It’s nice. But it’s not changing minds. Does open mockery change minds? Is that any more effective? Maybe not.

http://www.pandagon.net/archives/2005/12/a_defense_of_mo.html#more

Conservatives Miss the Point

Here's some charming posts from the Right for you: This one, at Pirate's Cove, is upset because the police in SF are being scolded for making "racist, sexist, and homophobic" videos -- all in good fun, mind you!

The videos were a bit rude, maybe insensitive, a little overboard. However, did they physically harm anyone? No. All they did was offend some people. Considering what police have to go through, I do not blame them for wanting to blow off some steam. But, the San Fran Thought Police are now out to get the real police.

http://www.thepiratescove.us/2005/12/its_a_mess_in_s.html

Because, as we know, what people think. especially when those people are armed, and have the power to arrest, detain, and interrogate, has nothing to do with what those people actually do.

This is the same Infuriated Right, of course, that's All Outraged because the Universities are filled with Lefties. Have my lectures ever physically harmed anyone? (Never! Not even that time when I flung the chalk at the idiot in the back row! I swear!) Sure, I've been rude, from time to time -- once I did, in fact, shout at a devout Christian to shut up and listen when I was talking -- maybe that was a little insensitive. But no blood got spilled. So what's the harm, right?

And I ain't even pack a gun, for heaven's sake. All I have is a grade book.

Then, over here, Tammy Bruce, who claims she's seeking common ground with common sense, says,

I've noted a number of times how we owe Europeans, and especially the English, a deep apology for not intervening sooner in World War II. Until the strike on Pearl Harbor, we allowed so-called Pacifists and isolationists to determine this nation's (non)reaction to genocide and naked aggression. Some attitudes haven't changed. Thank goodness we as a nation have. So much for 'pacifism' and 'peace.' Because we waited and did nothing as the Axis powers raped the world, millions died. Of all the things we learned during World War II, from its beginnings in 1933 when Japan invaded China, it is to never mistake not being at war for peace.

http://tammybruce.com/archives/2005/12/we_will_never_f.php

While, as you can imagine, I wholly support the war that wiped out Hitler, finally, it's her attributions -- them evil pacifists -- and that last line really annoys me. Never a mistake to not be at war for peace?

So anytime some fuckwit comes along and claims we need to fight a war for peace, Tammy Bruce, you're going to sign up, are you?

What is it with these conservatives? Why are they so hung up on the code ethics? What is wrong, I ask you, I beg you, I beseech you, what is wrong with engaging your brain?

Yes, Tammy: there is a difference between WWII and Iraq.

No kidding. Really. Look and you will find it.

Okay, this isn't a new post -- it's a link to a post you have to read. Here's a bit, but read the whole thing, which is delicious:

It's from a post called The Unofficial Gay Test For Men:

The question is, succinctly, "Am I gay?" It is normally prefaced with some rather obtuse and, I assume, unintentionally insulting explanation about feeling odd and weird and wrong and so forth, which is not unusual given the cultural climate and the drive by certain forces to frame the homosexual as someone who made a "wrong decision," and is "succumbing to sinful ways," and other such nonsense.

(Snip)
...I have accepted the challenge that my high-profile on-line gaydom affords me and will attempt, in this article, to help satisfy those questions that may be haunting you in the dark of night as you lie sweating between your sheets thinking about why you're feeling particularly excited about that guy you saw standing in line at Starbuck's with the arms that, gee, do they really get that big?

First, a short series of questions to ask yourself.
Score one (1) for each Yes answer, and zero (0) for each No.

1. Have you ever wondered what Johnny Depp tastes like?
2. Have you ever actually read Playboy for the articles?
3. When buying underwear, do you consider "ass fit?"
4. When watching the bar scene in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, are you thinking to yourself, "I wonder what Luke Wilson looks like naked"?
5. Do you have more than three different hair grooming products, i.e. mousse, wax, paste and gel? (The same type of product by three different manufacturers doesn't count.)

If you scored 3 or more, start sweating.

http://www.lancearthur.com/archives/001524.html#more

Posting Deficit

Boy, have I got excuses for you for why I haven't been posting much -- where will I even start?

(1) Five day migraine. Don't know what's up with these migraines. I've had them since I was about six, but they've been getting steadily worse, and this last one lasted, as I say, five days, and was excruiciating for the last two, despite all the drugs I took trying to make it go away. My charming neurologist suggests it might be the drugs -- rebound headache, he says. Try not using the drugs, he says. Bite me, I say.

mr. delagar thinks it's the rum. I'm more willing to give up the rum than I am the Vicodin, so we're going there first. (I don't drink that much, but I do drink some, and the research I've been doing suggests that alcohol can cause migraines, so, well. I'm laying off for a bit. And can I add? Rats.)

(2) Kid is sick. This was yesterday. She wakes up saying her head is wobbly and her knees hurt. I swear great oaths of fury (remember I am suffering an excruciating migraine) and make her swear she is not faking. She swears an oath of blood that she is really sick. I call in sick to work (mr. delagar is already gone to work) and ten minutes later she projectile vomits all over me. And is cranky and feverish and bad-tempered the rest of the day.

(3) Did I mention our heat stopped working? Not that I care. I hate central heat anyway.

(4) It's the last week of the semester. Students keep wanting me to work with them on their papers. Pesky students!

(5) I'm behind in grading, due to the migraine. Urg! Grading!

(6) No one had done any laundry, cooking, or shopping at our house this week. We're out of food and clean clothing. Last night I fed us -- well, me and mr. delagar, the kid did not eat, too busy hurling -- Kraft Mac & Cheese for dinner. At 9:00 p.m. And we were glad to get it too.

It is, however, almost the end of the semester. Maybe I will have time to read and think again soon. One can hope.

Damn. I forgot (7) mr. delagar's birthday is tomorrow. Nor have I bought him a present. This is bad news. He gets all touchy about shit like that.

I better go shop.

In case you needed one

Another reason to despise the Wall:

A Wal-Mart in Tampa thinks a black guy with a big check has to be a thief:

Pitts, local human resources manager for GAF Materials Corp., called the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 11110 Causeway Blvd. in the morning to order 520 holiday gift cards for employees. The white, female worker who normally did the task was on vacation. The company had spent about $50,000 a year on gift cards at the local Wal-Mart for several years.

Store employees assured him it wouldn't be a problem. The roofing system manufacturer gave Pitts a check for $13,600, and he left to pick up the gift cards.

Pitts, who wore khaki pants and a button-down dress shirt, arrived at the Wal-Mart customer service desk about 1:15 p.m. and found the cards ready.

But first, he was told, managers needed to verify the check.

Pitts gave them his GAF business card, driver's license and numbers to Citibank, GAF's bank. The company's accounting supervisor told Wal-Mart over the phone that the check was good. GAF, based in Wayne, N.J., is the nation's biggest roofing systems maker, with $1.6 billion in 2004 revenue.

At least two black clerks watching the situation told Pitts he was being subjected to such scrutiny because he is black. They told him other companies made similar purchases that day without such interrogations.

Wait! There's more!

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies arrived, responding to a call from store managers about a possible forged check.

Pitts said one of the officers grabbed his arm, causing him to pull away.

Hey! Doesn't he know that's resisting arrest?

And this isn't the first time, either:

Last summer, Wal-Mart managers at an Eagan, Minn., store accused Gayle Bryant of using a bad check to buy $92.69 worth of bottled water and household goods, news reports said. Managers called police, who waited for her to leave the store and then stopped her for questioning.

Bryant said she was targeted because she is black.

http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBK6Q0HRGE.html

To be fair, of course, this likely is not Wal-Mart policy. This is the racism of Wal-Mart employees -- which is to say, the racism of typical Americans. Nor can the caliber of the average Wal-Mart employee be much, considering what Wal-Mart pays -- anyone who can, moves on as soon as possible, I imagine. Anyone who stays is no doubt angry and looking for someone to take it out on.

Which doesn't excuse anything.

Wal-Mart ought to be educating its employees against racial profiling. For that matter, it ought to be paying its employees enough that they aren't taking their hate out on their customers.

The Kid Makes Me Nuts

Now y'all know me. I loves me some dialect. I love teaching the History of the English Language class, here at the Fort, mainly because in the second half of the class I get to teach dialects. So I have nothing, nothing, mind you, against dialects.

On the other hand: the kid has taken to saying "ain't," every chance she gets, in this utter hick accent, and it is driving me m-a-a-ad.

Which I made the parental error of letting her know, early on.

"I ain't going to," she said, about something. (Ain't pronounced like a'yunt, only all one syllable, it's appalling how low-rent it sound, well, I'm appalled, and you know me, I don't have class issues -- well, I thought I didn't--)

"You ayunt?" I said. "What are you, from Arkansas?"

This was a bad mistake. Since then she's been fitting ayunt into every sentence she can. Giggling madly when she does it. Today, I'm suffering from my fortnightly migraine -- "My head is killing me," I say.

"It ain't," the kid declares.

I glower at her.

"Well," she points out, beaming with delight, "you ain't dead."

Developing!

Apparently, not only have we evil Secular Humanists declared a War on Christmas, but now we are launching a War on Thanksgiving (Why do I never get the Memos?). Go here for details:

http://christianconservative.blogspot.com/2005/11/happy-thanksgiving.html

While we're on the subject, I'd like to give Christian Conservatives a bit of homework: look up that word secularist, would you, please?

Here's what secularist means: "one who believes that religious considerations should be excluded from civil affairs or public education."

Not an atheist, not one who isn't religious, not evil Satan-worshipping demon: just someone who happens to believe that religion should be kept in one sphere, and civil matters in another. Someone like, oh, Thomas Jefferson. Ben Franklin.