Kathleen Parker: Wrong

Occasionally I come across a piece by someone that brings to mind one of the more prominent words from a 2009 single by Depeche Mode, the video of which is embedded above.

Such is the case with a column written by Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker entitled "The silly, selective ‘war on women’".  The part of this column that gave me this reaction comes from the third sentence.

It has long been accepted by the conventionally wise that the Republican Party is waging a “war on women.”

Let’s be clear. The war on women is based on just one thing — abortion rights."

Wrong.  Liberals who criticize conservatives over their perceived "War On Women" point out several policies enacted by Republican lead governments as well as by conservative pundits and commentators.  These policies are not just limited to abortion rights.  Quoting the ACLU:

"The "War on Women" describes the legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation. In includes a wide-range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women's health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies."

Among the stories listed when you do a search for the tag "War On Women" on the Daily Kos are stories about Personhood Legislation, Contraceptives and Equal Pay, and proposals to sterilize women on Medicare.  A search for the keyword "War On Women" on The Huffington Post brings up stories about the disparity between male and female speakers at the recent CPAC conference, Mike Huckabee's Uncle Sugar comment, and a commentary about the Paycheck Fairness Act.  Finally a Wikipedia article about the "War On Women" includes subheadings dealing with reproductive rights, violence against women, financial assistance, and workplace and pay discrimination.

Saying that when liberals gripe about the Republican Party's "War On Women" that they only gripe about things having to do with abortion rights is not only intellectually dishonest, it's simply wrong.  To say that the "War On Women" is only about abortion rights seeks to delegitimize criticism of policies being enacted by our government, as well as the gender equality movement in general.  The use of the phrase "silly, selective" is fitting because conservatives would rather dismiss any criticism or any perceived criticism rather than dealing with criticism in an intellectually honest and fair fashion, 

IRS SMH

IRS Surrenders, Won't Check Whether Political Nonprofits Are Breaking The Law

So rather than figuring out a way to do their job in a fair and judicious manner, the IRS just won't do their job.  This is the kind of shit that only the government can get away with.  SMH.

Satire?

As a self identified satirist, the kind of satire I go for is straight-faced satire.  This is the kind of satire that is told in such a convincing manner that you don't know whether it's real or not.  This can involve slight exaggerations, connections between people that, while reasonable, are false, and other forms of creative fiction, otherwise known as lying.  I also appreciate when this kind of satire is deftly pulled off by others.  This can also create problems.  Sometimes I read something that I think sound completely reasonable, but also contains slight exaggerations that could make it satire.  Slight exaggerations can happen organically in our society, just follow the local politics in your area for examples of that, but deft satirists can make it so that slight exaggerations of facts, people, and situations can be seen as alone could not happen but collectively are completely reasonable, even sometimes expected.

I Wrote an Amazon Bestseller in a Week

I legitimately cannot tell if this is satire or not.  If it is, bravo John Blumenthal for pulling off some great satire.  If it isn't, bravo John Blumenthal for actually being a successful self published writer on Amazon, something that I have yet to accomplish.

The Quest To Increase My Sexiness Quotient

As a man who aspires to be good looking, I follow the men's fashion scene so that I can know what the hot trends are among the people who are way more good looking than me.  That is why I read magazines such as Esquire and GQ.  Through these publications I not only learn what clothes these publications think women find attractive, but also what kind of alcohol, cars, furniture, and even television shows will just make a woman swoon, according to them.  I don't have the nearly infinite amount of money necessary in order to pull off the kind of look that is promoted as sexy by these publications, so I am looking to diversify my fashion intake.  I am actively looking around the internet for ways to improve my general sexiness quotient while also staying within my modest budget.

The Fashion Tip You Should Take From Mindy Kaling

I don't think this would help me.  I don't think the kind of women I want attracted to me would appreciate it if I wore a just-above-the-knee shift dress, whatever that is.  Sigh.  And so, my quest to become sexy continues.

Adventures In False Advertising With Kate Upton's Butt

Occasionally you come across something that you initially think is one thing but totally is not.  This can be a traumatic experience if you have a lot of emotional investment in that particular things, but more often than not it serves as a learning experience.  You learn about the kind of things that people can use to deceive you, and, hopefully, learn to either avoid those things or use those things as warning signs when you have dealing with other people.

Websites are well known for utilizing these kind of deceptive tactics.  Often a website will call itself something or have an article with a title that tricks the reader into clicking on that website.  In most instances this is done to increase ad revenue, as is the case with the title of this article, and, I believe, the title of this article posted on The Huffington Post:

The 7 Biggest Buts In History

Netvibes: Now On iOS

After the shutdown of Google Reader in 2013, many people who utilize RSS Readers to get their news looked for alternatives that still allowed them to keep up to date on what's happening on the intertubes.  In my search for an RSS Reader, I found Netvibes.

Netvibes works great for me.  I can pull Netvibes up on my phone and, with it's sleek interface, I can easily navigate around my various news feeds, porn tumblers, and other assorted internet things, and stay informed on what's happening in my world while I am at work, leisure, or even when I'm out shopping.  Sure Netvibes didn't have a dedicated app, but I was able to add the Netvibes link to my home screen on my iPhone and iPad.  Some people have a problem with this.  Some people are absolutely adamant that they want a dedicated app that they can utilize for their RSS needs.  When asked why, these people have little to no real reasons why they need a dedicated RSS app, but they want one nonetheless.

Take Your Dashboards Anywhere with the New Netvibes App for iOS

Now those people can shut up.  Now those people can stop their whining about how they need a dedicated RSS app for their RSS needs and just use Netvibes.  Sure many of these people may still complain about how there isn't an Android app, but those are the kind of people you just can't satisfy.  Also they suck.

Useless Rag

I had an idea for a blog post a couple of weeks ago that kind of fizzled out.  It was going to be a long comment on how there are a great many examples of clothing that is designed for women that women either find uncomfortable to wear or do not meet their needs, while there are not similar examples among clothing designed for men.  The idea came to me after reading this post on Jezebel and the comment I made thereafter.

After thinking about it for a while I came to two conclusions.  One: I could write this blog post but what could I present that would further the discussion, or bring conclusion to it?  Eventually I realized that the only idea I had was to complain about something that is going on and saying that people should do something about it instead of being actually able to do something about it.  Two: There is an example of clothing designed for men that men find uncomfortable to wear and does not fit their needs.  I could only think of one example, even after spending several days pondering over the wide variety of clothing options for men and what those pieces of clothing actually accomplish.  The one piece of clothing that is designed for men that men find uncomfortable to wear and does not fit their needs is the tie.

The tie.  There are times in our lives when all men must wear a tie.  Whether it's to work, a formal occasion, church, or to a funeral, eventually all men wear a tie.  Yet, despite long dutiful thought about the subject, I cannot think of a good use for the tie, and I bet none of the men reading this post can think of one either.  Some people think that a tie is used to cover up the buttons on a white collared shirt.  Some people, amusingly, think that the tie is meant to point toward something that lies under the belt.  Some people think that the tie has some sort of masochistic function.  However, none of those reasons seem to ring true, and just seem to serve as placeholders for the real reason that we have yet to discover.  The fact of the matter is that the tie serves no real purpose and is uncomfortable to wear when put on in a way that is deemed proper.  The tie just seems to be completely useless.

‘World's Poorest President' Rages Against The Necktie, Calling It A ‘Useless Rag'

It's good to see that somebody else out there agrees with me.

Not Right In A Moral Context

Controversial execution botched in Oklahoma

Like most liberals, I don't like the concept of the death penalty.  There are too many questions about the true guilt of suspects, evident disparities in how different races are sentences, and whether suspects have available to them adequate legal representation.  However, if we are going to put prisoners to death, we need to do so in a way that does not constitute cruel and inhumane conduct.  For this reason, I can no longer support executing prisoners via lethal injection due to the inability for states to obtain Sodium thiopental, a fast acting anesthetic that was typically used for lethal injection before the manufacturer decided to stop providing the drug to states for the purposes of execution.

Ending lethal injection does not stop a state's perceived need to execute it's prisoners, and if a state is going to execute their prisoners it need to be done in a way that is safe, effective, and humane.  For that reason, if a state is going to execute it's prisoners, I would support doing to via firing squad, as was recently proposed in the state of Utah.  Yes, I'd rather that we not execute people, but if we are going to do it we need to do it right.  Not right in a moral context, but right in the method that we utilize.

Focusing On The Problem, Not The Solution

There a scene in the movie Patch Adams that, after seeing it, has painted the way that I view the world ever since.  The scene is linked above, but the integral part of the scene is when Arthur Mendelson, played by Harold Gould, reveals what the means when he asks people how many fingers people see.  What Arthur is trying to get across is that people need to stop looking at the problem when they are faced with it, for when they focus on the problem they can never see the solution.


Urban Armor# 2: The Personal Space Dress from Kathleen McDermott on Vimeo.

I thought of the fingers example when I read about The Personal Space Dress on The Huffington Post.  While this dress is a good concept, it doesn't address the underlying problem.  Women wouldn't need a dress that protects their personal space if men would respect a woman's personal space.  That's the problem.  Besides, if men want to continue violating a woman's personal space, all this dress will do is provide another obstacle for perverts to overcome.  As I've said before, perverted behavior is a man's problem, and it's a problem that only men can solve.  Men need to put an end to this behavior so that we all can exist in a society that is more comfortable for all.

Taking My Corporate Balls

There's something to be said about the concept of taking your ball and going home.  That thing that needs to be said is that it sucks.  Behavior such as this is something that petulant children do, and sometimes petulant adults.  Yes it is your ball and yes the people you're playing with may not be doing exactly what you want, but fuck you.  That's life!  People aren't going to do exactly what you want in exactly the way that you want it to be done all the damn time.  Part of being an adult, a real adult not a petulant childish manchild, is learning how to adjust to what other people are doing in a way that is beneficial to yourself and the group.  It may not always work out best for you but that's what happens sometimes.

Major TV Networks Trash Netflix, Want It To Be Like Amazon And Hulu

...that is unless you are a major corporation.  Then you get whatever the fuck you like however the fuck you like it, and if you don't you can figuratively take your ball and go home.

Things I Will Never See

There are things that I know that exist in this world that I will never see.  This goes beyond the usuall one million dollars in hard currency stuff.  This is stuff that most reasonable men could go out and see that I will never actually go out and see.

Glow in the dark underwear?  Never gonna see it.

Underwear with build in insurance?  Never gonna see it.

Two different kinds of orgasms?  Never gonna see it.

Backdoor Teen Mom?  Never gonna see it.  I mean that, NEVER GONNA SEE IT.

Pictures of someone's disgusting house?  Never gonna see- wait I just clicked on it.  Yeah, kind wish I hadn't.  Ew.  Disgusting.  Ew.

How I'm Spending My Tax Return

A couple of days ago I had my taxes done and found out just how much the federal government loves me.  I'm not going to say specifically what my federal tax return is, but it is more than what my usual paycheck is.  Since I found out how much the federal government loves me, I've been thinking of ways to spend my tax return.

I've contemplated buying a new iPad.  The only reason I have to buy a new iPad is that they now sell one with a storage capacity of 128 GB.  While I could spend my new found money on something completely frivolous, I don't want to go to that extreme.

A couple years ago I took a vacation to Las Vegas.  I didn't do anything really substantive, other than see a couple of shows and bet on the Red Sox.  I could go take another vacation, but, if I'm going to go on a vacation I'd rather go to Los Angeles and see Conan.

Oh yeah, that Project Buy A House thing.  Yeah, I guess I should be continuing to be a responsible adult and continue on my epically long quest to buy my own home.  I guess I should continue to go after what has been a long held goal of mine, because that's what real adults do.  After all, what other adult thing can I go after that will give me a level of satisfaction that only adults can understand.

The World's First 'Sexual Home Appliance' Will Haunt Your Dreams

That's it, I'm spending my tax return on a sex toy.  And, with the money I have left over, I can still buy a new iPad.  Oh joy!

The Redertainment Diet!

Like many Americans, the employees of The Redertainment Corporation Of America struggle to maintain a healthy weight.  Our employees have tried many different solutions to this problem, all of them unsuccessful.  In recent month, however, we at The Redertainment Corporation Of America have finally found a solution.  This is a solution that is a godsend to many of our employees, particularly the fat ones.  Now we wish to share this solution with you.  The Redertainment Corporation Of America is proud to present The Redertainment Diet.

Many diets out there have restrictions on what you can and cannot eat.  It is this part of dieting that most people have a problem with.  With The Redertainment Diet you don't have to struggle with this.  With The Redertainment Diet, all your dietary choices are made for you in a way that surprisingly simple.  With The Redertainment Diet you eat nothing.  That's right, NOTHING.

Now, you may be asking "How can I explain why I am eating nothing?"  It's simple: Take up a political cause that is either impossible or has no chance of succeeding.  It's that simple.  When people ask you why you aren't eating, simply say "I am going on a hunger strike untill ______."  After giving that answer to people, no one will ever ask you again why you aren't eating.

Now, you may be asking "Does this really work?"  Yes, The Redertainment Diet does work.  Just ask these satisfied people.

"I'm Trestin Meacham, and I've lost twenty-five pounds while hunger striking for the nullification of gay marriage in Utah."

"I'm Eric Small, and I've lost fifteen pounds while hunger striking for the nationwide legalization of marijuana."

"I'm Mari Monzo, and I've lost thirty pounds while hunger striking for the Washington Redskins to change their name."

"I'm Jamie Kane, and I've lost fifty pounds hunger striking for President Obama to come out as a secretly gay married Kenyan socialist."

Don't you want to experience stunning results like this in your life?  The Redertainment Diet.  Try it today!

My Subconscious Really Likes Woman's Field Hockey

This video, posted on YouTube and on The Huffington Post, brings up some interesting questions to me.  Namely, there's a women's field hockey world league?  And this is on television?  WHERE?!?  How do I watch this and how do I watch a lot of this?  Please, someone tell me, I urgently want to watch high caliber women's athletics because I legitimately enjoy watching high caliber women's athletics and not because I find athletic women highly attractive.

Why am I allowing my subconscious to blog for me?

It's Too Good To Be Naked Pictures Of Carla Bruni

There's an old saying: if it's too good to be true, it probably is.  If you recieve an email telling you that some Nigerian price is offering you any amount of money, it's too good to be true.  If some strange guy in a van is offering you candy in exchange for helping him find his dog, it's too good to be true.  If the people who laughed at you and made fun of you in high school suddenly start treating you humanely and even vote you homecoming queen, it's too good to be true.  If some random Ginger offers you free copies of his book, it's too good to be true.  If it's too good to be true, it probably is.

Nude Photos Of Carla Bruni Used In G-20 Hacking Scheme

Carla Bruni naked?  Now that's gotta be true!  Click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click!

I Know They're Watching, And I Like It

Top-Secret Document Reveals NSA Spied On Porn Habits As Part Of Plan To Discredit 'Radicalizers'

According to an article on The Huffington Post, the NSA is gathering information about the porn habits of so called "radicalizers", and, given the tactics the NSA is reported to use, it can be safely assumed that the NSA is gathering information about the porn habits of everybody.  So the NSA knows the porn habits of everybody, including me.  So the NSA knows what porn I am watching.

I have mixed emotions about this.  While I feel that this is an invasion of my privacy and that my porn habits are of no one's business unless I am doing something illegal, I also feel a little bit of a kinky twinge.  Someone is looking at me when no one is supposed to be looking at me.  I am doing dirty things while someone is surreptitiously watching me.  That's like exhibitionism taken to a whole new level.

So, thank you NSA for giving me another source of sexual thrill.  Now, kindly, get the fuck out of my business.  Call me when you actually find out information that can help people, like where a missing person is or who the fuck moved my goddamn cheese.