They did it

They made it to 3,000 before the end of the year.

Mission accomplished, we've turned the corner, now watch this drive.

We'll use sexist language if we want to, and if you don't like it, you are stupid

For a long time now, it has angered me that people say of a man or woman who shows courage, "He (or "she") has balls. Gonads are male genitalia and have nothing at all to do with courage. To say that someone "has balls" or "grew balls" and mean that the person has courage is to say that the person has a male trait. But when did courage become a male trait?

Retired Col. W. Patrick Lang thinks that it is indeed a male trait. He rejected a comment made by Kathy of What Do I Know?, who pointed out the sexism in a commenter's statement that Saddam "died a man." Ever the military type, Lang not only rejected the comment, but informed Kathy that "I discipline people on my site, not you." Yes. Sir!

Lang also informed Kathy that "If you do not have the wit to understand that that line means that he died a resolute human being, then you have problems too profound for me to
deal with."

Here's the thing: It's okay to say that someone "died a man" or "died like a man," meaning, he was mature about it, if--and it's a very big "if"--you would also say that a female who died the same way "died a woman." The problem is, no one does say that, therefore making the original comment sexist. (If it turns out that the original commenter is a feminist who would indeed have said "died a woman," then I apologize, but I think I am on safe ground here.) People do not use "like a man" to mean "like a strong, true adult who happens to be male;" rather, they use it to mean "like a strong, true adult of either gender, only probably not a woman."

And as for you, Colonel, when did a "resolute human being" mean a male? I already know the answer: "It's just an expression." Right. Like "He has balls." Or "She has balls." Or "Our Father who art in heaven." Or "the lady policeman." Or "Joan Smith is the new chairman of the committee." There is nothing more important than language, and when language presumes that the primary referent of almost everything is male, that's called sexism.

Yes (I feel safe speaking for Kathy here), we understand what the commenter meant. He meant resolute. Brushing us aside by implying we don't get the literal meaning of something is not going to work. Resolute. Determined, intrepid, steadfast. Got it. But that is the problem--we understand that the word "resolute" is being used to imply "manly." And that is sexist.

For all of you do not have the wit to understand and recognize sexist language, your problem is indeed profound.

And still more poetry

I have a new poem in Muscadine Lines.

See also...

2,999 down, and counting

Another American soldier has been killed in Iraq. Only one more American troop death, and the Cheney/Bush/Rice machine will have the blood of 3,000 Americans on their hands before 2007 even gets here.

Hurricane--what hurricane?

da po' blog points out that Hurricane Katrina/Rita recovery (or lack thereof) did not make the AP's list of top 10 news stories of 2006. The crisis in Darfur barely made it--it's number 10. That Katrina stuff is apparently just so 2005.

Florida candidate denied right to inspect voting machine software

Remember Christine Jennings, the Florida Congressional candidate against whom the Republican Party spent $58 million on robo calls? The people who received such calls about Jennings were misled by the calls' content and thought that they were being warned about her by her own political party. They learned differently only if they listened to the entire call, which most of them did not. But when they hung up, they would be called again. And again. Most people, of course, did not want to listen to the entire call.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

What's wrong

With this picture?

Cowards, hypocrites and puppets

Sen. Clinton believes in "equality" for the LGBT community and opposes legislation that would ban gay marriage, yet she continues to oppose gay marriage.

Former Sen. Edwards believes in "equality" for the LBGT community, but "struggles" with the concept of gay marriage, and therefore opposes it.

Sen. Obama believes in "equality" for the LGBT community, but opposes gay marriage for "religious reasons."

I have said this many, many times, but I'll say it one more: ALL marriage in the U.S. are civil unions. If you go into a church and get a member of the clergy to perform a marriage ceremony for you, and you do not have a government certificate for the marriage--no matter how many thousands of beads have been sewn onto your dress and no matter how many Bibles you carry--you are NOT married.

There is no such thing as civil union v. marriage. But no one will step forward and debunk the myth that there is a difference between them. You are either married--meaning you have a legal civil union--or you are not. If your church is bigoted enough to not want to perform a religious ceremony for a gay couple that has a civil union, that is your church's own moral downfall. But your own civil union is no more legal or important than that couple's is. It is all marriage in the United States.

People who "oppose gay marriage," therefore, should oppose civil unions for gay couples, because they are the same thing.

North Carolina woman charged with "castration"

A drunken woman who grabbed a man's genitals at a party and did sufficient injury to require him to have about fifty stitches has been charged with "malicious castration." This is the first time that the charge has ever been brought in Lillington, North Carolina. The perpetrator was also charged with assault causing serious bodily injury.

Castration involves the removal, not the injury of, the testes. No testes were removed. The article about the incident does not say whether the woman was also charged with sexual assault, which she should have been. But it does give one pause: Is "sexual assault" too "feminine" a crime to record against a man? Might he then have been humiliated the rest of his life? Or, on the other hand, if there was a sexual assault charge, then why add a charge of castration, which didn't even take place?

If the tables had been turned, and the man had grabbed the woman's genitals and seriously injured her, he, too, would have been charged with assault causing serious bodily injury, and (in some circles, depending on whether he was running for governor of a western state) with sexual assault. But there is no way in hell he would ever have been charged with "malicious castration." (Let's face it--until 1977, Blue Cross/Blue Shield paid to have American women's genitals mutilated.)

Though what the North Carolina woman did was despicable, I hope she has an attorney who fights this especially sexist charge.

Whom Americans admire pretty much says it all

The annual Gallup poll, released today, shows George W. Bush as the "most admired man" in the U.S., depsite his percentage, 13, being down from 2005 (19%) and 2004 (23%). 13% is, of course, a frightfully small number of admirers of a sitting president, but it is still a larger number than the runner-up received. That would be Bill Clinton, with 5% of the vote. After him were: Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, Billy Graham, Colin Powell, Pope Benedict XVI, Nelson Mandela, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Gates.

So bigots like Bush and and Powell and Benedict (and Obama) are admired, as are two members of the BFFE, one of whom is a liar, an idiot and an outright war criminal. Carter and Clinton are hardly two of my favorite people (though Carter was, once upon a time), but I can understand their getting votes for various reasons. Gates, too. And, of course, Mandela. The Graham vote is something I have never understood, but so be it.

The most admired woman this year was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, with 13% of the vote (the same number she had in 2005 and 2004). The runner-up was the ethically confused animal abuse promoter Oprah Winfrey. The others were: Condoleeza Rice, Laura Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Angelina Jolie, Nancy Pelosi, Madeleine Albright, Barbara Bush, and Maya Angelou.

One assumes Jolie is on the list because of her work with children in crisis, and not for her social life. Jolie is a member of the LGBT community, however (could it be that the average poll respondent didn't know that?), so her inclusion on the list is more than interesting.

Are Americans so shallow, though, that any woman who has had a leadership role is automatically admired?

If I were compiling a list of my most admired people, I cannot imagine including most of these people. My list, I fear, would not be very popular.

Only 10 more to go

If the Bush administration hurries, it can claim to have killed 3,000 American troops by the end of this year. How many Iraqis this war will have killed is unknown, but the number is very, very large.

Update on good animal news

No sooner did I post about the NBA's getting rid of leather balls that a commenter informed me that the NBA has just decided to switch back to leather, giving us some bad animal news instead.

Friday cat blogging--how to open a Christmas present

Approach casually

Inhale as much catnip as possible

Grab the toy--a shiny octopus, in this case--and let it rip!

A bit of good animal news

There is so little good news to report about the welfare of animals, but here is some:

• The NBA has decided to follow the example of the NCAA and the WNBA--no more leather basketballs, thanks to PETA.

• Disney Magic Cruise Line has added vegan items it its menu.

• Aveda has switched from using pony hair to using synthetic materials for its makeup brushes, also thanks to PETA.

• Architectural Digest is refusing to publish photos of walls covered with big game hunting "prizes."

• Jane is refusing to feature fur items on its pages.

These are comparatively small victories, but their accomplishment shows a change in consciousness, however small. We are a very long way from getting rid of factory farms, slaughterhouses, lab animals, and slaps on the wrist (or no punishment at all, which is the usual consequence) for animal cruelty. But we are a tiny bit further along than we were.

Every time a bell rings, a Communist gets a foothold

Some of us consider It's A Wonderful Life to be one of the least appealing films ever made, but even our disdain cannot compare with the FBI's assessment of the 1946 Frank Capra ode to codependence. The Bureau thought that the film was a piece of Communist propaganda with an anti-consumerist message.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

John Edwards kicks off his campaign with a statement that infuriates me

Orelia Tyler wanted a team of volunteers to come to her newly restored New Orleans house and spread a load of soil in her back yard. She got more than she bargained for when presidential candidate John Edwards showed up to do the shoveling. No one bothered to tell Tyler that her house would be the scene of a political photo op, but even worse was what Edwards said when he got there.

"That’s why I’m in New Orleans," he said, "...to show what’s possible when we as Americans, instead of staying home and complaining about somebody else not doing what they’re supposed to, we actually take responsibility and we take action."

Well, thank you, but I happen to believe that whoever is not doing what s/he is supposed to be doing should be complained to, loudly and repeatedly, and should be forced to do it. That would be the federal government, whose inept and criminally negligent Army Corps of Engineers caused New Orleans to flood during Hurricane Katrina, and whose Department of Homeland Security did next to nothing when the flood occurrecd. It's great that volunteers are shoveling dirt, but all of the shoveling and rebuilding should be done by the organization--in this case, the federal government--that caused the disaster to occur. That's taking responsibility.

A new low in art crime

Art crimes abound, from the Christian/fascist censoring of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, to the September 11 hysteria censoring of art throughout the country, to the very existence of the unindicted criminal otherwise known as Thomas Kincaide. But some New Orleans criminals may have struck a new low when they trashed a collection of John T. Scott's sculptures.

The acclaimed artist went to a warehouse where some of his sculptures and painting were stored, only to discover that scavengers had dismantled the sculptures so they could sell the bronze for scrap. The thieves will get a few hundred dollars, whereas potential buyers would have paid thousands of dollars per sculpture.

The invasion of East Timor--the forgotten incident

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post conveniently forgot to mention the invasion of East Timor in their obituaries of former president Gerald Ford, so I am mentioning it here. It wasn't pretty.

The Times and the Post can be forgiven, however. They, like all major news media, also omitted or glossed over all the horrors committed by former president Reagan.

The news media discovers the crime of rape

Amanda at Pandagon echoes my thoughts completely in her post about how CNN finally wakes up to the horror that is rape when men are the victims. "Then the story," she says, "gets on CNN and the audience learns all sorts of alarming things about rape, such as how traumatizing and humiliating it can be."

The post covers all of the other relevant issues: that straight men are afraid to report rape because there is something so "gay" about it; that gay men, like women, are afraid to report rape because they will be blamed for it, and that we don't talk about the rape of men in prisons because "they somehow deserve it even more than women or gay men."

Of course, we are talking about CNN, the poorest excuse for a "news" organization imaginable.

The indoor holiday garden

The unlit tree displays a variety of ornaments

A dove sits at the top of the tree, with a snowy owl nearby to keep it company

The indoor holiday garden

A vase of berries on the buffet

Paperwhites in a Victorian Santa tin take their place between a Chinese plate and a Chinese horse

Berries from the yard in a vase on the dinner table

McCain goes looking in slime pool for more questionable staff members

Sen. John McCain's recent hiring of Karl Rove protege Terry "Call me" Nelson didn't surprise those of us who have never bought into the "straight talker," "maverick" image that has been manufactured by McCain and his supporters. Now McCain has hired yet another morally-challenged staff member, Jill Hazelbaker, as communications director for his New Hampshire campaign.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Friday cat blogging--Christmas edition

Velma's favorite spot is under the Christmas tree

But why is there a tree in the house?!

Roxie likes it when packages arrive

This crunchy snowman is mine!

You decide...

You say "kinara," I say rhinestone-studded dinner jackets and candelabra

Courtesy of Media Matters for America, a conversation between Bill O'Reilly and a caller:

CALLER: I don't think that any religious symbol other than the Nativity should be put up during Christmas because Christmas is a federal holiday. Hanukkah is not, and winter solstice isn't. If they want them that way, pass the law and then you can put them up.

O'REILLY: Yeah. But then when you get into the exclusionary, you get into, "Yeah, it's a federal holiday, but we're only gonna honor the secular meaning of the holiday. We're not gonna honor the religion." And then you get the little baby Jesus. I can see where you're coming from. But I don't think--look, the spirit of the season is goodwill toward men, correct, [caller]?

CALLER: Yes.

O'REILLY: All right. So goodwill toward men means you're generous. And then if you're generous, you put up all the symbols. There is only--there's really only one symbol, and that's the menorah. There's no Kwanzaa symbol. Maybe--is there a 50 Cent that we have to put up or something? Is there a Kwanzaa symbol? What is that? It's a candelabra like Liberace had? All right. We'll put that up, too. I don't mind.


Considering that O'Reilly can't tell the difference between a bath sponge and an Israeli snack, he didn't do too bad with that question.

Wall Street Journal OpEd dishes up a huge helping of sexism

I read so many things that make me ill, but Danielle Crittendon's OpEd in The Wall Street Journal is so very vomit-inducing, it's worth mentioning. I don't have to say anything about it, though, because Alas, a blog has taken care of that, and quite well, I might add.

Greg Hansen gets smacked

By After Atlanta, and he deserves every bit of it. Misinformation about Title IX flows as freely as misinformation about feminism and the Iraq War.

Wreaths on vehicles

What the hell is this thing about hanging a wreath on a vehicle? I have seen a wreath on the front grille of a car, and one on the back of a jeep, attached to a trailer hitch. What does it mean? That your SUV will last throughout eternity? That fairies may relax inside your truck? It's almost as tacky as hanging an American flag on your Chevrolet.

Florida Congresswoman calls for assassinations all over the place

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen says she never said that she would welcome the assassination of Fidel Castro "or any leader who is oppressing the people," but that the video clips were manipulated to make it look like she said it. Actually, she did say it.

In calling for the elimination of oppressors, Ros-Lehtinen is requesting the assassination of the heads of state of several major countries and many smaller ones. At least she is fair-minded, and not just going after Communists. But what of the Americans--many of them Ros-Lehtinen's constituents--who want our own government to become even more oppressive than it is? The people who say the First Amendment "goes too far." The people who say that women cannot choose their own medications. The people who say that protesters should go to jail. The people who say that gay citizens cannot have the same rights as other citizens. The people who believe the government can spy on Americans as much as possible. The people who say that an American citizens can be imprisoned without charge and without benefit of an attorney. The people who support rigged elections.

Oops...sounds like the Florida Congresswoman wants to "get rid of" Bush.

There is no such thing as "humane" meat-eating

Thanks to Kathy of What Do I Know? for this excellent article from Satya. In it, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, founder of Compassionate Cooks, explains why there is no such thing as a "humanely" raised "meat" animal.

The Muslims are coming!--Rep. Goode freaks out

Virgil Goode, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia, is concerned about immigration. "I fear," he said in a letter to his constituents, "that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt strict immigration policies."

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Chris Matthews wants to know

Is Senator Rodham Clinton "convincing" as a mom?

No, you overpaid, empty-headed, sexist waste of oxygen--she just plays one on TV. What would Matthews have her do? Chelsea is too old to have her mother give up her career to stay home and be a Brownie leader. Senator and President Clinton are probably past the point of having more children. What would it take for Matthews to find Clinton "acceptable" and "convincing" as a mother?

And you know how tired we get of his asking whether Giuliani and McCain and Edwards and Obama are "convincing" as dads.

Send good wishes to Speaker Pelosi

Sign the card.

New York City jailed protesters in violation of the Constitution

For more than two months in 2001, protesters in New York City who were arrested were jailed overnight instead of being given summonses, a violation of both the First Amendment right to free speech and the 14th Amendment right to due process. Those arrested were protesting the police killing of unarmed Guinean immigrant Amadou Diallo.

The plaintiffs also sought to show that in the two previous years, the city had an unwritten policy of locking up protesters, but the jury determined that such proof was not present in the plaintiffs' case.

The Giuliani years were filled with violations of citizens' civil rights. Something like 26 or 27 civil rights cases were filed against the mayor personally. He lost all of them.

The indoor holiday garden

Christmas cactus on the bay window ledge

Quote of the week

"You know, why wouldn't--why wouldn't nature then make it that anybody could get pregnant by eating a cupcake?"

Bill O'Reilly on why same-gender parenting is bad for children

Everyone needs a little irony for Christmas

20,000 "Christmas Packs," available for a donation of $29, have been sold. 508,000 buttons, 125,000 bumper stickers, and 100,000 magnets have been sold. 12,000 legal memos have been sold. The buttons bear the message, Merry Christmas: It's Worth Saying, and the packs include two lapel pins and a 3-page legal memo.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Lesbians in Oklahoma attacked

The FBI has been asked to help out in an Oklahoma case involving the physical attack of lesbians. Two Oklahoma women were accosted, beaten, and wound up with anti-gay epithets carved into their skin. The FBI says it may be able to help state law enforcement develop a profile for the perpetrator(s), but they say their hands are tied with regard to providing any other assistance. In fact, they have not yet agreed to participate in the case at all.

In the event that the perpetrators are caught, they cannot be tried under any federal statute because the federal hate crimes legislation does not include gays and lesbians. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to include gays and lesbians, but the Senate dropped the bill in May.

Gilligan and Pruett furious with Dobson over his distortion of their work

Well-known researcher and author Dr. Carol Gilligan is blasting child-abusing, dog-beating, breathtakingly homophobic James Dobson for disorting her research in a column he wrote for Time Magazine.

Focus on the Family's Dobson wrote:

According to educational psychologist Carol Gilligan, mothers tend to stress sympathy, grace and care to their children, while fathers accent justice, fairness and duty. Moms give a child a sense of hopefulness; dads provide a sense of right and wrong and its consequences. Other researchers have determined that boys are not born with an understanding of "maleness." They have to learn it, ideally from their fathers.

Says Gilligan: "My work in no way suggests same-gender families are harmful to children or can't raise these children to be as healthy and well adjusted as those brought up in traditional households." She says a lot more than that, too, including that she was "mortified" when she read what Dobson had written.

Yale's Dr. Kyle Pruett was just as angry over what Dobson wrote about his findings:

On page 134 of the book you cite in your piece, I wrote, 'What we do know is that there is no reason for concern about the development or psychological competence of children living with gay fathers. It is love that binds relationships, not sex.'"

What is really disturbing is what has been left unsaid: That Time Magazine would provide a guest columnist slot for a man who advocates the hitting of children, and the re-hitting of them if they cry more than the "genuine" two minutes they are allotted. A man who has bragged about beating his dog in order to assert his "authority." A man who believes that homosexuality can be "prevented" and "cured," that gay men are prone to be pedophiles, that women should submit to the "authority" of their husbands, and that Spongebob Squarepants may be part of the "gay agenda."

When prostitutes are murdered...

The Shouty Woman has a message for the so-called journalists who are covering the victims of the Ipswitch murderer, and she is spot-on. Thanks to Mind the Gap for this post, and be sure you read Mind the Gap's take on the whole horrid affair.

Episcopal rift becomes wider

With the withdrawal of eight Virginia churches from the American Episcopal Church, the divide caused by ordination of gay priests and bishops becomes more pronounced. These churches have chosen to align with the Anglican church, and will have to be adopted by conservative Anglican congregations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The congregations of two large Episcopal churches in Virginia are voting on whether to align with a church in Nigeria. If they do so, they will be answering to an archbishop, Peter Akinola, who believes it should be illegal for homosexuals to form oganizations, read gay literature and eat together in public places.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

The indoor holiday garden

A garland of pine wraps around the dining room chandelier

Around the living room ceiling fan

And over the hall tree

And the almost-indoor garden....

One of a pair of urns on the front porch

The wreath

Update on St. Bernard dog shooting--much more horrible than we thought

Many of you will remember that when the residents of St. Bernard fled Hurricane Katrina last year, many of them--thinking they would return soon--left plenty of food and water for their dogs. When they returned, some of those people found their dogs dead, not from starvation or drowning, but from gunshot wounds. Members of the St. Bernard Sheriff's Department had killed them.

There was a lot of outrage over these shootings, which seemed mindless and cruel, but we have only just learned how cruel they were. Most of us assumed that a group of ignorant, inhumane law enforcement officers decided it was easier to shoot dogs than round them up for the animal rescue groups. But that isn't what happened at all. Now that a lawsuit has been filed against the deputies, the truth has finally come out: The nearly twenty deputies did not go in and mow down the dogs. They shot them in ways that would cause them to suffer great pain and slowly bleed to death. The dogs were shot in the mouth, the hindquarters and the feet. In other words, the St. Bernard post-Katrina dog shooting was an act of malicious sadism.

Threatening the dogs' guardians with arrest if they tried to bring them along on the rescue vehicles, law enforcement officers assured people their dogs would be safe. Then they tortured them. Had their been no suit filed, what really happened would have covered up forever, depsite the sheriff of St. Bernard Parish suddenly reassuring everyone he didn't want to be part of a cover-up.

Holiday consumer marketing--sexism at its finest

Ken has a good post at Coffee Spoons about how pervasive gender stereotypes are during the holidays. I agree. Last year, I wrote about Barnes and Noble's offering of "Grandma's Purse" and "Grandpa's Briefcase" as toys. And while I do not blame marketing people for doing everything possible to appeal to women during the holidays--many women have a pathological need to decorate, shop, wrap, cook, bake, sew, and organize until they are near-crazy--the assumption that men do not ever shop, cook, attend Christmas concerts, listen to Christmas music, and decorate their houses is absurd. (Where I live, in fact, men probably do as much holiday cooking as women.)

But that isn't even the issue. The issue is that during the holidays, very rigid gender stereotypes--always present in our culture--are drawn out to ridiculous extremes. The jewelry store ads probably bother me the most: The assumption is that no woman ever bought a piece of jewelry for a man; rather, jewelry is something that must be given by a man to a woman. And that only by buying a woman jewelry will she "know" that you love her.

I am also sickened by ads that tell women to stop buying men clothes and buy them tools. The last time I checked, the men in my life still liked nice shirts, pants, jackets, and yes--ties. It goes without saying you have to know a man's (or a woman's) taste in clothing before you buy him something to wear, but wouldn't the women being appealed to in these ads have that kind of knowledge?

Of course, there is an unspoken, but always-present, message in these types of ads--that clothes are "feminine" and tools are "masculine." Men have to wear clothes, yes, but they are not supposed to think about clothes or enjoy clothes. That is for the gay men and the metrosexuals (god, how I loathe that word). But real men (even the ones who say their wives dress them), in real life, do talk about clothes, and they enjoy being complimented on their clothes. They may not be as interested in clothes as many women are, but the interest they do have is not "feminine."

Of course, the reverse is true, too, but it is so under the radar, no one even thinks about it: A lot of women would like to have new tools and electronic gadgets, but apart from the notebook computer and the ubiquitous ipod, they are probably out of luck.

A Flakey and delicious meal

As a regular reader of What Do I Know?, I always look forward to Kathy's Wednesday Food Blogging, and from time to time, I prepare one of her dishes. I have never been disappointed. We had dinner guests last night, and I decided to turn to Kathy's stash of recipes for inspiration for part of the meal.

I made strawberry daiquiris, using freshly harvested Louisiana strawberries, picked in an early harvest. To go with them, I made a white bean spread, which I served with crackers. That got us through the sit-and-chat part of the evening. For dinner, I served a warm endive salad flavored with fig-infused white balsamic vinegar, Kathy's lemon and rosemary flatbread (with rosemary from my garden), Kathy's Swiss chard with white beans over penne, and finally, Kathy's strawberry parfait, again, using Louisiana strawberries. I served a 2003 Callifornia syrah, and music was provided by Elvis Costello, Talking Heads and the B-52s.

All three What Do I Know? menu items were superb. The flatbread was piquant and herbal at the same time, and the pasta dish was absolutely delicious. I have served Swiss chard with pasta before, but I like Kathy's recipe better than my own. The parfait was a big hit--just the right consistency. Fortunately, there is leftover pasta, so we have a good meal planned for this evening. And my second loaf of flatbread will work for my dinner party next Saturday night.

Friday cat blogging--Meet Tarzan!

Last week, when I introduced Ziggy Stardust, I said the story would be continued. The rest of the story is Tarzan, who was also part of the TNR project. When Tarzan was first trapped, he appeared to be one of the few kittens who was truly feral. Despite our attempts to tame him, he snarled and growled and spat and lunged, so we determined that he really did belong with ferals, and let him return to his colony. Not too long after that, he began to grow tame around his caretakers. He was trapped and brought here, and by this time, all of the foster kittens were gone except for Ziggy Stardust, whom I realized I probably couldn't give up.

From the moment Tarazn re-appeared and moved into a pen next to Ziggy's, Ziggy became significantly calmer. The two were allowed to have playtime together, and they got along famously. When we went to Montreal, we were up in the air about the whole situation, so we boarded the kittens, along with Roxie and Velma. During their boarding period, Ziggy and Tarzan played together constantly and became best friends.

What could we do? We had to keep both of them. I wasn't really ready for that, and Roxie and Velma are adjusting, but with queen-like reluctance. I hope that some day, they can all become friends. At least, this way, Ziggy has a kitten to occupy him; otherwise, he would be in even more trouble for using Roxie's tail as a toy.

Tarzan loves to play, and is very affectionate, though still a bit afraid. He will probably do better socially once he stops sneaking up on the big tortie cat and saying "Me Tarzan--you Velma!"

If these are compliments, I'd hate to hear the insults

People are calling in to C-Span to talk about Speaker Pelosi, and the "praise" includes comments like: "I didn't know how a woman would be in this position, but I'm pleased with her," "She expresses herself more than any woman I've ever seen in Congress," etc.

But hey--there's no need for a feminist movement in the U.S., right?

Farewell, Lindsay--we'll miss you like crazy

Lindsay Davenport hasn't yet used to "r" word, but she is pregnant, and says she "can't imagine" playing tennis again.

The three-time Grand Slam winner and holder of an Olympic gold medal has won 51 singles titles and 36 doubles titles in her very illustrious career, was ranked number one in the world for a total of 98 weeks, and gave lessons on sportswomanship just by showing up. Davenport has won so many awards, I couldn't begin to list them here. And it is just like her to find a way to get out of doing a farewell tour or even playing in a farewell tournament. Instead, she is just quietly going away, which is how Lindsay Davenport does things.

For her die-hard fans, this personal good news is a bit hard to take. Davenport's Slam wins came several years ago, when she wasn't playing as well as she has played for the last few years, even after suffering a severe injury that took her out for months. But she has sustained many more injuries, and has also had some of the worst luck of any top player. 2004 should have been her year (in terms of Slams--it was her year, otherwise), but things happened. 2005 should have been her year, but more things happened.

The freak foot injury in the 2004 U.S. Open semifinal, after she had won the entire U.S. Open series and was a shoo-in to take the title, was the first really bad piece of luck. The heat exhaustion in the 2005 Australian Open final, after she had played both singles and doubles to the bitter end to support her cancer-recovering friend Corina Morariu, was the next. Then came her heart-breaking loss to Venus Williams in the thriller 2005 Wimbledon final, in which Davenport held a match point.

After that, it was one injury after another, and the worst one wasn't physical--it was Sony Ericsson WTA Tour executive director Larry Scott's decision to deny her a couple of crucial wild cards when the rules permitted him to give them to her. She has talked about taking legal action against Scott, but I don't know if that is relevant now.

Davenport's huge serve, powerful, pinpoint returns, and remarkably clean groundstrokes made her a standout on every court but clay, and she wasn't half bad on that surface. She was an articulate spokeswoman for women in sports, and a fair-minded, good-humored opponent. And other than posing for a "Got milk?" ad, Davenport showed good judgment and wisdom in practically everything she did in her career. We all assumed 2006 would be her last year, and some of us still hoped there would be one more Slam win. Now she is gone from the courts, just like that, and it is going to take a long time for many of us to accept her absence. I, for one, am very sad to see her go.

Some speech is more inappropriate than other speech

Ever since Rosie O'Donnell joined the cast of The View, she has received sharp criticism from other members of the media. O'Donnell's pique with Kelly Ripa over a supposedly homophobic remark seems silly to some, significant to others. Joe Scarborough--who is as obsessed with O'Donnell as Keith Olbermann is with Britney Spears--has sharply criticized O'Donnell for saying such "inappropriate" things as her observations that radical Christianity is as threatening as radical Islam, and that Bush is less than a stellar example of a leader. Other conservatives were oh, so shocked by O'Donnell's statement that post-September 11 America is like the McCarthy era.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Eating tofu is SO gay

According to Megashift Ministries chairman and founder/chairman of Open Church Ministries James Rutz, penises are shrinking and men are becoming gay, gay, gay as I write this because they are consuming soy products. According to Rutz, the estrogen in soy milk, tofu, and much of our refined food is creating a nation of "feminized" men. Note that, to Rutz, smaller penis means "feminine," and, of course, gay means "feminine."

Rutz subscribes to the theory that a large amount of soy can cause breast cancer, and I'm guessing he believes that industrial estrogens can also cause both breast and ovarian cancer. These theories have not been proven, but many scientists continue to be highly suspicious of industrial estrogens, and with good reason.

But there's more to consider...using Rutz's own reasoning, it follows that lesbians who consume soy products would become heterosexual, since they, too, would be more "feminized" (which, to Rutz, obviously means "straight"). And God only knows what it does to heterosexual women. Do they start looking and acting like drag versions of Marilyn Monroe?

And finally, if drinking soy milk can make men gay, what becomes of the "lifestyle choice" theory that is so beloved by conservatives, and especially conservative clergy? Is it possible to become gay from eating tofu burgers but not from being born that way?

I'm a few days late for this