Academic Freedom or Professorial Intimidation

A sociology professor, who is teaching a course titled "Sociology of Globalization," sent out an email to his University of California at Santa Barbara students in which he compared the Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust. His class and his university, as well as several Jewish organizations, are calling for him to make a public apology (incidentally, the professor is a practicing Jew himself). The professor is, predictably, citing academic freedom, while his students are arguing that sending out such information through an email, which included images of Jews in concentration camps juxtaposed against images of Palestinians living in Gaza refugee camps, is akin to intimidation. While I agree with the professor's rational about raising this issue as a point of discussion, I wonder if initiating the discussion through email was the wisest course. The article I've linked to does not mention if the prof regularly started discussions through email or if he was using a class listserv. Presumably students were encouraged to respond to the email as a way of discussing the issue, but there is no discussion of whether or not they actually talked about this in class.

Rhetoric of the T: April 2009

Essentially self-explanatory:


Secret neck-sweat bonus:

Same-Sex Marriage Hurts....

...Beauty Queens.

In the Miss America contest, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, argued that Same-Sex Marriage violated God's law and, as some believe, her answer cost her the contest. You can see a clip from the contest here.

In response, Miss California will be part of an ad campaign by the National Organization for Marriage.

According to Ben Smith at Politico:

What happens when a young California beauty pageant contestant is asked, "Do you support same-sex marriage?" She is attacked viciously for having the courage to speak up for her truth and her values. But Carrie's courage inspired a whole nation and a whole generation of young people because she chose to risk the Miss USA crown rather than be silent about her deepest moral values. "No Offense" calls gay marriage advocates to account for their unwillingness to debate the real issue: Gay marriage has consequences.

If nothing else, we now know that Same-Sex Marriage hurts beauty queens and, consequently, should not be allowed.

Harrogate is Glad that We Can Now See Recent Comments

Things Heard Around the Office

The Unfortunate Statement of the Day: An Office worker and student discuss a professor. The student is upset with the professor though the reason is not given. The student claims that, "lies will be told about me," and the student wants to speak out against the professor to "protect his reputation." The Office worker states that no one really likes him and is a difficult person. Then she states:

"It is very hard to work with gay people. You have to be careful with everything you say. You have to walk on egg shells."

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Thursday Night Muscial Tribute

Harrogate has long cherished this cover of "Dead Flowers," by The Rolling Stones. Lord knows there are many excellent covers out there, by artists ranging from Ryan Adams to Cowboy Junkies to New Riders of the Purple Sage. And of course, the Stones' original version remains far and away the best version.

But still, this is one hell of a cover here.



And here's another kickass version by the incomparable Shelby Lynne.

The Decline and Fall of American Exceptionalism

During a discussion over torture on This Week, Peggy Noonan delivered the Bizarro World Statement:

"It’s hard for me to look at a great nation issuing these documents and sending them out to the world and thinking, ‘Oh, much good will come of that.’ Sometimes in life you want to keep walking… Some of life has to be mysterious."

This quote is a strange confession, admitting that torture is wrong but necessary, as if there could be no other way. It even expresses the limits of personal responsibility as Noonan notes there are some things a person, and a country, must walk away from.

Noonan never accounts why the political actors favor torture but the military actors, such as John McCain or a host of Generals, believe it is wrong. Maybe because it is morally wrong; maybe because it is the complete breakdown of individual autonomy; maybe because in its totality, it produces bad information and wastes resources; maybe because it puts the torturer in an unforgivable position; maybe because its use threatens US troops; maybe because there are better methods of interrogation when people who are properly trained engage the prisoner; maybe because that the costs outweigh the benefits, which is the real focus of the Blair public and private discussion on torture (see here and here, or the discussion between torture as a tactic and as a strategy.) But these maybes are never elaborated on as it is best to "walk on by" since, as Slate notes, the arguments supporting the notion that torture works by the torture apologists (Hannity, Levin) do not survive scrutiny, or, the claims survive scrutiny only by those who do not evaluate evidence or do not understand the concept of chronology.

If nothing else, because of these memos, the US needs to have a public debate about the nature of torture even if ideology distorts the debate and even if it brings down the Obama presidency. For far too long public commentators have been able to assert, without evidence, that torture worked. (See Scarborough, Joe, every day on Morning Joe, who avoids a discussion of torture's criminality or unconstitutionality to assert this discussion is the "criminalization of politics." The "rule of law" only applies to sex, I guess.) More information needs to be released, especially in regards to the totality of torture: the damage inflicted, the information received, the escalation of the war, the attempt to create a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. And this needs to be public, diminishing the filter of the Mass Media, even if the release of this controversial information diminishes the Obama presidency but restores the Constitution.

Yet, the role of torture by the US in the War on Terror provides an interesting commentary on the nature of language and the shaping of reality by ideology.

Noonan's argument is Reaganesque, especially in the plausible deniability, Iran-Contra sort of way. Something happened, and it appears as if it is bad or unconstitutional. Yet, America is a good nation, or as Reagan stated in his Evil Empire Speech:

And finally, that shrewdest of all observers of American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville, put it eloquently after he had gone on a search for the secret of America's greatness and genius - and he said: "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and the genius of America . . . America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

If the premise is that America is good, hence "American Exceptionalism," then all evidence to the contrary must be overlooked or discarded. We must have a "mystery" and we must "keep walking" if any evidence threatens the social mystery and social hierarchy inside the US.

I am not one to engage the "decline of civilization" argument, but at the very least, I believe that the US, especially Conservatives in the US, are in a Thucydidean Moment where language loses its meaning and this loss of language threatens the political and social order. If nothing else, "Enhanced Interrogation Technique," especially from a political ideology that despises politically correct language, is nothing more than a corruption of language and thought.

But nothing expresses the Decline and Fall of the America Empire like Fox News. In the clip below, Shepard Smith drops the F-Bombs over torture. "We're America, we don't torture," Shep declares. Well, Shep, the evidence shows we torture. Consequently, the questions remain, who are we? We are no longer good, right Noonan?, (unless we walk away). Does that also mean we are no longer America?



Or, the better version.

File Under: WTF?

According to Andrew Sullivan, this was the logo for the 1973 Catholic Church's Archdiocesan Youth Commission. If anything were to reveal the unconscious, this may be it.

Flat-Earthers on the Highest Court

Well, not FLat-Earthers really. But, something that may be of more importance to members of this blog. According to the WSJ:

In his 34 years on the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens has evolved from idiosyncratic dissenter to influential elder, able to assemble majorities on issues such as war powers and property rights. Now, the court's senior justice could be gaining ground on a case that dates back 400 years: the authorship of Shakespeare's plays.

Justice Stevens, who dropped out of graduate study in English to join the Navy in 1941, is an Oxfordian -- that is, he believes the works ascribed to William Shakespeare actually were written by the 17th earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere. Several justices across the court's ideological spectrum say he may be right.

This puts much of the court squarely outside mainstream academic opinion, which equates denial of Shakespeare's authorship with the Flat Earth Society.

"Oh my," said Coppelia Kahn, president of the Shakespeare Association of America and professor of English at Brown University, when informed of Justice Stevens's cause. "Nobody gives any credence to these arguments," she says.

Nonetheless, since the 19th century, some have argued that only a nobleman could have produced writings so replete with intimate depictions of courtly life and exotic settings far beyond England. Dabbling in entertainments was considered undignified, the theory goes, so the author laundered his works through Shakespeare, a member of the Globe Theater's acting troupe.

Over the years, various candidates have attracted prominent supporters. Mark Twain is said to have favored Sir Francis Bacon. Malcolm X preferred King James I. De Vere first was advanced in 1918 by an English schoolmaster named J. Thomas Looney. More recently, thanks in part to aggressive lobbying by a contemporary descendant, Charles Vere, Oxford has emerged as a leading alternate author.

Justice Steven's opinion on the matter stems from a moch trial case he was involved with in the 1980s (see the article.) What I want to know is (1) is Justice Stevens an ENglish heretic? and (2) how does one prove his case if you believe Shakespeare did not write the works of Shakespeare?

Friday Night Musical Tribute

It has been said that April is the cruelest month. So here's a worthy response to Mr. Eliot.

Things Heard Around The Office

A few moments ago, I decided it would be best to leave the office and read in the library.

The reason: well, if you must ask I will tell you. While sitting in my office reading, I heard the Administrative Assistant from another Department and a Graduate Student talk about children and race. First, it seems that the Grad. Student and his wife cannot have children for biological reasons. But rather than try all options, the male grad student decided against using an egg donor because, and I quote, "I told me wife if I wanted to do that I would just sleep around." A few moments later, the Secretary and the Grad Students decided it would best to get a puppy instead since if the grad student and his wife were to use an egg donor, it would not be "their" child. Besides, puppies are less aggravating and more rewarding than children.

From this conversation, the pair began to discuss race. Unfortunately, I did not hear the transition from the child- bearing conversation to the race conversation. Yet, all that I can remember about the race conversation is the Secretary's pronnouncement that "whites will be a minority soon. We probably already are."

It is unclear if she meant the country, the state, the city, or the university but does a qualification actually matter? After a few exchanges, she stated that the kids here are a "special group," which means that the minorities here are okay but it is the minorities elsewhere that are the problem. (And, yes, I work at a University where the minority population is very high.) But this is just a terrible statement to make as if this country needs to be a white nation. I though we were all Americans? I am sure that this woman would denounce other forms of identity politics (and she has) unless, of course, it is the politics of her identity.

It has been a charming morning. Just lovely really.

If Texas Were to Secede...

would you notice?

During one of the April 15th AstroTurf, I mean, grassroots organized Tea-Bagging Parties, sponsored in part by Fox News, Gov. Rick Perry announced to a crowd that since the Bailout presented Constitutional problems, Texas may need to secede from the Union.

But the real focus of his comments have little to do with Texas actually leaving form the Union. While the comments were delivered to feed the passions of the angry base (see some great photos here, here, and here, they make little sense in terms of secession.

Instead, I would argue that the focus of the comments concern Gov. Perry's opponent for the 2010 Gubernatorial race against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

As we know from previous Texas elections, Perry cannot mistreat Hutchinson just because she is a woman. During the 1990 Gubernatorial race, Clayton Williams refused to shake the hand of Ann Richards after a debate, made a poor decision by telling a rape joke, and as The Houston Chronicle notes, Williams the Rancher compared Richards to his cattle, stating he would "head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt." During the 2008 Presidential Election, John McCain canceled a fundraiser with Claytie because of these remarks...

Knowing this, the best explanation for Perry's remarks is that he is a showing a sign of strength against Hutchinson. This strength, of course, is Texas talk for manliness. The Huffington Post notes that Hutchinson, "issued a newspaper opinion piece Wednesday criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for spending on the stimulus bill and the $1 trillion appropriations bill." For a conservative Texas audience, this opposition to the stimulus would be similar to waiving a white flag in the air. Translation: Hutchinson writes things in a Newspaper that is biased; Perry proclaims things to a crowd of savage beasts, or, whatever.

In all probability, Perry is not only positioning himself to be the strongest conservative in the state but in the nation. (Calling Sarah Palin: "Are you done with your feud with the Johnson family? Because if you cannot manage your house," the other Conservatives will insinuate, "how can you manage the country?") And if you are a Conservative that cannot proclaim authority, what do you have?

Of course, it is certainly clear that Republicans lost the elections in 2006 and 2008 because they were just not conservative enough and the Country needs more tax cuts. But who can be conservative when you spend your days developing memos allowing the use of torture, torturing people, or defending those who torture? It must be exhausting...

If anything, at least Perry did not stoop down to the actions of his fellow Aggie, Claytie. It is an encouraging sign for women in Texas' politics that they are no longer subject to rape or violence jokes. Progress, we can proclaim!!! Of course, the race is still young and you never know what will happen when the polls say you are losing to a woman in Texas, right Claytie?

Though, returning to the original subject of the post, I wonder what would happen if Texas were to secede. Perry, Or Chuck Norris, could offer some lame argument that the state is "defending the Constitution." Of course, when he, or Norris, acting as President of the Republic sat down to write a new Constitution and making the necessary alterations to the U.S. Constitution (School Prayer, Abortion, mandatory machine guns in every home, banning The New York Times), would the secession then be a treasonous act? If they were to write a new Constitution, they could not be defending the old one. This would be a replay of Luther v. Borden. Well, not really. In fact, they have nothing in common.

But maybe it is time for Texas to leave the Union. And take South Carolina with you. But not North Carolina or Georgia. N.C. is now blue and Georgia has too many NY transplants. Maybe we can give you Alabama and Arkansas but retain Florida. But then, who takes Nebraska? I suppose the North should retain Kansas. And Virginia. But no way should it retain West Virginia. Nope. Never going to happen.

To decide this matter, I think the question you need to ask yourself is, "What has Texas (or South Carolina, etc.) done for me lately?" Then maybe we can get a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. A tournament perhaps?

The good news for the students in Texas is that if Texas were to leave the Union, they would no longer be ranked 48th in education and they finally could learn real scientific theories, such as Intelligent Falling.

Of well. It is all Obama's fault anyway. The recession, the massive government spending, the unconstitutional power, and the torture all started on January 20th, 2009. Maybe I should have thought more carefully about my vote before this crisis of "competnce" worsens.

Photo from Crooks and Liars.

A little inspiration

And just in case you haven't seen Susan Boyle from "Britains Have Talent," check her out. It is inspirational.

Thursday's Musical Tribute

PW and I don't follow Scrubs as ardently at Harrogate does, but we do occasionally catch the show. Last night, it was on in the background while I wrote about houses in 19th-century American and PW graded. When Ted began singing Outkast's "Hey Ya," we both stopped working and listened intently. This is a great version of the song, which is one of my favorites. I think I might like this one better.

I know I shouldn't be, but . . .

I'm highly amused by Jamie Foxx's recent comments about Miley Cyrus. Highly amused, I say.

Question of the Day: What is the oddest holiday you celebrate?

Yesterday was Dyngus Day, an Easter Monday celebration. While it carries many aspects of tradition, when growing up I always heard about the bar celebrations where men would chase women around with squirt guns, which are supposed to be filled with Holy Water and the men are to bless the women, and the women chase the men and swat them with pussy willows.

While I really cannot visualize what this represents in the bar culture, it does provide me a chance to ask what is the oddest holiday you celebrate or would like to celebrate, or, what are the oddest traditions of a holiday you celebrate or would like to celebrate?

Pirates of the Gulf of Aden--the tv show

Hmmm... a Fox reality show on how to choose which employee to fire and now a Spike show on the Navy versus the Pirates (no this isn't pro-sports).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30191814/

What does it mean (if it means anything) that contemporary issues (serious issues at that) can now be turned so quickly into "reality" shows?

Tea-Bagging

Sen. David Vitter will tea-bag. Fox News will cover your tea-bag.... Do you tea-bag?

Bringing guns in classrooms back to the forefront

A few weeks ago, Supa posted that a Texas state legislator had introduced a bill making it legal to carry concealed weapons onto college campuses. This bill is meant ostensibly to give students and professors the opportunity to defend themselves against an armed individual assaulting the campus. I just read an update to this issue, and it looks like the bill is gaining a lot of support. The whole idea behind this seems very reactionary to me. I truly do understand the motivation to protect one's self and to protect others. But it seems to me this is the wrong way to go about it.

My dad is a retired military firefighter, and, thus, he knows a lot men and women who fought in Vietnam, the Gulf War, and in Afghanistan and Iraq. My dad is also a staunch supporter of guns rights, and he initially supported this bill and wanted to various versions passed in other states. He then had a conversation with me and with a young man he worked with who had recently returned from Iraq. I explained that knowing my students had guns wouldn't make me feel any safer; in fact, knowing that anyone I come into contact with on campus could be carrying a concealed weapon legally scares the hell out of me. My dad dismissed most of my comments because, after all, I'm a liberal academic who is in favor of strong gun control. But the young man he worked with had come under heavy fire in Iraq, and when he told my dad he thought laws like this were problematic, my dad listened. This young man argued that having a gun in a situation like the one that recently occured in Binghamton, NY or the one at Virginia Tech isn't going to help people. As he said, he had been trained to use his weapon in combat, but when he was under fire for the first time, he and many of his soldiers were often so frightened and disoriented by the noise and confusion that it took them a few moments to react. Eventually his training kicked in, and he did what he had to do to survive in a war zone. My father has since revised his stance on carrying concealed weapons on college campuses.

Most people carrying guns onto college campuses are not going to be similarly trained, and most are going to be too frightened to "take out" the shooter. Sure, there is a small chance that someone with a gun could save a lot of lives in such a situation, but it seems to me there is great chance for more gun violence on college campuses if such a law is passed.

For Solon: Something new and shiny from Apple

Combines the warmth of vinyl with the portability of an MP3 player.

Man is stabbed for farting

You've got to read this one.

Fox is at it again...

Somehow, I'm not surprised that Fox has found a way to capitalize on the current economic situtation. However, since I just finished reading an article about how last month's numerous mass-murders might be tied to the economy, I'm a bit horrified by this concept. Turning layoffs into a Surivoresque vote undermines the seriousness of the situation. These individuals are not being voted off an island from which they can return home; instead, they're losing their livliehoods. The article states that a "business consultant" will help advise employees which of their own should be laid off, but will the show offer any support or guidance to the newly terminated employee(s)? Having worked through two nasty mergers that resulted in layoffs I can attest that the knowledge of impending layoffs sends ripples of paranoia through a company. Loyalties are tested, territories mapped out, backstabbing occurs, etc. (it is a miserable environment in which to work). Indeed, the atmosphere does have some similarities with reality shows that have eliminations. But in a company facing layoffs there are few immunity idols.

Perhaps, with the amount of money it will cost to produce the show, Fox could be helping the situation rather than profiting from it. But, that would suggest that there is a Rhetoric of Compassion in our society, which is something that today's earlier post by M suggests is wholly missing.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30108232/

The Rhetoric of Compassion, or do we have a responsiblity to help others?

On this morning's Today Show, Meredith Vierra interviewed a young woman who was raped in a subway station in 2005. According to the woman, who is going public with her story now, at least two Metropolitan Transit Authorities witnessed her attack and did not offer her any significant form of help. A conductor and a ticket clerk did notify their superiors about the attack, who then contacted the police. Neither the conductor nor the ticket clerk made any other attempt to aid the young woman. By the time the police arrived, some 10 to 15 minutes later, she had been raped twice and her attacker had fled; no arrest has ever been made in the case. Following her assualt, the woman filed a civil suit against the MTA, alleging that the policies of the MTA enabled the attack. A judge ruled recently that the workers “had taken prompt and decisive action” in notifying their superiors, but they had no obligation to act beyond notifying their superiors. The young woman openly admits that she did not expect either worker to leave the train or the ticket booth, but she does believe that either could have stopped the attack by getting on the loud speaker and telling her attacker that the police were on their way.

As C and I watched this, we were both horrified. The young woman states that she met the gaze of both the conductor and the ticket clerk, and neither did anything more than notify their superiors. I honestly can't fathom not helping someone who was being attacked in front of me, even if interfering meant putting myself at risk. This story has bothered me all morning.

I do wonder, however, if the judge is right. The workers followed MTA procedure to the letter, but the procedure resulted in, at least indirectly, this young woman being raped twice. The judge's ruling, which had to be based on MTA policy, seems to have been right, as much as it sickens me. But did these individuals have a responsiblity, as human beings, to do something more to help this young woman? Is there such a thing as the rhetoric of compassion? Do we have a responsibility to help others who are in immediate danger?

Damn those pants are square!

The scandalicious Burger King commercial is available on YouTube in an extended version:




hilarious. Not kid friendly. But hilarious :)

A treat for the eyes and ears...

Eminem has a new video out, and, of course, he mocks nearly all of the recent tabloid stars. I think Oxy will enjoy Em's take on Bret Michaels. My favorite bit may be at approx. 2:17, when "Sarah Palin" dances in a bustier with a polar bear and an eskimo. But that's just me.

Edited to add: I don't know how to make this little video box smaller!

Eminem - New Music - More Music Videos

Same-Sex Marriage in Vermont

Same-Sex Marriage is now legal In Vermont as the state's legisature enacted it over the Governor's (anti-democratic) veto.

Take that judicial activists.

Tuesday Afternoon Reading

If you are looking for something to read this afternoon, here is a report on Torture by the Red Cross.

If you are not interested in the report, The New York Times offers a summary.

Hacking Web Cams, or, Where's Oxymoron...

At Slate, Christopher Beam discusses the practice of Hackers taking control of your computer and watching you through your own Web Cam.

In a report released last month, Canadian researchers concluded that GhostNet has cracked at least 1,295 computers in 103 different countries, specifically targeting the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan activists and officials. Stealing documents and logging keystrokes—that I understand. You can get all sorts of useful information reading someone's e-mail or looking at their bank records. But peeking at them through their Web cameras? That seems creepy even by the standards of shady cyber-spying rings. It's one thing to read the Dalai Lama's IM conversations. It's another to actually watch him LOL.One program that allows you to do this is Back Orifice, a pun on Microsoft's BackOffice.

While this is not that common, it probably explains Oxymoron's absence.

Thick and Juicy

As someone rather well-endowed in the caboose department, I've always been amused by Sir Mix-a-lot's classic. It's catchy. It's funny.

Burger King is trying to promote their new kids' meals--square meals. As such, they've adapted Sir Mix-a-lot's song to "I like square butts." The BK king raps and checks the right angles of the ladies' butts as they shake their righteous booties. Sponge Bob Square Pants makes a few appearances too, thus the commercial creates an interesting (and I would suggest disturbing) series of contrasts between children's cartoons, kid's meals, and songs about sex and butts.

Thoughts? The video premeried during halftime (go Tarheels!) so I haven't been able to find it online yet.

Finally Tyra Banks Serves a Purpose; or, Sarah Palin Versus Levi Johnston, Round 1

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Quoth Madam Governor:

"Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show. We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship," says the statement from the Palin family rep.

"Bristol's focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence," the statement continues. "It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child."

I probably shouldn't laugh at this...but I am.

Someone threw a carseat at the Octomom's minivan.

On the Impending Movie Version of The Road

Interesting Cast But They Had Better Not Mess This Up. It won't lend itself to film quite so smoothly as No Country For Old Men did. For one thing it's a better novel. Just sayin', y'all. Don't mess it up.

The book cover, though, it's got some Rhetorical Pop. Harrogate will give it that.

Ohhh, Viggo.

STARRING: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert DuVal, Guy Pearce
DIRECTOR: John Hillcoat
STUDIO: The Wesinstein Co.
RATING: R (For graphic subject matter, including cannibalism and infanticide)
THEATER COUNT (Opening Weekend): TBD
RUNNING TIME: TBD
TOTAL DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE: TBD
U.S. DVD RELEASE DATE: TBD

Franz Kafka International Airport

The World's Most Alienated Airport. It's not good. At times, there are 32 hour delays.

Monday Musical Tribute; Or, I Like Tea and Oranges

Not my usual sort of tribute, but this has been growing on me...

The Rhetoric of Science, or, the rejection of science

Earlier this morning,the family and I visited the "fish store," deciding whether or not Sweet Toddler J's fascination with fish is a lasting experience or a fad. If it were a lasting experience, we would purchase a small aquarium and possibly some clown fish; if it were a fad, we should make a few more trips to the aquariums or zoos in the area so she could persuade us that she would like fish, then a monkey, maybe a rhino, so forth and so on. We decided not to buy at this moment, though we are still undecided on the fish issue.

While we were looking at the "big fish"-- the typical assortment of Japanese Koi that you would find at the entrance of a restaurant-- in the pond at the front of the store, a women and her autistic daughter entered so her daughter could feed the "big fish." While Megs and Sweet Toddler J went to look at other fish, the women with the autistic daughter turned to me and said:

How cute your son, I mean daughter,-- I just saw the blue jacket-- is. I just wanted to let you know, watch the children when they receive their shots. Watch them after every shot and every booster. I worked full time and never could pay that close attention... Now I want to tell people.... My daughter, at age three, lost all language, the ability to point, to jump... It's the mercury. I just want to tell parents because no one told me. Do your research. But I just feel as if I need to tell people.

Now, certainly there is a lot to unpack in this scenario. First, if one were to "do your research," a person would find that, first, the scientist who claimed there was a connection with the MMR shots and autism would find out that the scientist manipulated the data to create the appearance of a link.

In addition, a recent court case that reviewed the evidence between the shots with mercury and autism and, consequently, ruled against families who brought forth a suit against drug companies, also found that no link existed between the shots and autism. According to CNN, in the trial, scientists have failed to establish a link between the shots and audience. Of course, even with the Court's ruling, people who believed in the link rejected the Court's decision, claiming a conflict of interest existed as the Court ruled in favor of the government (Health and Human Services), since a person must bring forth a claim against HHS rather than the drug manufacturer. This tends to lead to conspiracy rhetoric though, which usually brings forth a dangerous set of arguments.

Second, even though science has failed to establish a connection, some people with autistic children still advance the argument that the shots are the cause. In my encounter, rather than mention this, for what good would it have done to disagree with here, especially at a fish store, I listened to her story. What struck my while listening to her was her outpouring of guilt ("I worked full time" and "could not pay attention,") and the scapegoating of the vaccinations, even without a evidence of a connection between the MMr vaccines and autism.

I wonder if it would be appropriate to mention this in a public setting. It seems that because of not knowing the other person, there would be no credibility to engage in a debate about this topic with the mother. Further, with her child as an inartistic proof, the mother would just say here is my daughter who regressed, especially in her communicative abilities, after receiving vaccinations.

While I certainly was not in any condition to debate with the mother, it also seems I may have an ethical responsibility as a professor to try and correct what seems to be incorrect assumptions about the link between the vaccinations and autism. I would do this in a classroom and, hence, I should be willing to do it when speaking with others about a topic I could address with some credibility. Granted, I am not a physician, but because of professional and personal relationships, I have followed this debate.

Thoughts?

The title alone . . .

necessitated that I post this article, which is linked on MSNBC.com's homepage.

Why Don't Conservatives Plan Revolutions When Republicans Are in Office

First, Chuck Norris announced that he may run for President of Texas because the Country was on the verge on losing its identity/ rights/ path/ deep discounts at Walmart/ ability to beat up bad guys in scripted confrontations.

Now, Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) invoked the right to revolution. According to Politico:

"I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us ‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.”

Of course, Bachmann must not have actually read the Jefferson quote and does not know the irony of the quote. Here is what Jefferson wrote:

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion... We have had thirteen States independent for eleven years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century and a half, for each State. What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion?" --Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith, 1787. ME 6:372

Ironically, when the revolution were to occur, Jefferson was president of the United States and I do not think he used the bully pulpit to argue for a revolution.

I would argue that Norris and Bachmann are just grandstanding, but what do I know...

Tee Shirt of the Week®: Both Wholly Offensive, and a Retrospective Honorariam to St. Patrick's Day

Harrogate, btw, though no hater of bad puns like Supadiscomama and M, is not a huge fan of them either. Still, he likes this bad pun because of its linguistic realism.

Fun With The Intersection Between Pop Art, Race, & Partisanship: Michael Steele Raps

The embarrassment to politics that is Michael Steele continues to render gold for the comedy sectors, at any rate.

Super-Action Happy Fun-time T-Shirtathon 2000 (goat-footed baloonMan edition)

Celebrating (Again) The Creativity of Britney Spears: The Question of the Day

Building upon the illustrious work of Harrogate.(I cannot believe I am writing about this).

With her song, "If you see Amy," Britney Spears*** is following in the footsteps of blues pianist Memphis Slim, the Canadian band April Wine, the pop-punk band Poster Children, James Joyce in Ulysses, and William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night. Here is Slate's take, with all of the references.

Oh well, it could be worse, as James Joyce notes:

If you see kay
Tell him he may
See you in tea
Tell him from me.

But, I ask you Situationers, what other examples of this type of brilliant wit do you admire?

*** Disclaimer: It is highly unlikely that Britney Spears wrote the lyrics to that song or the song itself, but, for a moment, we can live with the illusion.

61 Things on Toby the Cat

Friday Musical Tribute

Just because I like it.

March Madness; or, ". . . The Hunt is Canned!!!"

Well, it is upon us. The time designed to maximize heartbreak and bad fortune in the shortest possible period of time.

Ought to be an excellent opening weekend. And here, yet again, is that beautiful song by Megadeath. That song that is soooo, as it were, apropos. And ahh, that opening bass.

Enjoy. And Go Tar Heels!!!!!

Presidential Bracketology

Watching Obama engage the brackets is fun for many of us, of course--which is likely why ESPN provides this as an embedded link.

But actually it makes a lot of sense that Obama would make moves like this to augment the Rhetorical Situation popularly known as March Madness. Not only does it reinforce his already stratospheric credentials with the younger generations, but more importantly, in this economy it would certainly not do to sneeze at a cross-continental multi-million dollar spectacle, replete with cash infusions into the travel and service industries by wealthy boosters and frenzied alumni alike, an upsurge of television advertising funds, too, and perhaps consequently, a spike in retail consumerism, etc.

And it is worth mentioning that the Final Four this year will take place in..... Detroit, a city that, ahem, can use all the help it can get, right now.

And then there's the psychological excitement of the thing--wise, perhaps, to inject Bracketology into a Public Discourse overly dominated by doom and gloom.

A True Innovator

Muktar Mai scores another one for Pakistani women. I am in utter awe of her courage, determination, and general bad-ass-ness.

Proving Once Again that Obama Is Good For Gay Rights {And a Label Harrogate Could Not Resist}

From the AP:

The Associated Press has learned that the Obama administration will sign a U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that President George W. Bush had refused to endorse.

U.S. officials said Tuesday they had notified the French sponsors of the declaration that the administration wants to be added as a supporter of the declaration. The Bush administration was criticized in December when it was the only Western government that refused to sign.

The officials said the administration had decided to sign the declaration to demonstrate that the United States supports human rights for all around the world.

Music for a Tuesday

Just like the cover of Macy here. Makes me want to get a good recording to run through B&Ws.

Monday Musical Tribute

Sit back, sip the coffee for a few minutes, and reflect on Beauty.

"The case against breast-feeding"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The article, "The Case Against Breast-feeding," by Hanna Rosin (from this month's The Atlantic), has been discussed elsewhere various members of TRS. I found this interview with Dr. Nancy Snyderman and Hanna Rosin, which was on this morning's Today Show, really interesting. For the record, I like Snyderman a lot. Each time I see an interview with her, I think she gives really practical advice, especially about medical issues associated with kids, often saying things like "Here is what I'd say to do as a doctor, and here is what I have done as a parent." I like that she recognizes that there is often a disconnect b/w the medical science and parenting.

As for Rosin's argument that breast-feeding may not always be the best choice for mothers, I agree. I find her argument that few people consider the time commitment associated with breast-feeding really compelling. I devoted a lot of time to breast-feeding Wild Man, especially in the first year of his life. It became less time consuming the older he got, and I'm glad I was in a position to breast feed exclusively. Not all mothers are, and not all mothers want to. And rather than continue the debate (which I find to be remarkably like the working mom vs. the stay-at-home mom debate), we should accept that this is a highly personal decision.

Oh, and for the record, I also agree with Rosin that the scientific evidence touting the medical benefits of breast-feeding isn't particularly compeling. For more on this, read articles by Joan Wolf, including this one.

Cheney To The Rescue

If you just look at it in terms of what has actually happened, it is quite amazing that he just comes out and does John King's show on CNN, and King treats him with all this respect and everyone acts like its normal, a Vice President with a vast store of experience and a perspective to give.

As opposed, say, to a corporate mouthpiece with blood on his hands.

But anywho. Check out this little framejob by Powerline, a Rightist web site that consistently shilled for President Bush throughout.

The money line:

The contrast between Cheney's lucidity and the babbling brook who now serves as Vice President is painful.

Geez. Harrogate's not a big Biden fan, but that statement right there, that's just embarrassing writing Powerline. Even for you guys, this is caricature.

Oxy?

Before we handle the annual APB for Harrogate, we must address this question, which deserves to be taken seriously:

Oxy? Where are you?

Newswriting & Public Humiliation: How Many Different Ways Can One Guy Get Messed Up Anyway?

After a string of highly serious posts (perhaps most emblemized by Harrogate's Walter Egan tribute) it is time perhaps for some fun, if slightly mean-spirited, celebrity gossip.

The first two words of the headline, "Madonna wins in custody row with Guy", are the most important words in this story.

In that context you gotta love the last sentence in the story. Hmmm. Which reminds Harrogate, A-ROD nowhere to be found in the sublime world of Madge these days. Maybe she discovered that the rumors about steroids "side effects" are not only true, but also not really what one would call a "side effect."

Stop the Prison Rape Jokes

One of the saddest aspects of our popular culture is the ubiquity of the prison rape jokes. The reference to prison rape for comedic effect operates as a blight on several standup comedic acts, songs, sitcoms, and a range of "harmless," fun movies including Mallrats and Office Space.

As all theory heads know, the ubiquity internalizes, normalizes prison rape, when reason dictates it would be no more common to joke about this than it would to joke about any other kind of rape. It is after all rape.

Which brings us to this little piece by Doug Giles, one of Townhall's resident "Tough Guy Conservatives." You know the type he styles himself to be: he's a man's man, he hunts and kicks butt and takes names and he doesn't truck with them there elitist intellectuals. No sirree.

Anyway. The column is about what a bad guy Chris Brown is and by extension how bad the "hip-hop culture" is and by extension how much better conservatives are than liberals since after all, chances are very low that the makers and purveyors of "gangster rap videos" vote Republican.

But here's the snippet on prison rape. Harrogate read this and realized that during the existence of this glorious blog, he has never yet used it to express his disbelief that the culture is still okay with speaking of prison rape cavalierly.

Affect-Loaded Snippet:

Where I hail from (the great nation of Texas) men don’t do that to women, but the guys dumb enough to usually get the stuffing beat out of them by the girl’s dad or brothers—or both. After that near-death butt kickin’ administered to the girl-abusing loser by chivalrous men who love the women in their lives, the wussy would then proceed on to prison where he’d become the abused girlfriend of several randy inmates. It’s called jailhouse justice. And I like it.

This has nothing to do with "political correctness," though a professional neanderthal like Giles would probably try to put it in that category. Just a simple reminder for those who needed it, rape isn't funny. That's all.

Bombers

So as times get worse economically, let the fear tactics begin again: kids with guns in college and nuclear bombers in Cuba and Venezuela??? WTF???

Did Russia not learn that spending ridiculous amounts of money of weaponry of fear, invading countries to institute your regime, and etc. in an effort to spread your ideology globally gets you no where and broke???

Hmmm, sound familiar?

Friday Night Waits

From the inestimable Real Gone record: "How's It Gonna End."

Assy McGee Award® for 3/13/09: Paul Edwards

The piece is entitled "How I'm Praying for the President."
Just. Wow.

Representative Spewage:

Based on the policy positions alone, there is solid evidence that Barack Obama has made himself an enemy of God and the enemy of God’s people.

Update: Rhianna and Chris Brown...

...did not record a duet together. Whew. Now I can stop worrying about the personal drama being experienced by people that I don't know.

I might become a Radiohead fan, after all.

Because I now heart Thom Yorke.

And they think grade inflation is bad *now*...

Republican senator Jeff Wentworth (San Antonio, TX) has introduced a bill to the Texas Legislature that would permit people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. His reasoning is as follows:

"I don't want to wake up and read in the paper that Texas students were mowed down like sitting ducks on campus because they weren't allowed to defend themselves," said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, who is filing the "campus carry" bill this week. "It's a matter of personal safety and self defense." (from the Dallas News 2/24/09)

As a college instructor, I find this bill to be quite terrifying. I would feel very uncomfortable knowing that my students may be armed--I wonder if the schools would issue bullet proof vests to the faculty and staff? And what about the intimidation factor? Some students are a little frightening in their responses to a bad grade *without* weapons.

Plus, the idea that we'll be "safer" if everyone armed and able to properly defend themselves from mentally unstable attackers makes no sense to me. Sounds like a lot of freaked out people running around campus with guns to me.

Late, Late Thursday Musical Tribute

Harrogate has always liked this song.

To borrow the language of metaphor, it is almost as though the song were a magnet, and Harrogate steel.

Fun With Vanity Fair: What Arguments Are Being Made in these Pics, and Which Do Ye Like Best?

Tip of the Hat to Supadiscomama, who moments ago drew Harrogate's attention to the existence of the following Rhetorical Siuation.

March 2006. Scarlett Johannson, Tom Ford, Kiera Knightley (annotated as FORD'S FOUNDATION):




March 2009. Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Jonah Hill (annotated as The Pretty Young Things):

And we're supposed to take all the posturing about economic cut back seriously?

Congress is still slated to get automatic pay hike.

Do they really need to make more than $174,000 a year?

Seriously?

From CNN:

Singer Chris Brown has recorded a song with his reported girlfriend, Rihanna, just days after charges were filed against him for allegedly assaulting her, the record's producer said Thursday through a publicist.

What should be the name of the song? "(Even though I should) I can't quit you babe."

Other suggestions?

College Courses in America

Here is a list of the Fifteen Strangest College Courses in America. They are:

15. Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular ‘Logic’ on TV Judge Shows, University of California, Berkeley

14. Underwater Basket Weaving, University of California, San Diego

13. Learning From YouTube, Pitzer College

12. Philosophy and Star Trek, Georgetown University

11. The Art of Walking, Centre College (a philosophy class on Immanuel Kant)

10. Daytime Serials: Family and Social Roles, University of Wisconsin

9. Joy of Garbage, Santa Clara University

8. The Science of Superheroes, University of California at Irvine (about physics)

7. Zombies in Popular Media, Columbia College, Chicago

6. The Science of Harry Potter, Frostburg State University (no lab work required)

5. Cyberporn and Society, State University of New York at Buffalo

4. Simpsons and Philosophy, University of California-Berkeley

3. Far Side Entomology, Oregon State

2. Myth and Science Fiction: Star Wars, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings, Centre College

1. The Strategy of StarCraft, University of California, Berkley

Only one of these is a rhetoric class, the class on Judge Judy. Yet, even though it is on Judge Judy, it is a very smart class, especially for freshman. According to the description:

TV "Judge" shows have become extremely popular in the last 3-5 years. A fascinating aspect of these shows from a rhetorical point of view is the number of arguments made by the litigants that are utterly illogical, or perversions of standard logic, and yet are used over and over again. For example, when asked "Did you hit the plaintiff?" respondents often say, "If I woulda hit him, he'd be dead!" This reply avoids answering "yes" or "no" by presenting a perverted form of the logical strategy called "a fortiori" argument ["from the stronger"] in Latin. The seminar will be concerned with identifying such apparently popular logical fallacies on "Judge Judy" and "The People's Court" and discussing why such strategies are so widespread. It is NOT a course about law or "legal reasoning." Students who are interested in logic, public disputation, argumentation, and popular notions of fairness will probably be interested in this course. This is NOT a law course or even a pre-law course. This seminar is part of the Food for Thought Seminar Series.

After reading about this, I may try a clip or two next week when we continue to examine reasoning.

And speaking of dogma

CNN reports that current, and maybe soon to be ex, RNC Chairman MIchael Steele needs to "ease concerns" with Republicans because he stated abortion is an individual's choice.
soever.

There must be a point in which we call the Republican party a religion or a cult and not a mere political organization.

Awesome Rhetorical Combat Between Chris Matthews and Ari Fleisher

The kind of clip that Harrogate has been given to understand is known as "Da's Turn" in the Solon household.

Lots to chew on here. Rhetorically speaking, from Harrogate's perspective this battle is a battle in two movements, with Matthews getting somewhat out-maneuvered in the first half (though it will surprise nobody that Harrogate still agreed with what Matthews was trying to argue), and with Matthews at least bringing things to a draw with Fleisher in the second half. Harrogate always said Ari Fleisher was a masterful shit-talker, and it is manifest here that once again, he's good with the demagoguery.

Mostly at stake on the level of substance is rehashing our entry into Iraq. But they also argue about other things that might make a few Situationers' and Readers' blood race, such as whether it is honest, and for that matter whether it is decent for the Bush people to keep bragging that we "didn't get hit again under Bush's watch."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

For Bristol Palin: A Rambling, Somewhat Boring, but Nevertheless Heartfelt Post about the dangers of Dogmatism

About three weeks ago, Harrogate triggered a barn-burner of a thread in relation to Bristol Palin's interview on Fox, particularly regarding Rightist reactions to her candid statement that abstinence-only education was not realistic. What was at stake in that thread for Harrogate anyway, was the alacrity with so called moral values pundits were willing to throw Bristol overboard as having no credibility on the issue, because she is a teenager.

While numerous other epistemic issues were raised by Situationers, for Harrogate what remains most interesting about the Rhetoric surrounding Bristol is the extent to which these so called "values" pundits are willing to subjugate any and everything to ideology. They are the type of people Harrogate fears. NOT because they believe in abstinence before marriage. NOT because they are religious. NOT because they are conservatives. But because they pass conviction-town and integrity-ville and then keep right on going up the road to doctrine-istan.

There is a class of person--and you can find them as well on the Left as on the Right, as easily in the secular sphere as in the religious--for whom the actual world, including the myriad human beings occupying it, are like proverbial flies in an otherwise perfect ideological ointment.


But anywho. Now we learn that Bristol and Levi may well be breaking up. What will happen as a result of this, in the Right blogosphere? How will the decision of two high-profile human beings, not to have a shotgun wedding, be received in the ideological matrices that lie in wait? Time will tell.


In the meantime, and on a related note, Harrogate found this recent column by Rebecca Hagelin interesting. Unlike other talking heads that Harrogate has recently linked to on this blog, Hagelin's column has the ring on human authenticity: the "Spring Break" that she arranged for her two college Sons sounds absolutely awesome, and you can tell from, her tone that this is a woman who is writing from a place of joy.

Sigh. But the column is also Heavy on the Doctrine, so much so that much of the value of the piece is lost. For example:

Face it: When an adult in authority stands in front of the classroom and directs graphic discussions of sex in every form, forces boys and girls to sit by each other throughout the humiliating lectures, and then further violates the child's natural tendencies to be private or modest, then you end up with kids who follow what they’ve been taught. On the other hand, when kids are treated with dignity, taught the value of abstinence, and how to avoid placing themselves in compromising situations in the first place, the research shows that more of them do, indeed, respond by adopting a lifestyle of self-control and more responsible behavior than those drowning in "sex ed".

This column is rhetorically interesting to Harrogate because it shows how a compelling piece of writing can be ruined by a tedious effort to make everything "fit."

Tee Shirt of the Week® : 3/10/2009

Kind of the inverse of last week's featured tee. Except, with more of a pop culture {heh} thrust.

Five for Smoking but not for Breastfeeding

According to the Dayton Daily News, the Ohio State Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case in which a woman claims she was fired for taking extraand unscheduled restroom breaks to pump breast milk. The company claims that breastfeeding (or pumping) is not a medical condition or an illness.

The woman in question claims that her firing is gender discrimination as she was fired as she attempted to "relieve discomfort due to lactation, a condition exclusive to women." Further, the woman claims that others at her work take extra breaks "to relieve discomfort from menstrual symptoms or the need for frequent urination."

It is not known whether or not the woman spoke to her employer and made arrangements with the company to stay later or arrive earlier to make accommodations for extra time to pump while working.

According to the report:

Totes, which prevailed against Allen in a 2008 trial and a subsequent appeal, argues that the company didn't discriminate because breastfeeding doesn't legally constitute an illness or medical condition. The company says there is legal precedent showing that employers don't have to give extra breaks to breastfeeding women.

Allen, who was hired as a temporary worker through an employment agency, said she began taking the extra breaks at 10 a.m. after she found her 10-minute scheduled break at 8 a.m. was too short and she couldn't stand to wait until her 11 a.m. lunch break.

This should lead to a lively conversation.

Watchmen: A matter of form

This video does not make me comfortable with the big budget translation of Alan Moore's Watchmen from its shadow-throwing domination over the history of graphic literature to its mass-public-appealing new form. Look and see:

I posted this 35 minutes ago

2 funk E, I'm just

http://www.ronwinter.tv/drums.html

Wednesday Musical Tribute, and an Important New Label wherein Harrogate Hopes Readers Will Not Confuse "Country" with "Nation"

A new musical hero emerges in Harrogate's ever burgeoning pantheon. Pieta Brown. The song is "West Monroe." All Harrogate can say to this is Yes.

West Monroe - Pieta Brown

Academic Mothering and Fathering

I just wrote a post at Separation of Spheres about Academic Mothering and Fathering that I wanted to bring to the attention of the Situationers, as I feel it has some relevance to Paperweight's post on "Life as a Prof." I am interested to know what everyone thinks of my musings, as many of us who blog here are either academic mothers and fathers and all of us are part of an academic family.

Life as a prof

So I briefly saw Supa's non-TRS post referencing an essay on the Chronicle of Higher Ed and was curious about the subsequent conversation that followed in some email exchanges that I was not privy to. Part of my interest here is tied into my own experiences moving from a 4/4 load while writing to my dissertation to my current position teaching a 2/2. Although I'm in my first year at the new gig, I feel that I actually wrote more with the heavier course load (excpet of last year, after I finished and was on the market, and said f**k it I'm not writing--for the good or bad on that). There are many reasons why I feel this has happened but before I delve into a such a long diatrade I would be curious to know my fellow situationers perspectives on teaching, research, and even family in this respect??

Quote of the Day

I should be writing but instead I am reading Rush's speech CPAC. As of right now, this is all I have to say: Oh Rush:

"We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. [Applause] We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life. [Applause] Liberty, Freedom. [Applause] And the pursuit of happiness. [Applause] Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault."

I wonder: is this a deliberate mistake or does he not know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution?

But Rush, please know that it is hard for you to make the argument that other people are bastardizing the Constitution if you have no idea what the Preamble of the Constitution actually states. (Hint: "We the people.") This argument seems like you yourself do not know what is in the Constitution, which may explain why you never challenged the Bush Administration when they violated the Constitution.

Regarding the Rush Limbaugh Bruhaha

As everyone knows Rush Limbaugh has been much in the news recently--particularly following his appearance at CPAC this past Saturday. Television and print newspeople as well as boggers have bee intensely arguing ever since, over the merits of Rush, and even over whether or not he is currently the true leader of the Republican Party.


Certainly Rush's galvanizing impact opens myriad issues for consideration. Just recently Harrogate went to the Townhall bloggers to see just how deep up Rush's ass they have crawled at this point. The answer: pretty far.

Here is a clip one of the bloggers showed, wherein CNN's Bill Schneider lampoons Rush's tactics. But what Harrogate most wants to draw your attention to here, Readers, is less the clip, or even Townhall's Green-Blooded Bloggers. Nay. What Harrogate wants ye to see is this comment by one who calls herself (?) "lilly":

It is About Anger
I notice that the most popular Republican speakers on the right are those most gifted at turning a crowd into an angry mob. They get the most appreciation from the crowd by ridiculing, mocking, sneering, jeering, exaggerating, and misrepresenting. I heard Rush Limbaugh the other day pretending to lisp as he mimicked a certain person on the left; try to translate that fake lisp into words and see what the message is and answer the question, Why did the crowd love this? What is there about mocking that so delights them?

I remember at the Republican Convention 2004, Band-Aids were handed out that mocked John Kerry's Purple Heart. Sarah Palin mocked community organizers and all Americans who don't live in small towns or the countryside (not "the Real America"). Last week a Republican mayor entertained his friends by sending out an email showing the White House lawn planted as a watermelon patch. There seems to be something about Republicans that they can't get enough of mocking and sneering---they love it. And sneery mocking doesn't come from love, but from anger.

Are conservatives angry? Judging from what they say on townhall, I would say so: shoot Democrats, stockpile guns, go armed all the time, get ready for armed insurrection, hanging a noose isn't racist, send your kids to a school where they get beaten, load immigrants into trucks and dump them at the border, don't permit foreign languages to be spoken, pass laws to marginalize those you disapprove of. And be sure to make fun of those different from yourself.

This is one of the cleanest, most poignant articulations of what has happened to this nation's Republican Party, that Harrogate has ever seen. And so Harrogate wanted y'all to see it too.

Since Visual Rhetoric Recently Came Up In Another Thread

Presenting the Album cover for Led Zepplin's Houses of the Holy (1973).

Why Marriage Matters

I found this earlier today on Andrew Sullivan and I am still amazed: Annie Leibovitz took out a loan against her life's work to pay off her mortgage debt, not because she made poor economic decisions, but because she needs to pay up to 50% of what she inherited from her long time partner, Susan Sontag.

Meg's first response was, "Holy Sh!t... it is almost not fair that they were together as they are too talented." (As Meg's just pointed out, I am paraphrasing her as this sounds like something I would say, not her.) And, that is true.

Yet, this certainly is a profound argument as to why marriage equality needs to be granted for same-sex couples. Without protection, there will not be economic freedom and economic advancement for couples. Certainly individuals could still live alone; however, without protection, it is not rational to be in a same-sex couple. This perpetuates the problem: why would anyone want to be in a same-sex couple? In fact, it could be a major detriment to be in a same-sex couple. Instead, economically speaking, it would be much more viable to the financial benefit of the individual to remain single, which may perpetuate the of the promiscuous life-style.

Torso Apparel of the Week: 2 March 2009: The Roof Almighty's Even Awesomer TRS Contribution

Tee Shirt of the Week®: Monday, March 2nd: Harrogate's Newest TRS Contribution

A Lament

Harrogate tonight laments the disparate geography of TRS. And it will only get more disparate as time passes.

A statement from Harrogate

Kathleen Sebelius as the new Secertary of HHS. Harrogate is a big fan of this choice. He prefers her much to Daschle.

For what it is worth.

Sunday Night Musical Tribute

Harrogate, like a lot of Situationers, has not had much to give TRS, or much of anything else, these days. But onward we press even when low on fuel.

The record for which this song is the title track, Harrogate has now listened to every day for the last week and a half. Before the record arrived in the mail he posted another wonderful song off it, "Wreck."

Here is "Good Night San Francisco." This band is capturing Harrogate's mood right now, and so now he shares it with ye.

"Spontaneous" Propaganda

A few weeks back on CNBC, a non-descript reporter by the name of Rick Santelli called for a Chicago Tea Party to protest the economic legislation from our current Democratic Congress and the Obama administration. According to The Chicago Tribune, Santelli, who must be oblivious to the past eight years, stated:

"The government is promoting bad behavior," he said, insisting the public should vote "to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages." This plan, Santelli ranted, reminded him of Cuba, which "used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy" until it "moved from the individual to the collective."

After Santelli rallied against the machine, other conservatives picked up on the "Chicago Tea Party" trope, hoping to start an uber-patriotic grass roots movement.

There is only one problem: the "Chicago Tea Party" grass roots campaign may be nothing more than a top-down movement started by corporate conservative operatives. Showing that people may read the site for the article, the Playboy blog Backstabbers has an interesting take on the situation:

Let’s go back to February 19th: Rick Santelli, live on CNBC, standing in the middle of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, launches into an attack on the just-announced $300 billion slated to stem rate of home foreclosures: “The government is promoting bad behavior! Do we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages?! This is America! We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists who want to come down to Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing."

Almost immediately, the clip and the unlikely "Chicago tea party" quote buried in the middle of the segment, zoomed across a well-worn path to headline fame in the Republican echo chamber, including red-alert headlines on Drudge.

Within hours of Santelli's rant, a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com sprang to life. Essentially inactive until that day, it now featured a YouTube video of Santelli’s “tea party” rant and billed itself as the official home of the Chicago Tea Party. The domain was registered in August, 2008 by Zack Christenson, a dweeby Twitter Republican and producer for a popular Chicago rightwing radio host Milt Rosenberg—a familiar name to Obama campaign people. Last August, Rosenberg, who looks like Martin Short's Irving Cohen character, caused an outcry when he interviewed Stanley Kurtz, the conservative writer who first "exposed" a personal link between Obama and former Weather Undergound leader Bill Ayers. As a result of Rosenberg’s radio interview, the Ayers story was given a major push through the Republican media echo chamber, culminating in Sarah Palin’s accusation that Obama was “palling around with terrorists.” That Rosenberg’s producer owns the “chicagoteaparty.com” site is already weird—but what’s even stranger is that he first bought the domain last August, right around the time of Rosenburg’s launch of the “Obama is a terrorist” campaign. It’s as if they held this “Chicago tea party” campaign in reserve, like a sleeper-site. Which is exactly what it was.

ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the “Sam Adams Alliance,” whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots “tea party” protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money.

And the war came.

The End is Nigh

The Right plans a Civil War. I mean, they don't want it, but we must plan for the "Bubba-Militia Effect."

This War Room Strategy is totally plausible. Thanks Glenn Beck. Why do Militia's develop only when Democrats are in office even as Republicans create a government that takes away rights and relies on unconstitutional surveillance. More here.

It never ends. Life is a permanent state of war. It is only when Democrats control the government that the government is betraying the constitution.

Yet another movie.

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

And Glenn Beck: where does God stand on the issue of Civil War? I am not sure. Can you find a textual referent about God's position on an imminent Civl War in the U.S.?

DVR Question

So despite my vote for the Pres., do you think it is possible to program the DVR to skip all the standing ovations? Seems like these speeches would be much briefer and more enjoyable.

Sunday Song of the Day.....

Inspired by Supadiscomama as she attempts to grade and, in the process, reject literalism. Good Luck!!!

New Rule: Literally

People should no longer use the word "literally" unless they have passed a course in correct usage of that word--and have the certificate to prove it.