Blog sprinkles

Twenty years ago the slaughter of female engineering students in Canada:

For me, that’s been the experience of living a normal life. Too many women in different times and places have been prevented from living anything I’d consider resembling a normal life, and 14 women engineering students in 1989 were prevented from living their lives at all. It’s not ideological to observe that it was due to a young man’s anger and frustration at feminism (plus the easy availability of an automatic weapon) that women were slaughtered on December 6, 1989. It’s not the fault of feminist “ideology” that other women have pointed out that violence against women is almost uniquely carried out by angry and frustrated men; it’s not ideological to draw incredibly obvious parallels between December 6 and violence against women in homes and around the world.

Sometimes it just takes several years of personal and collective experience, while paying attention to history, to accept these hard facts.

As for myself, I finally learned to credit feminism with allowing me to live a normal life. And yes, I am a feminist, for as long as it will take.

(h/t to JJ of Unrepentant Old Hippie)

War is a game... And some say we will play it forever:

As the US discovered in Iraq, it's easier to get into a war than get out – and to a significant degree, Washington, like the hapless Dubs, is now held hostage in Afghanistan. At the same time, the US is here because it wants to be. Believing it will just up and leave any time soon is plain wishful thinking.

Iraq and Afghanistan are America's sudoku wars. Put simply, by occupying blank or vacated spaces, Washington gets a handle on the nextdoor squares. It's a geostrategic numbers game. Thus what follows, in logical sequence, are Pakistan and Iran. In this continuing gambit to "shape the security environment", as US planners say, Afghanistan is an irreplaceable asset.

Pakistan will look after itself, even if that means hanging the US out to dry.

Oops... I was going to buy some on this list. I must be a bad mom because I still will....

Naked mole rats! They will save the world!

Steve Benen tries to untangle Michael Steele's circular logic:

Steele's piece then turns its attention to killing health care reform, which he says would "increase our health care premiums" (the opposite is true), "raise taxes on small businesses and the middle class" (the opposite is true), and would cost too much (in reality, reform lowers the deficit and is arguably the most ambitious cost-cutting bill ever considered by Congress).

The RNC chairman adds, "If our economy is still struggling next year, shouldn't we invest that trillion bucks into creating jobs?"

This is simply baffling. In one paragraph, Steele insists government investment hasn't and can't create jobs. In another paragraph, in the same piece, Steele thinks we can improve the economy by spending $1 trillion on job creation?

Steele goes on to argue that health care reform might be bad for the economy. The evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, but to bolster his case, the RNC head points to ... nothing in particular. He just asserts that reform "could be a burden on our economy and put a strain on American job makers."

Got that? There will be a test.

Best review EVER of New Moon and Twilight.

Explaining how to avoid internet scams to your less than savvy friends and relatives.

Tomatoes thrown at Sarah Palin missed...