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Oct
23
Drink! You big black cow!
Filed Under Culture | 10 Comments
I really needed these tonight:
“Babylon Sisters”
Misheard Lyrics:
Dial assistance, shake it.
Original Lyrics:
Babylon sisters, shake it.
“Babylon Sisters”
Misheard Lyrics:
Drink kielbassa from a shell.
Original Lyrics:
Drink Kerscwasscher from a shell.
“Black Cow”
Misheard Lyrics:
Drink, you big black cow
And get out of here.
Original Lyrics:
Drink your big black cow
And get out of here.
Aja and Gaucho are two of my all time faves of Steely Dan but truth is, I think I love every single one of their albums almost equally (yeah, even Two Against Nature – that should go on that objective outrage list for some people though). I still have the LPs…
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:42 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Culture | 10 Comments
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Oct
23
57 Objectively Outrageous Concepts
Filed Under Culture, Social Issues | 14 Comments
Yes? No? Maybe?
1. A person with the initials KKK emblazons them on a beach bag that he or she totes to places public and private.
2. A homeowner keeps a noose tied around a lawn jockey on his or her front yard.
3. Streaking
4. Pornography
5. Strip clubs
7. May-December Romance, over 18
8. May-December Romance, male under 18
9. May-December Romance, female under 18
10. Jewish people control all the money
11. Jewish people control all of media
12. Jewish people control the world
13. Black president
14. Female president
15. Atheist president
16. No women in the Ohio Statehouse
17. Infidelity by a husband
18. Infidelity by a wife
19. Using religion to make a profit
20. Saying that US troops are being killed for the president’s amusement
21. First cousins marry each other
22. No habeas corpus
23. Death penalty allowed
24. Death penalty outlawed
25. Abortion
26. Incest
27. Sexual harassment
28. Mark Foley
29. Bill Clinton
30. Watergate
31. Sexually or physically abusing a child
32. Calling a woman a “bitch”
33. Negative campaigning
34. Push polls
35. The cost of the 2008 presidential campaign
36. Psychological and physical torture for any purpose
37. Anti-Semitism
38. Racism
39. Embryonic stem cell research
40. Genetic engineering
41. Buying wives
42. Selling humans
43. Slavery
44. Polygamy
45. Swinging
46. Murder
47. Dick Cheney telling Patrick Leahy, on the floor of the Senate to “f off” or “go f yourself”
48. The Aristocrats
49. Lenny Bruce
50. Michael Moore
51. Jesus Camp
52. Phyllis Schlafly
53. Jane Fonda
54. Paris Hilton
55. Elton John
56. Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize
57. Adolf Hitler
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:49 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Culture, Social Issues | 14 Comments
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Oct
23
‘Roots school board coverage, NASA withholds scary info & GOP’s idea of health is fried chicken
Filed Under Blogging | 4 Comments
You can only find those stories here:
NASA withholds confidence-killing data
GOP govs focus on health care while serving fried chicken
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:25 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Blogging | 4 Comments
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Oct
23
Noose on your door: do you ignore or express outrage?
Filed Under Civil Rights, Crime, Culture, Parenting, Social Issues | Comments Off
As I sat outside my son’s middle school today waiting to pick him so that I could take him to the seniors’ home where he teachers computers to men and women in their 80s and 90s once a week, I listened to this show on Talk of the Nation (audio will be available from there after 6pm today):
The New York State legislature is currently considering a bill that would make it a felony to publicly display a noose. What is the most effective way to respond to a hate crime? Guests and callers discuss differing perspectives on responding to racism.
Guests:
John McWhorter, senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute; wrote an All Things Considered commentary about ignoring the hype on noose incidents; author of Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America
Anne Reese Carswell, associate director of the Nyumburu Cultural Center
Luke Visconti, partner and co-founder of Diversity Inc; started a virtual map called “Noose Watch”
More links to similar reports can be found here.
If you want to add to their online discussion of the topic, you can go here.
Some notes I wrote while listening:
Neal Conan introduces one of the segments by saying something like, “We can all admit that nooses are wrong, but what do we do about it when they are displayed?”
On cue, on cue I tell you, a caller calls in (not me) and says, paraphrased, “All they want is attention and negative attention is still attention.” He went on to describe how he doesn’t give the kids on the bus he’s been driving for more than ten years that negative attention (of yelling and screaming as he says) and how his method of quietly intervening has been far more useful and successful in ending the behavior than any yelling he’d ever done.
John McWhorter, senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute; wrote an All Things Considered commentary about ignoring the hype on noose incidents; author of Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America, responded by saying that he would feel embarrassed if the “scummy person” who tried to scare him succeeded in provoking him.
Gee, somehow, I know exactly what he means.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:55 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Civil Rights, Crime, Culture, Parenting, Social Issues | Comments Off
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Oct
23
Blog day for the MOTHERS Act, 10/24: help women with postpartum depression
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Civil Rights, Government, Parenting, Social Issues, Women | 1 Comment
Read more at Blogher about the why of this blog day, tomorrow, Wednesday, October 24.
From another post on Blogher about the event:
What the MOTHERS act will do:
Specifically, the MOTHERS Act will help new moms by:
- Providing important education and screening on postpartum depression (PPD) that can lead to early identification and treatment. The legislation includes two grants to help healthcare providers educate, identify and treat PPD.
- Expanding important research to improve and discover new treatments, diagnostic tools and educational materials for providers. Since the exact cause of PPD isn’t known, research continues to be the key to unlocking the mystery of this condition.
The bill is currently with the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee of the Senate. If the majority of the HELP Committee members endorse the MOTHERS Act, the bill will move forward for consideration by the Senate. Without Senate sponsors, the bill could languish in committee and await reintroduction at a future date. The moms of America can’t wait for that.
Most Senators rarely hear from mothers (and others!), and phone calls from you and your readers will cause them to sit up and take notice on a specific issue. Writing or sending emails has much less impact. With your support, Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act can truly have a measurable impact.
How you can help:
Here’s what to do on October 24th:
- * Grab a Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act button from BlogHer here and display it on your blog now.
- * Tell your fellow bloggers about Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act so they can participate too.
- * Visit the Postpartum Support International website and click the Welcome Bloggers button at the top to get all the information you need about the bill, how your readers can call their Senators, what to say, etc.
- * Publish your post on postpartum depression and the MOTHERS Act on Wednesday, October 24th and don’t forget to tag your post with: Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act, BlogHers Act, BlogHer, Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Support International, postpartum depression
- * MAKE THOSE CALLS!!
- * Once you’ve blogged, be sure to go back to the BlogHer page and leave your URL so others can link to you.
- * I also hope you’ll to visit me at Postpartum Progress and leave a link to your blog or a message to my readers, most of whom are sufferers and the people who care for them. If you have a question, email me at stonecallis@msn.com.
You can read more about the MOTHERS Act in 2007 here, and from last congressional session, here and here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:13 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Announcements, Blogging, Civil Rights, Government, Parenting, Social Issues, Women | 1 Comment
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Oct
23
The power and responsibility of blogs
Filed Under Blogging, Elections, Foreign Affairs, Government, Media | 6 Comments
Now, more than ever.
From this JewishJournal.com interview with investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh [bold is my emphasis]:
JJ: New York magazine has a profile this week of Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report, and they call him “America’s Most Influential Journalist.” What have bloggers like Drudge done to journalism, and how do you think it compares to the muckrakers that you came of age with?
SH: There is an enormous change taking place in this country in journalism. And it is online. We are eventually — and I hate to tell this to The New York Times or the Washington Post — we are going to have online newspapers, and they are going to be spectacular. And they are really going to cut into daily journalism. I’ve been working for The New Yorker recently since ’93. In the beginning, not that long ago, when I had a big story you made a good effort to get the Associated Press and UPI and The New York Times to write little stories about what you are writing about. Couldn’t care less now. It doesn’t matter, because I’ll write a story, and The New Yorker will get hundreds of thousands, if not many more, of hits in the next day. Once it’s online, we just get flooded.
So, we have a vibrant, new way of communicating in America. We haven’t come to terms with it. I don’t think much of a lot of the stuff that is out there. But there are a lot of people doing very, very good stuff.JJ: Some people have a problem with muckrakers. Why do you think it is important to shine a light on filth?
SH: I can’t imagine what else there is to do in the newspaper business today right now but to write as much as you can about what is going on. Like it, don’t like it, what you call filth is the normal vagaries of government and foreign affairs these days.
Take away:
“We’re going to have online newspapers, and they are going to be spectacular.”
“But there are a lot of people doing very, very good stuff.”
“…what you call filth is the normal vagaries of government and foreign affairs these says.”
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:57 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Blogging, Elections, Foreign Affairs, Government, Media | 6 Comments
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Oct
23
That’s, as in, “Jews, who feel like I do about a lot of things.”
Example #1, from The Moderate Voice comment section of my guest column there, posted yesterday, this passage in particular:
Jill – As a fellow Jew in America I don’t find my religious minority status to be any bother at all. All my Christian neighbors are nice people and quite tolerant and understanding. My children attending public schools had no problems with Christmas pagents or carols. To me it’s no different from being a Minnesota Twins fan in NY Yankee land.
The only time I feel like a minority is with fellow Jews. I have spent most of my Life as Conservative but my views on a just peace of the Palestinian conflict drove me out of the congregation. Being described as a self-hating Jew and questioning my attachment to my religion led me to a quiet Reform Temple.
I have 35 relatives living in various settlements on the West Bank and I have been an annual visitor to Israel for the last 41 years. My peace views make me unwelcome in settlement synogogues. Too many Jews make me feel like I am not Jewish enough since I am the only one in my extended family not making aliyah.
Example #2 from JewishJournal.com’s interview with investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh (particularly the bolded parts, my emphasis):
JJ: Having grown up in a Yiddish home, the son of Polish and Lithuanian immigrants, how would you describe your Jewish identity?
SH: Vague. I like a lot of the historical stuff; I’m agnostic about the religion. But I certainly understand the power of faith, and I wish the American Jews could talk more to some of the Israelis I know and see how open-minded they are about many issues American Jews are not. There is tremendous diversity in Israel. Here the stuff of conversation ends up in a bloody fight; there you can discuss anything.
My [three] children chose: Some went through the bar mitzvah process; some did not. I’m a believer in you do what you want to do. For me, my Jewish heritage comes mainly in literature. I identify very strongly with the Saul Bellows and Philip Roths of this world. But it’s so irrelevant that I am Jewish when I write about Jewish issues. It really is for me. It’s just like it is irrelevant what my personal opinion is on things.JJ: I was going to ask if your being Jewish has in any way affected your coverage of Israeli politics, particularly security?
SH: No, no. It gets me in more fights.JJ: The book “The Israel Lobby” just came out. How would you characterize Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer’s assessment of the power of the pro-Israel community?
SH: You can’t touch them in terms of being anti-Semitic. They are realists. They are from the realists’ school. I haven’t read the book, but it’s not either/or, either support Israel or don’t. It’s: try and use the tremendous support and relationship we have to modify their behavior more than we do. But this government and that relationship [with Israel] is really profound, and it is just very secretive between us and Israel. It is not transparent, and that is not healthy for anybody.
Where are Jews like this here in Ohio?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:49 pm October 23rd, 2007 in Jewish, Judaism, Religion | Comments Off
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Oct
23
Lotteries R Us
Filed Under Culture, Media, Social Issues | Comments Off
The New York Times has been publishing articles for what they describe as a series that is “examining the machinery behind the lottery business.”
Maybe I was just bored last fall – I cannot remember where I found the time to write up 57 reasons to vote against Issue 1 (the Ohio Learn and Earn initiative that sought to legalize casinos and allegedly raise money for college scholarships). But I know I don’t have to time to read through all the resources provided on this special online page, created by the NYT.
However, if you are looking for lottery info and want to see what other states are doing, that’s one place to start.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:47 am October 23rd, 2007 in Culture, Media, Social Issues | Comments Off
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Oct
23
Note to GOP: Beauty is not a political argument
Filed Under Campaigning, Culture, Marketing, Media, Politics, Women | 17 Comments
First, please check out and consider blogrolling The Political Voices of Women. It began as Catherine Morgan’s attempt to collect links to at least 100 political blogs authored by women. Well, she got up to (and maybe beyond by now) 200 and decided to start the blog. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The content so far is excellent. For example, yesterday she posted this link to a Feministing story about a GOP [see Anon the First's comment below] poster making the rounds:
I think I may have seen it or something like it before but the point remains, as stated at Feministing:
The idea that discussing the attractiveness of women’s bodies as a point in favor of or against a specific set of political beliefs is just disgusting. And the implied possession — as in, our things are pretty and yours are ugly — is also revoltingly sexist.
Which I why I also can’t stand it when people (especially those on the political left) choose to focus more on right-wing women’s looks [if you want to see what outrage really reads like, check out that link] than their heinous political statements. It’s. Not. Okay.
Obviously we could find 10 hideous photos of GOP women and 10 gorgeous snapshots of Dem women. Maybe what we should be doing, of course, is focus the focus on the men.
Naw – I’m just teasing! Well, maybe. No – no. Waste of time, not enough outrage. Just looks.
By the way, if the GOP does decide to argue that beauty does in fact figure into decision-making, they should be prepared to back that up by expanding the ADA to cover discrimination based on beauty. How’s about that for consequences?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:34 am October 23rd, 2007 in Campaigning, Culture, Marketing, Media, Politics, Women | 17 Comments
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Oct
23
“Women in Media” at Cleveland State
Filed Under Announcements, Media, Women, Writing | Comments Off
From the Cleveland State University student paper, The Cauldron:
The Cleveland State University Chapter of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) will be hosting a forum on Wednesday, Oct. 24 dedicated to “Women in Media.”
The event will be held in Drinko Hall from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature two talented Cleveland media women from separate spheres of influence.
Guest speakers will be The Plain Dealer’s Connie Schultz and WKYC Channel 3′s Kim Wheeler.
…
Cleveland State student and SPJ member Audrey McCrone will be moderating the panel discussion.
Content of the forum:
As the focus of this discussion is the aforementioned “Women in Media,” subjects will range in scope.
Topics addressed are included but not limited to what it means to be a female in what was once a highly male-dominated industry to the issues that directly affects women working in media.
The free-flowing nature of this discussion will allow the guest speakers the liberty to share stories and tell of their own joys, trials and tribulations of working in the realms of print and television.
Opening statements will kick off after a brief introduction by McCrone who will then give the floor to the guest speakers.
Near the end of the discussion SPJ has allotted 15 to 20 minutes of the forum for questions by those in attendance.
Hmm – “what it means to be a female in what was once a highly male-dominated industry”- oh yeah? Is that how the students or student advisor sees things in the present?
Interesting.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:33 am October 23rd, 2007 in Announcements, Media, Women, Writing | Comments Off
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