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This blog is a no-Israel-bashing zone (click for explanation)
International Eat an Animal for PETA Day information is here
3/18/05
I was going to turn off the Internet for the afternoon. I'm tired, my stomach thing is back, but then I remembered I hadn't read Ilyka in a while, so I flicked over to her blog, and found this. (Spit-monitor warning.)
Read the comments. Don't miss the comments.
Don't be drinking while you read the comments.
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Mordecai Vanunu: A different angle
Let's change the wording around a bit in this International Herald Tribune article, A victim of Israel's nuclear taboo, by Caroline Moorehead:
Almost 20 years ago, Smith was a young British nuclear technician, working at the research reactor at Chapelcross in Scotland. Laid off in 1985, he used his severance pay to travel around the world. Increasingly troubled by the realization that the U.K. , though denying it, had in fact become a nuclear power, he had taken photographs inside the plant before he left. When he reached Sydney, he told new friends at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, where he began the process of converting from Christianity to Judaism, of his fears. The news reached the Jerusalem Post in Israel, which flew him to Israel, where he was debriefed by Israeli scientists.
[...] That the U.K. is a nuclear power is no longer seriously in question. But by maintaining its policy of "nuclear ambiguity" and punishing and vilifying those who try to break this secrecy, the U.K. has created a black hole, a forbidden area, where the normal laws of democracy do not seem to apply. The British public and the rest of the world are effectively prevented from asking the questions usual in other democracies - about cost, alternatives and accountability.
In this, the British government is helped by the U.S. policy of attacking evil regimes which seek nuclear arsenals while tolerating their possession by states considered trustworthy. Yet bringing the U.K.'s nuclear weapons out into the open, and putting them on the table as part of a wider regional European peace deal, might be the only way to prevent other neighboring states from building their own bombs.
Nothing Smith says is any longer of the slightest threat to the U.K. But support for Smith within the U.K. is very limited. In a spirit of revenge, the British may decide that his absurd punishment should continue.
Now the original:
Almost 20 years ago, Vanunu was a young Israeli nuclear technician, working at the research reactor at Dimona in the Negev Desert. Laid off in 1985, he used his severance pay to travel around the world. Increasingly troubled by the realization that Israel, though denying it, had in fact become a nuclear power, he had taken photographs inside the plant before he left. When he reached Sydney, he told new friends at an Anglican church, where he began the process of converting from Judaism to Christianity, of his fears. The news reached the Sunday Times in London, which flew him to England, where he was debriefed by British scientists.
[...] That Israel is a nuclear power is no longer seriously in question. But by maintaining its policy of "nuclear ambiguity" and punishing and vilifying those who try to break this secrecy, Israel has created a black hole, a forbidden area, where the normal laws of democracy do not seem to apply. The Israeli public and the rest of the world are effectively prevented from asking the questions usual in other democracies - about cost, alternatives and accountability.
In this, the Israeli government is helped by the U.S. policy of attacking evil regimes which seek nuclear arsenals while tolerating their possession by states considered trustworthy. Yet bringing Israel's nuclear weapons out into the open, and putting them on the table as part of a wider regional Middle Eastern peace deal, might be the only way to prevent other neighboring states from building their own bombs.
Nothing Vanunu says is any longer of the slightest threat to Israel. But support for Vanunu within Israel is very limited. In a spirit of revenge, the Israelis may decide that his absurd punishment should continue.
Imagine the world reaction to a British nuclear scientist divulging British nuclear secrets. No one would blink an eye at that scientist's punishment; no one would call the proper administration of the law and parole "a spirit of revenge." Vanunu was released from prison under certain legal obligations. He has broken those obligations, and is still breaking them in spite of being indicted. But because certain people (read: the anti-Israel crowd) think there is something wrong with Israel having nuclear weapons, the administration of the law is not simply the result of a citizen breaking the law, it is "revenge."
This isn't revenge. It is justice. Mordecai Vanunu is a citizen of Israel. He broke the law, and has to suffer the same punishment as any other lawbreaker.
Moorehead justifies her sympathy for the tratior with statements like this, which are chock-full of false or misleading information:
But by maintaining its policy of "nuclear ambiguity" and punishing and vilifying those who try to break this secrecy, Israel has created a black hole, a forbidden area, where the normal laws of democracy do not seem to apply. The Israeli public and the rest of the world are effectively prevented from asking the questions usual in other democracies - about cost, alternatives and accountability.
I have two words for Ms. Moorehead: Manhattan Project. It was not public, it was not questioned, it was not accountable to anyone but the military, the scientists working on it, and a small number of government officials. If anyone had breached the privacy of the Manhattan Project, they'd have been jailed for life, if not executed for treason.
There is no such thing as public accountability for private military programs, and the ingenuousness of pretending that the Dimona nuclear weapons program is to be treated in the same fashion as Three Mile Island is absurd. No nation on earth is open about its weapons programs, and the Dimona reactor is Israel's unadmitted weapons program. This is yet another instance of what I call Israeli Double Standard Time: One standard for Israel, and one for the rest of the world. No nation on earth could live up to the standards that the world sets for Israel. It's one of the reasons Israel is so vilified.
Take another look at this sentence:
The Israeli public and the rest of the world are effectively prevented from asking the questions usual in other democracies - about cost, alternatives and accountability.
The phrase "and the rest of the world" is insidious. The rest of the world has no say in America's nuclear programs, or France's, or Britain's, or even Pakistan's. Why, then, does the world have a say in Israel's? Because the Arab nations use Israel as an excuse to try to get their own nuclear weapons? Let's be honest: They'd be trying for nuclear weapons even if Israel didn't already have them.
Vanunu's supporters say that Israel pretends that Dimona is a non-military nuclear power plant, and all Vanunu did was tell the world the truth. It's another example of Israeli Double Standard Time. Israel is not a signatory to any non-proliferation treaties, like Iran. She is breaking no treaty and no international law. The world may not like the fact that Israel is a nuclear power, but that doesn't mean Israel may not punish traitors like Vanunu, who divulged critical, secret defense information, in violation of Israeli law.
Spare me the dramatics of the Caroline Moorheads of the world, and let her go back to worrying about the true refugees that she writes about. She even passes along—uncritically—Vanunu's insane accusations that Israel was behind the Kennedy assassination, only briefly pointing out that his friends are a bit worried about his state of mind.
Ya think?
Vanunu is no more a victim than I am a vegetarian. He is a traitor who stole state secrets, gave them to the media, and continues to break the laws as I write this.
Lock him up again, and this time, throw away the key.
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3/17/05
So little time, so much to do: There is so much that needs to be done to configure a new computer. Plus, there are the programs that this old clunker couldn't handle (generally the graphics/photography programs too big for the memory in my poor old Sony Vaio), and then information to be transferred over, and, and, and—wow, this is exhausting. I called Wind Rider just to tell him the computer was here; he answered the phone, "Tech support." I wonder if that's because he's helped me transfer the files from my Sony to, hm, three other computers so far, counting his (as a backup in case things went wrong). In any case, he gave me a great idea for a new humor series. It's in the kettle, boiling. I'm hoping the first installment will be done tomorrow.
Oh, yeah. Things are going to be back-burnered while I get my HP up to speed. I am so loving it. I bought The Incredibles DVD and played the extras on the laptop to make sure the DVD player and drive were working. They are. If you haven't played the commentary on the "lost" cartoons, do so. Side-splitting.
More Richmond bloggy goodness: One of the consequences of being on the radio yesterday was that a Richmond blogger discovered he was not alone, and emailed me. This guy is funny. Check out this post on Richmond art eyesores. He even has the one that Sarah and I regularly mock whenever we're in Shockoe Bottom. (It's the one with the calculus reference in the caption.)
Old, but not forgotten: Mr. Snitch sent me this a while back. Unfortunately for him, due to the "fish or boobs" contest, every time I got a letter with the word "fish" in the header, it was routed into the contest folder, and I didn't see it. What the hey, it's about Batman, Hoboken, and the War of the Worlds. How many posts can you say have all three of those elements? Plus, Mr. Snitch is worth reading even without the comic book references.
More state-sponsored Jew-hatred: Isn't it simply too-too of Cal-State Fullerton to sponsor "Audio Intifada" night? Go here for the details.
The Beth Zone has left the building: Beth moved to a regular blog, and I'm trying to get her to separate her thoughts into blog posts. Of course, I am not practicing what I preach—yet. Beth is another liberal hawk, as Judith calls them. I suspect many of my readers will not like many of her topics. But many will.
I haven't mentioned Mary in forever: So I'm doing it now. If you're not reading Exit Zero regularly, you should be. She's always got the dirt on the latest on the terrorists, like this post on how the Iraqi "insurgents" are terrorists, as I've been saying all along.
Overlooked? Not anymore. I've added LaShawn Barber to my links page. She's a bit too far to the right on many issues for me, but then, so are half the women on my links page. Perhaps it's time I started linking the left side, too.
And oh, yeah, these women rock: Chris Nolan, Ann Althouse, Trish Wilson, Michele Catalano, and I'll add more in another post. That's enough for now.
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It's he-eere: My new HP is here, and I've got a bit of work to do before I'm all set up on it. Blogging may be light for a while.
So blind they cannot see: While the major news media insist there's a truce going on, Hamas says, forget about any long-term truce, if you don't meet our demands, we'll resume killing. Islamic Jihad wants only an extension, not a real truce. Then there's Hezbollah, which told W. to stick it, they're going to keep their arms. Hokay. I'm betting the arms get taken away from them forcibly, and trust me, Nasrallah baby, you won't defeat the Marines. You didn't last time; Reagan made them turn tail and run without firing a shot. Well, we'll see how quiet this truce remains.
Back to jail, traitor: Mordecai Vanunu was indicted for violating the terms of his release. Big shock there. Lock him up, throw away the key, and this time, don't let him out. By the way, he's not a whistleblower (even Ha'aretz doesn't call him that; only the non-Israeli media, or should I say, anti-Israeli media). He divulged state secrets. That's called betraying your country.
Syria will not give up Lebanon without a fight: Ynet has a must-read interview with the leader of the Syrian reform movement, who says that Syria won't leave voluntarily. And look how they're trying to disrupt the next protests:
Ghadry told Ynet’s correspondent that Damascus has been secretly dispatching dozens of Palestinian youths to Lebanon during the past two weeks, alongside the apparent withdrawal of Syrian forces from the country.
“The youths underwent training by Syrian security services, designed to incite and disrupt Lebanese opposition,” he said.
“Our sources in Syria revealed that two weeks ago some 70-80 Palestinian youngsters aged 18-20 left the Neirab refugee camp, the largest refugee camp in Syria, on their way to Lebanon. “
Ghadry said the youngsters were taken to a training camp and told their Palestinian brothers in Lebanon were about to be massacred and needed their help. He added he expects hundreds of additional Palestinians to be dispatched to Lebanon after undergoing Syrian training.
Gotta love those Arab dictatorships. Lies are their stock in trade. Then again, the fleet is on its way to the Middle East. The Dorktator's knees have got to be knocking.
And to end on a lighter note:
Okay, this has got to suck: There's going to be a Lord of the Rings musical in Toronto. My money's on Worst. Musical. Ever.
Of course, I could be wrong. But I don't think so.
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I thought FedEx was a smart company
Last October, when my mother sent me my new HP Pavilion, she had to re-ship it from her house because HP would only ship it to the address of the person who bought it. (It was a gift, my mom's a good mom.) So she brought it to Kinko's, and because she'd never sent anything FedEx before, didn't block out her address on the box. And because Kinko's is not a wellspring of Ph.D. candidates, the employee didn't think to do so either. So the package went to the Newark FedEx facility, then right back to my mother the next day.
My replacement HP arrived at her house on Tuesday. This time, Mom took great care to make sure there was no trace of her address on the box, took it to Kinko's, and sent it off to me two-day delivery. I've been tracking it. It went to Newark, then Indianapolis. I called FedEx in a panic when I saw that it was in the Indianapolis sort facility, and they assured me that it was on its way to Richmond, and that it was simply in a load with other packages. From Indianapolis, it went back to Newark, then Sandston, VA, and finally the local sort facility in Mechanicsville.
I'm missing how it was any cheaper to send my package to Indianapolis instead of keeping it on a shelf in Newark for one more night.
Well, it's on the truck, so I'll get it sometime today. I am quite excited. I have great plans for my new computer. Okay, taking over the world isn't one of those plans, but a girl can dream.
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3/16/05
If you missed me yesterday, I'm going to be on WRVA here in Richmond at around 6:05. Yes, there's a webcast, and if you're local, it's 1140AM, the Mac Watson show.
Say, I wonder if I have a career in radio ahead?
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Joanne Jacobs weighs in on the Susan Estrich/Michael Kinsley Op-Ed controversy. In a post that quotes Maureen Dowd and Anne Applebaum, she writes:
I was the first woman on the San Jose Mercury News editorial board back in 1978; I was an op-ed columnist for the Merc and Knight Ridder for more than 16 years. I always tried to avoid being stereotyped as a female columnist; I wanted to be able to write about a wide range of issues. And I sure didn't want a self-styled feminist or anyone else telling me how to be an authentic woman. I have to say I never trembled about expressing my opinion. It was obvious when I started that I couldn't please everyone, so I just concentrated on writing clearly and honestly about significant issues.
Bravo, Joanne. I couldn't agree more. But women writers are treated differently. I've discovered that some men simply cannot stand having a woman disagree with them. Some of my longest-running or nastiest blogwars have been with men. I've tried to write a post on that for some time now, and stopped every time, figuring I just didn't want the blowback that would come with it. You pick your battles, y'know?
Maybe it's time to write that post and put on the catcher's mask in anticipation of what will be flying at me.
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Worf gets a reprieve: Heidi's husband convinced her that Worf's quality of life has not sunk enough to put him down yet. I am relieved to say that I got a call from Heidi this morning, and she's going to let Worf go until she thinks it's time. I have pictures of what he looks like now, and what he should look like. I'll get to them later.
Outrage of the day: Go to HonestReporting for this one, or read Richard Cohen's column. Then write C-SPAN a letter. I may go more in-depth on this later today. Via Charles Johnson.
Iraqi democracy in action: The parliament met today, in spite of attempts by the jihadis to kill them. Good.
Jericho first: The palestinians took control of Jericho today, and the walls did not come tumbling down, but the soldiers left. We shall see what happens next.
The Polish president vows to remember the Holocaust: Interesting speech at the opening of Israel's new Holocaust museum. There were 3.5 million Jews in Poland before the Holocaust. Now there are 20,000. My Grandma Shirley and her sisters fled Poland well before the thirties. She said it was horrible there. That was all she'd ever say.
More grist for the conspiracy mills: Bush nominated Paul Wolfowitz for president of the World Bank. Oh, this is gonna drive ol' Kenny boy crazy.
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3/15/05
Okay, that was fun: Y'know, I liked being on the radio. Scott Sloan is a hoot, even if he did try to get me to agree with him that it's okay to shoot feral cats. (I did not agree with him.) I loved his descriptions of the early days of Cincinnati as Porkopolis. I could practically visualize the pigs roaming the streets, and had to bite back a comment so as not to offend today's Cincinnati denizens.
The Mac Watson show in Richmond might have me on tomorrow. If this keeps up, I'm going to be a radio star. Okay, not really, but it was fun.
IEAPD, kitty-style: Tig and Gracie got their tuna. I probably should have taken pictures. I'll do that tomorrow, when I give them the second half of the bag.
Thanks, everyone: Thanks to everyone who posted, linked, and commented about IEAPD this year. You all made it tons of fun for me, and I hope for yourselves (well, except for the PETA people, and, gee, they weren't supposed to have fun). If you missed the event today, don't sweat it. We'll simply extend it until, oh, Saturday. Then everyone can have a shot. Plus, there's always next year.
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A couple of things. First, would the reader who first sent me the letter about PETA's "Holocaust on your Plate" campaign two years ago remind me again who he was? You're the child of Holocaust survivors, I can't find your letter any more, and I forgot your name.
Secondly: Ya know, you have to look hard around the PETA site to find their "Holocaust on your Plate" campaign. I'm pretty sure they dumped the picture of the concentration camp inmates. Gee. They can't have been ashamed—they must have gotten a letter from the U.S. Holocaust Museum's lawyers over the fact that PETA misrepresented the reason they wanted the picture. Update: Here it is, and thanks, Preston.
Third: Hell, even vegetarians got pissed at PETA over it.
Right. My dinner is done. Chicken, oven-roasted potatoes, and asparagus. Mm.
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It's hard to reconcile something like this:
A visit to Gaza nearly two weeks after the Palestinian Authority and armed factions agreed on a period of "calm" - meaning no attacks on Israel - reveals a surprising level of satisfaction among Israel Defense Forces officers concerning the cooperation and coordination achieved with the Palestinians.
The improved relations are not merely reflected in the dramatic decline in the number of incidents, from 100 a week two months ago to barely 10 a week, but also in the personal contacts between the two sides.
"I was a brigade commander in the days of Oslo," said one sector commander, "and we didn't believe a single word the Palestinian officers told us then. This time, we went in with a lot of skepticism, but I have to admit that they are keeping their word."
[...] There have been periods of optimism in the past - most notably, the 50-day hudna (cease-fire) in the summer of 2003 - but IDF officers are saying that the coordination this time runs much deeper and that the Palestinian intentions are more serious than ever before.
"They aren't playing around with us," said a senior officer. "There's no double talk. When we have an agreement with them on a PA patrol being some place at a certain time, they're there. And there's no more PA police standing by idly while a few meters away someone fires at us."
With this:
Abbas: Accused Militants to Go Free After Pullback
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian militant accused of ordering the killing of an Israeli minister will be freed from jail in Jericho when Israel pulls back from the city this week, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.But Israel said it had not agreed with the Palestinians that Ahmed Saadat or any of the other three it accuses in the 2001 assassination could be released after the redeployment around the West Bank city set for Wednesday.
Abbas told Reuters by telephone that Saadat and Fuad al-Shobaki, an aide to the late Yasser Arafat accused of arms smuggling, would be released after Israeli troops left.
"Saadat and Shobaki will be released from prison in Jericho when Jericho is handed over to the Palestinians," Abbas said.
"The two men were placed by Israel on the wanted list and the agreement we have with Israel is that once it leaves our cities, the fugitives will have immunity. Therefore, they will be freed, and the Israelis are aware of this."
The revolving-door for murderers strikes again. Color me still skeptical.
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I'll be on Scott Sloan's show on Newsradio 700 WLW in Cincinnati at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight, discussing IEAPD and probably various PETA-related topics. And yes, there is a webstream.
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From the book "Why Does Popcorn Pop?" by Don Voorhees:
Fish tales
Mississippi's largest industry is catfish
Lobster was once the food of the poor.
Lox is smoked salmon (my regular readers better have known that
already)
Meat, wonderful meat
Chicken is the world's most popular meat.
It was domesticated about 4,000 years ago from the red junble fowl of
Southeast Asia.
The U.S. raises about 6 billion chickens a year.
Bologna is America's favorite cold cut, to the tune of nearly 800 million
pounds per year
Hamburger is America's favorite meat, followed by chicken, steak, and
hot dogs.
60 million Americans eat Spam regularly.
Hawaii is the number one Spam-consuming state: 4.3 million cans sold annually.
That's more than four cans per Hawaiian per year. And may I say: Ew.
Right. That ought to be enough for now.
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IEAPD: Post your trackbacks here
Even if you've already put them in other comments threads, put 'em here again. This is for people to find out who's doing what on the Third Annual International Eat an Animal for PETA Day.
Oh, you can post comments too. I'll put up links as I receive them
Wizbang (where Kevin managed to find a picture of hot babes in front of a barbecue, the sexist pig)
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Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam: the meat, not the junk email. I will be celebrating IEAPD a little more lightly than most. My stomach thing from yesterday is not an ulcer (thank goodness!), but is probably stress, so I'll simply skip my morning milk and have baked chicken for dinner tonight. I'll have that steak out with WR another time, I think.
It's here! It's here! My replacement HP Pavilion ZD8000 has arrived in NJ, and Mom will be shipping it to me today. I'm going to be back on the cutting edge tomorrow. Expect some major changes to the weblog. And I love it. In three months, for three hundred dollars less, I have a faster, better computer with a better graphics card. Technology change rocks.
Stay tuned: I found my book and will be posting Fun Food Facts throughout the day. Today's teaching day, so I'll be out for a few hours, but until then, posting should be slightly heavy, and overflowing with juvenile scorn.
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3/14/05
IEAPD: Get those forks and knives ready!
So, are you making last-minute menus and thinking up recipes for International Eat an Animal for PETA Day? This year is receiving the biggest response ever. (Notice how I did not do the usual chauvinistic thing and make it America-only. We welcome omnivores from around the world!) [Uh-oh, I sense an attack of exclamation points coming on!! I must have caught it from that email I mention below!!!]
Ahem.
I know. I'll publish an email and a link or three:
How dare you suggest we eat an animal on PETA Day. That is so outrageous. There are three meals in a day, plus snacks, You should
be suggesting everyone eat THREE animals on March 15, maybe more. For me it's pig for breakfast, turkey for lunch, and cow for dinner.
I may throw in a rabbit appetizer for the hell of it.
PETA sucks chicken nuggets.
-Jon
Whoops, sorry, Jon!
Rob's going to have a post tomorrow, and sent me the most polite letter I have ever received from a blogger. He was quite concerned that he may have caused an inadvertent trackback and make me think he was spamming me. Well, for that, you get a link even before the post is up, Rob.
Lots of people in the comments thread mentioned this slogan, so here's the picture, thanks to Mike and originally from The Ville, which is no more:
The comments in the 2005 IEAPD post have gone over 100, even counting the ones I deleted (I get so tired of morons, they make my delete key finger itchy). And I'm going to be on the radio in Cincinnati tomorrow on 700 WLW, with Scott Sloane. I think he's going to be eating a hamburger while he does the show.
I may not be going out to dinner tomorrow night, after all. It depends completely on my stomach. The doctor gave me some ulcer medication, and I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow.
At the very least, I will make some baked chicken or turkey breast here. No matter how bad my stomach gets, it can usually handle those. Mmm. Turkey. I need to call Wind Rider and see if he can escape the Tidewater early.
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Looks like our pal Kenny has friends. I just received this email, which I present to you in its entirety. On second thought, no, there are too many exclamation points in the header. I'm setting a limit.
Fuck you Jew Bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The letter was from someone calling himself Robert D. Ford, III. If anyone wants the full headers, for a full tracking, email me.
Um, am I supposed to be upset about this email? Because I've gotta say, if that's the best Mr. Ford can throw at me, I'm not a whole lot of worried. Geez, I did better than that when I was eight, without being able to swear. This one totally begs a Pee-Wee Herman response. Which shall we choose? Rubber/glue? I know you are? Decisions, decisions.
Wait! I've got it. We'll let the immortal B. Bunny respond for us:
What a maroon!
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So, all those people who thought the Arabs don't really want democracy? Explain this to me, please:
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted "Freedom, sovereignty, independence," and waved a sea of Lebanese flags in Beirut on Monday, the biggest anti-Syrian protest yet in the opposition's duel of street rallies with supporters of the Damascus-backed government.
Crowds of Druse, Christians and Sunni Muslims flooded Martyrs' Square and spilled over into nearby streets - responding to an opposition call to turn out for the removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
"We are coming to liberate our country. We are coming to demand the truth," said Fatma Trad, a veiled Sunni Muslim woman who traveled from the remote region of Dinniyeh in northern Lebanon to take part.
[...] Monday's protest easily surpassed a pro-government rally of hundreds of thousands of people last week by the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah. That show of strength forced the opposition to try to regain its momentum.
While there were no official estimates of the size of the crowd, Lebanon's leading LBC TV station and some police officers estimated it at about 1 million people. The officers refused to speak publicly because it was an opposition rally. An Associated Press estimate by reporters on the scene put the number at much higher than the approximately 500,000 who attended the March 8 pro-Syrian rally.
Yeah, and no one was paid to be bused in, though there were stories of Syrian agents offering $100 not to drive people to Beirut.
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Fine, on a day when I can't be more than six feet away from a bathroom, Michelle Malkin puts me on a list of female opinion bloggers.
Okay, I'm appreciative of the compliment, but I'm not conservative. And I'd have added Michele Catalano to that list, even though she's now purely a culture blogger.
I'm center-left, or, on some issues, center-right. I am for the war on terror, for stem cell research, for gay marriage, pro-choice (never had one, don't think it's my decision to tell another woman what to do), pro-Israel, and an unabashed feminist. That's right, I'm a feminist. I hate the femi-N-word, think it cheapens the debate and wish we could come up with a word right back at Rush Limbaugh (whom I loathe and have never been able to stomach for more than two minutes at a time) that would be equally reprehensible. I think what conservatives mean when they say "feminist" is "radical feminist."
I am in favor of affirmative action and progressive taxation, though I'm finding myself less and less inclined to let the government either have my money, or think they can spend it better than some private sector industries.
There. You see? Not conservative. I think it's my hawkishness on Israel and the war on terror that makes people think I'm conservative, or perhaps my willingness to take on lefty bloggers' dumb statements. Well, I take on righty bloggers' dumb statements, too. Michele just wasn't around when I went after the boys of the right blogosphere for the same reason I went after Kevin Drum. It isn't that I'm a conservative scrapper. I'm a scrapper, period.
Which brings us to the post I was going to make before my ailment stuck me in bed all morning: Unlike Maureen Dowd, I don't have to visualize myself as anything when I need to write a tough column. All I need for inspiration is something stupid and annoying, like an anti-Semitic email, or yet another male blogger proclaiming from on high that women can't/won't/don't write opinion posts.
I grew up scrapping. I stopped scrapping with my fists. I'll never stop scrapping with words. I am, after, all, the Master of Juvenile Scorn™. And come to think of it, what was with Glenn not mentioning me in his list of scrappy women bloggers yesterday?
Don't make me come after you, Glenn. You think Frank's filthy lies were bad? He isn't the Master of Juvenile Scorn™.
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Blogging will be light to nonexistent today. I'm going to the doctor's later with what may be a bleeding stomach ulcer.
And Worf is going to be put down on Wednesday.
This is not going to be a very good week for me. I was at Heidi's yesterday, and the real shame of the matter is that if that effing tumor were anywhere else, Worf would be able to live for years. But it has metastasized throughout his right jaw, and he is in pain, and will be getting worse.
If I'm in better shape by then, I'll be going with Heidi to the vet's, then helping her with the grave.
Yeah, I think this week is gonna suck.
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3/13/05
Y'know, I'm tired. I can't think of a single serious post I'd like to write right now. International Eat an Animal for PETA Day is approaching, and I'm getting links from places as disparate as an Anne McCaffrey fan forum (don't worry, folks, there are no dragons on the menu, I swear, though I'd love to try wherry someday).
Say, there's an idea: Fun Food Fact time. Oh, no, wait, I cleaned the house for Twinsday and put the book away, so now I don't know where it is. I hate cleaning house. I lose all my stuff when I put it where it's supposed to be.
I know! Sunday night open thread!
There you go. A topic. Of sorts.
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Last week's blogs are archived. Looking for the Buffy Blogburst Index? Here's Israel vs. the world. Here's the Blogathon. The Superhero Dating Ratings are here. If you're looking for something funny, try the Hulk's solution to the Middle East conflict, or Yasser Arafat Secret Phone Transcripts. Iseema bin Laden's diary is also a good bet if you've never been here before.
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