Bunch of stuff. Mostly political.
1. Update to previous post, with thanks to![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lorena: Constance McMillen wasn't the first. Earlier this year, a boy was suspended at the same school within hours of showing up for his first day of classes. He identifies as transgender, but prefers to use male pronouns. What it boils down to, then, is that he was suspended for wearing girls clothes. School officials say he was too much of a distraction, but failed to actually identify a reason for the suspension in the paperwork. In a quite possibly related situation, his mother found that she couldn't find work at any of the local businesses. Oh, and the people they were living with kicked the boy out. The mother was forced to grant temporary guardianship of her son to some friends who live in Florida while she tries to find a way to make their lives work.
The site linked above has a donation link if anyone feels moved to help out.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign has a petition to support Constance. Basically, a bunch of random people online signing a letter to voice their disapproval to the members of the school board who have already proven themselves to be close-minded and duplicitous. I personally find myself dubious of the practical efficacy of such a move, but I can't think of anything better to try.
2. Glenn Beck. Still having some fun with Haiku Glenn Beck. Today, starting at 9AM US Eastern time, they're planning to tweet one "becku" per minute to Glenn Beck for 24 hours. Visitors can participate by selecting haikus to send. Again, I don't see what this is actually going to accomplish, but hey, it's fun.
The Stop Beck campaign seems more effective, having helped convince hundreds of sponsors to drop their ads from his show. In the UK, Beck's show has gone for two months without a single paid sponsor. Which is impressive. But also highlights a fundamental problem: Glenn Beck has too many viewers. People believe what he says. They watch avidly. And then they stick around for other Fox shows. And they'd probably be very upset if Fox "caved" and canceled the show. But still... it's a step towards accountability in our media.
I'm all for disagreement and debate. I don't want to close down the other side. But there should be consequences for spreading lies, fear, racism, and hatred.
Browse around the Stop Beck site. Read some quotes. While you're there, you can also look at things like the time he asked his viewers to chip in to buy him a Mercedes, or put up this picture of Jesus and Hitler (really!).
It has to stop somewhere. And Glenn Beck is a good place for that to start.
3. On the good side of things, there's Tom Coburn's town hall comments. After seeing that (especially his closing remarks), for all that I disagree with his politics, I find myself sorely tempted to support his next campaign.
That is the best and most sensible and right thing I have heard from a politician in far too long.
4. Back to the other side of things, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who started out the year by stripping out the language banning discrimination based on sexual orientation (and then had the state attorney general send out a letter demanding that colleges do the same), has declared April "Confederate History Month" in his state. It's like he has a time machine or something.
5. Over to Texas. I believe I've mentioned this before. You've probably heard of it by now. But I'll take a sec to say it again. The Texas school board has voted to rewrite history books with a distinctly Religious Right agenda. This is important because Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country. Which has led a number of other states to simply adopt whatever standards Texas comes up with. In response, there's a petition directed to the major textbook publishers. I don't support the language they use. "Texas Taliban" is in no way appropriate, for one thing. And the default text is a little heavy-handed. But there are links to a couple of good articles on the subject. And not only can you edit the text of the letter, you are encouraged to do so. Again, I'm not sure what good an online petition will really do, but I'm hoping it will help. They're more likely to listen than the Mississippi school board, anyway.
6. Something else I may have mentioned before... You remember those ACORN videos that supposedly showed them helping people set up prostitution rings and such? Got a huge amount of media attention. Then law enforcement agencies looked into it and found out that the videos were a heavily edited hoax. Brooklyn released its findings a month ago. But that still didn't stop the attacks on ACORN. Funding was pulled, speeches were made. The organization filed bankruptcy and closed its doors. Now California has released the unedited tapes to the public. Video and commentary from Rachel Maddow here. The show's daily link roundup also includes links to the California official report and a video library. (Again, in general, The Rachel Maddow Show and the associated Maddow Blog come highly recommended.)
7. On the lighter side, from Countdown With Keith Olbermann, a bit of oddball fun.
8. Finally, the Obama administration unveiled a new US nuclear policy yesterday. We promise not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. Unless they're "outliers" like Iran and North Korea who have violated anti-proliferation treaties. Or unless they unleash large-scale chemical or biological attacks. Or, you know, the situation just seems to call for it. Still, it's a step in the right direction.
This comes in advance of a treaty between the US and Russia wherein both will agree to reduce their respective arsenals by about 30%. And an international conference on preventing bomb materials from reaching the black market.
1. Update to previous post, with thanks to
lorena: Constance McMillen wasn't the first. Earlier this year, a boy was suspended at the same school within hours of showing up for his first day of classes. He identifies as transgender, but prefers to use male pronouns. What it boils down to, then, is that he was suspended for wearing girls clothes. School officials say he was too much of a distraction, but failed to actually identify a reason for the suspension in the paperwork. In a quite possibly related situation, his mother found that she couldn't find work at any of the local businesses. Oh, and the people they were living with kicked the boy out. The mother was forced to grant temporary guardianship of her son to some friends who live in Florida while she tries to find a way to make their lives work.The site linked above has a donation link if anyone feels moved to help out.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign has a petition to support Constance. Basically, a bunch of random people online signing a letter to voice their disapproval to the members of the school board who have already proven themselves to be close-minded and duplicitous. I personally find myself dubious of the practical efficacy of such a move, but I can't think of anything better to try.
2. Glenn Beck. Still having some fun with Haiku Glenn Beck. Today, starting at 9AM US Eastern time, they're planning to tweet one "becku" per minute to Glenn Beck for 24 hours. Visitors can participate by selecting haikus to send. Again, I don't see what this is actually going to accomplish, but hey, it's fun.
The Stop Beck campaign seems more effective, having helped convince hundreds of sponsors to drop their ads from his show. In the UK, Beck's show has gone for two months without a single paid sponsor. Which is impressive. But also highlights a fundamental problem: Glenn Beck has too many viewers. People believe what he says. They watch avidly. And then they stick around for other Fox shows. And they'd probably be very upset if Fox "caved" and canceled the show. But still... it's a step towards accountability in our media.
I'm all for disagreement and debate. I don't want to close down the other side. But there should be consequences for spreading lies, fear, racism, and hatred.
Browse around the Stop Beck site. Read some quotes. While you're there, you can also look at things like the time he asked his viewers to chip in to buy him a Mercedes, or put up this picture of Jesus and Hitler (really!).
It has to stop somewhere. And Glenn Beck is a good place for that to start.
3. On the good side of things, there's Tom Coburn's town hall comments. After seeing that (especially his closing remarks), for all that I disagree with his politics, I find myself sorely tempted to support his next campaign.
Don’t just watch Fox News or CNN. Watch them both. I read two newspapers a day, New York Times and Washington Post. And in between, the Wall Street Journal. I get a perspective. I need to know what other people’s thoughts are. Not just what I hear through a pipe channel. So I would tell you, you got to hear it both so that you have, you can take it and receive the information in context. And I want to tell ya. I do a lot of reading every day and I’m disturbed that we get things like this lady said and others have said on other issues that are so disconnected to what I know to be the facts. And that comes from somebody who has an agenda that’s other than the best interest of our country. So, please balance and be careful as you take in. Make sure you get a balance. And listen to the other side because what it does it makes you a better person because now you see things in context from how other people might see it that are different from you.
That is the best and most sensible and right thing I have heard from a politician in far too long.
4. Back to the other side of things, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, who started out the year by stripping out the language banning discrimination based on sexual orientation (and then had the state attorney general send out a letter demanding that colleges do the same), has declared April "Confederate History Month" in his state. It's like he has a time machine or something.
5. Over to Texas. I believe I've mentioned this before. You've probably heard of it by now. But I'll take a sec to say it again. The Texas school board has voted to rewrite history books with a distinctly Religious Right agenda. This is important because Texas is one of the largest textbook markets in the country. Which has led a number of other states to simply adopt whatever standards Texas comes up with. In response, there's a petition directed to the major textbook publishers. I don't support the language they use. "Texas Taliban" is in no way appropriate, for one thing. And the default text is a little heavy-handed. But there are links to a couple of good articles on the subject. And not only can you edit the text of the letter, you are encouraged to do so. Again, I'm not sure what good an online petition will really do, but I'm hoping it will help. They're more likely to listen than the Mississippi school board, anyway.
6. Something else I may have mentioned before... You remember those ACORN videos that supposedly showed them helping people set up prostitution rings and such? Got a huge amount of media attention. Then law enforcement agencies looked into it and found out that the videos were a heavily edited hoax. Brooklyn released its findings a month ago. But that still didn't stop the attacks on ACORN. Funding was pulled, speeches were made. The organization filed bankruptcy and closed its doors. Now California has released the unedited tapes to the public. Video and commentary from Rachel Maddow here. The show's daily link roundup also includes links to the California official report and a video library. (Again, in general, The Rachel Maddow Show and the associated Maddow Blog come highly recommended.)
7. On the lighter side, from Countdown With Keith Olbermann, a bit of oddball fun.
8. Finally, the Obama administration unveiled a new US nuclear policy yesterday. We promise not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. Unless they're "outliers" like Iran and North Korea who have violated anti-proliferation treaties. Or unless they unleash large-scale chemical or biological attacks. Or, you know, the situation just seems to call for it. Still, it's a step in the right direction.
This comes in advance of a treaty between the US and Russia wherein both will agree to reduce their respective arsenals by about 30%. And an international conference on preventing bomb materials from reaching the black market.
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From:
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Maybe it's something to do with how liberals see things, what they believe. Maybe it's that Fox is an obvious target, as opposed to the larger and more amorphous "mainstream media." Maybe it's that Fox is so prominent, with such a large viewership and influence. Maybe it's that conservatives have felt the bias was against them for so long that they've simply decided it's futile. Maybe it's all of the above. Or something else entirely.
But...
If you think there are other outlets that should be targeted, perhaps you should do so.
It's not going to happen if you and those who share your views simply sit back and laugh at the very idea.