and then there was grief

Eyewitness account of Knoxville shooting:

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/07/tomorrow-therell-be-sun.html

All those dickblisters who like to "joke" about killing liberals, killing queers, killing anyone not JUST LIKE THEM: this is why it's NOT FUCKING FUNNY.

also, irony

hot

Reasons not to vote for John McCain, #3

All of those expressions on his face say to me: "I could not begin to give a crap about this subject, why is she asking this?"

The average sound bite is 5.5 seconds; it took him 8 seconds to even speak a word.

Why should he know about this sort of thing? Because access to birth control and reproductive health services is not just a women's issue, it's a HUMAN issue. Even two-parent hetero legally married christian nuclear family suburban 2-child households care about birth control. I've even heard - and do correct me if I'm wrong - that sometimes, Republicans? They have *sex*. And they use *birth control.* Really!

why grow my own?

When tomatoes are in season, everyone has extra. I've been bringing bags full of tomatoes (cherry, roma, and..uh.. round ones? I don't know the variety. But they're round. And homegrown).

I have spent the last four or five days eating some variant of tomato-cheese crostini or bruschetta for lunch and dinner. I keep thinking I'll try something else, but they're both so *easy*. For the first one, you cut some slices off a baguette, layer a slab of brie, a slice or two of tomato, drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper, and broil for a few minutes. I broil 'em in the toaster oven, which is awesome because it doesn't heat up the house. Bruschetta, well, that's just diced tomatoes tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper, on top of toasted baguette rounds. Tonight I added a little balsamic vinegar and some chopped garlic and let it set a few minutes while I sliced & toasted the bread.

I'm also completely addicted to rosemary flavored sea salt. I found a tub of it at TJ Maxx, of all places, and when I run out I'll probably have to chase all over the internet for it and have it shipped from freaking Sardinia or something. It's that good.

brand new information about my lawn

So, I totally love it when I find out that some habit of mine has A Name and A Movement. To wit, the "Freedom Lawn":

The freedom applies both to the plants and the people, the latter of whom
needn’t water, fertilize, pesticize, or other otherwise interfere. Nurseries now
sell Freedom Lawn seed mixes, for lawn owners who life in parts of the world
that have been shortchanged in weeds. But even before I came across the official
term, I thought of my yard as a Darwin Lawn. Whatever could survive the mower
and the drought was welcome to stay.

I am a lazy unmotivated lawn owner. I just can't bring myself to care about the lawn. I pay a guy to mow it regularly, but invest not a whit of water or chemicals in its greenification. This is perhaps the result of frugality as much as laziness and my general feeling that the lawn? It's a low priority in my life and my budget. After seven years of benign neglect, my lawn looks much the same as my neighbors' lawns. Patchy under oak trees, a few brown spots, but on the whole greenish when it's rainy and brownish in winter. There's no point in trying to grow grass under a tree, for heavens' sakes! It's all shade, all the time. I've noticed a bit of moss growing in between the roots, and that's nice-looking. I'm not at all opposed to it. I, too, refer to my gardening habits as "survival of the fittest." It's why I'm not so good at keeping plants in pots alive. You have to pay attention to them on a really regular basis.

So it turns out, Freedom Lawn is good for the environment! Yes, yes it is! Woo. I'm a greenie pro-environment lawn-owner and I didn't even know it. Sweet.

Where I learned about the Freedom Lawn:

Turf War: Americans can’t live without their lawns—but how long can they live with them?

I also liked this bit:

The Freedom Lawn is still mowed—preferably with a push-mower—but it is watered infrequently, if at all, and receives no chemical “inputs.” If a brown spot develops, it is likely soon to be filled by what some might call weeds, but which Bormann, Balmori, and Geballe would rather refer to as “low growing broad-leaved plants.”

I suppose where I fall away from Greenie Perfection is the lawn guy who I pay to ride around on his enormous riding mower and weed-eat with his noxious gas-powered weedeater. He comes every two weeks in summer, once a month in winter. I'd love to do away with the expense, but I'd have to buy equipment, build a shed in which to store it, and worst of all: mow it myself. In summertime. With the bugs, and the heat. I'm not ready to go that far, not yet. At least, not until I find an acceptably non-ugly shed to build, which I can also afford. Because gardening sheds are either ugly or expensive. Often, they are both. As a commitment-phobe, I cannot bring myself to build or buy an ugly shed. Or an expensive one. So, lawn guy is on the job. For now.

Giant kitteh loves his mamma!

I know, you've seen it a dozen times. So have I. It slays me every time.



SO much better if you turn the sound down so you don't have to listen to that sappy Whitney Houston song.

can't stop laughing

Oh, Simon, you know cats so very well!

Reasons not to vote for McCain, #2

From McCainPedia.Org:

McCain Voted Against $8 Million In Funding For Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Victims Affected By Katrina.

McCain voted against an amendment to provide $8 million for the Office of Violence Against Women to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse in the areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. ^[1]

McCain Voted Against Shifting $2 Billion Is Wasteful Spending To Fighting Domestic Violence.

McCain voted against an amendment to permit shifting up to $2 billion from wasteful bureaucratic overhead and procurement in military budget to address domestic violence. ^[2]

McCain Voted Against $1.6 Billion To Prevent Violence Against Women.

McCain voted against authorizing $30.2 billion over six years for crime prevention programs, including $1.6 billion to fight violence against women. ^[3]

McCain Voted Against A Bill To Assist Kids Who Witness Domestic Violence.

McCain voted against helping kids subjected to domestic violence. The amendment would have encouraged service providers to design and implement intervention programs for children who witness domestic violence and authorized grants to be awarded to eligible non-profit organizations to conduct programs to assist children who witnessed acts of domestic violence. ^[4]

Linky for citations:

http://mccainpedia.org/index.php/Domestic_Violence

On the other hand: Reasons not to vote for McCain

#1 in a series, today's reason from Shakesville:


"
I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption.

John McCain, who divorced his first wife and left her as a single mom and has yet to provide any evidence that two parents of the same gender are detrimental to the success of a family.

Just a little queer-bashing and marginalizing to keep the fundies happy. Remind me again of what a "maverick" he is.

"

on a lighter note

THIS IS AWESOME:

Violent Femmes cover "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley

Oh, Obama

Where does a feminist Hillary Clinton supporter begin? I voted for her for a lot of reasons, and in the top five was this: Women don't throw other women under the bus once they've secured our votes. I knew Hillary wouldn't. I have yet to see a national-level male politician who hasn't.

When Obama spoke about late-term abortions as a decision for women to make with their husbands and their pastors, I nearly choked. When he said "mental distress" wasn't a good enough reason for a late term abortion, I sputtered. And when I read the blog post I'm about to link, I wept.

I've been telling people for ages that there is no such thing as a "partial birth abortion," because that's a non-medical term made up by fetus-worshipers to make late term abortion sound brutal. I've been telling them for ages that women do not have the option to have a late-term abortion without a compelling reason, and that very, very, VERY few are performed at all. I'm starting to think, though, that when I talk about reproductive rights, all my friends hear is "Blah blah blah abortion on demand bleep blorp without apology blah wah wah free to all."

The thing is, reproductive rights are important to me, so I stay informed. I'm not a politician, or a lobbyist, or professionally involved in women's health and rights to it. I just read the news, you know? The information is out there. Clearly, Mr. Obama is not that interested, or he would be as fully informed on late term abortions as I am. It's his job to have informed answers when people ask these questions. But he doesn't. He now has an opportunity to be informed so that he doesn't blithely make up imaginary scenarios about late term abortion, imagining that women who are having a bad hair day are looking to have late term abortions.

An Open Letter to Obama: A Personal Perspective on Late Term Abortion

This letter to came to my attention in the comments section of Twisty's recent post on the matter. Thanks to Lorna for posting it, and to brave blogger Lynda for writing it.

this is hilarious

and brilliant.

Word: eggbenedict.org

ETA: Egg Benedict informs me that one can click through Mary on their website for more info about Pope Benedict the Homo-Hater.

What does a rapist look like?

Look here:

So-Called "Feminist Male" Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault

Yeah, you read that right. Kyle Payne has a degree with a minor in Women's Studies and "Social Consciousness", and he recently pled guilty to sexually assaulting an unconscious student (he was an RA) and videotaping the assault. He's got a blog all about what a great "feminist" anti-porn, anti-rape activist he is, and this is what he really is.

So, dudes, next time some woman doesn't think you're the bees knees if you go around proclaiming your "feminism," remember this: we still can't trust you. And guys like this are the reason why.

More about this at:

Eleanor's Trousers

Buried Alive

Renegade Evolution

Fetch Me My Axe

Idle Curiosity

I accidentally listened to commercial radio this morning.

And I'm wondering.

When did Linkin Park turn into Cure wannabes?



Here's the thing: if you watch it, it seems all butch and contemporary, but if you just *listen* to it, it's all moody vocals and banks of synthesizers. All of those shouty explodey noises are NOT on the radio track.

also, my definition of success

the following three things would be signs of my success:

1. Appear in the New York Times by name.

2. Guest star on Sesame Street

3. See the planet from outer space.

the mainstreaming of punk rock

It started pretty damn early, didn't it?

Very Important Announcement.

[not]

Though I am pleased to report that I have, at last, finished home-dry-cleaning the giant pile of sweaters that have been, well, *piled*, for months. I note with interest that it is July 7 and I haven't worn a sweater since approximately February.

It's the small victories we should celebrate, right? Alright, then.