Monthly Archives: February 2010

I heart Joe Bageant

And here is yet another reason why.

Just a taste:

There is a terrible science fiction-like awe in the autonomous American economic monolith, in the way that it provides for us, feeds on us and keeps us as its both its lavish pets and slaves. The commodity economy long ago enslaved Americans and other “developed” capitalist societies. But Americans in particular. The most profound slavery must be that in which the slaves can conceive of no other possible or better world than their bondage. Inescapable, global, all permeating, the commodities economy rules so thoroughly most cannot imagine any other possible kind of economy.

It comes down to owning stuff, and that the stuff we own also owns us (as anyone paying rent for a storage locker can attest). Transmogrified by industrial materialism, we have become what we own. More specifically, what we are observed by the rest of our society as owning. In the commodified society of industrial materialism, owning is being. So much so, that politicians bandy the term “ownership society” about, not only without causing the public to gag, but to cheers. Even liberals who claim to dislike the term don’t want to be in a “We don’t own shit society.”

And thanks, Sis. Sharon, for the link.

Have you seen this sign around town?

CURB YOUR GOD by i_follow.

No? Seen any of these?

And thanks, BuzzFeed, for the link.

About that killer whale at Sea World…

this reminds us that animals are animals, and it’s impossible to entirely change that.

Here’s more on the Wednesday incident where a 40-year old Sea World employee was attacked and killed by a killer whale, as well as information about other attacks. Condolences to the family

For all you silent film fans…

And for those of you who love “Star Wars,” too.

I’m ripping this off of my friend Bill, who’s posting it on his blog tomorrow and who made the mistake of sharing it with me today. Bad idea, Bill.

Bill is hosting a Silent Friday on his blog — I hope I got that right — so if you’re bored tomorrow, wander over to here.

Live-tweeting an abortion

Angie Jackson (Angie the Anti-Theist) is blogging and live-tweeting about her abortion.

The reaction has been fairly loud. Even some people who say they support reproductive freedom don’t support a public description of the act. You can follow her on Twitter here, and read more at Jezebel here.

She’s not one of ours

The mayor of Beverly Hills quickly distanced her town from a Miss California USA pageant candidate after beauty queen Lauren Ashley (pictured at right) was quoted saying the Bible directs us to kill homosexuals.

Ashley was speaking to Fox News at the time at the time of her Biblical pronouncement. Said Mayor Nancy Krasne:

We are dismayed by any potential association with the city of Beverly Hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect.

Krasne also said Ashley does not live in town.

This mirrors just a little the whole Carrie Prejean kerfuffle, does it not? And thanks, Bro. Jay, for the link.

In the land of youth and beauty

Someone really ought to enforce the law.

Abercrombie & Fitch once again finds itself on the business end of a complaint about the company’s slavish devotion to a particular beauty ideal. This time, a Muslim employee in California was told not to wear her hijab, or headscarf.

This is not the store’s first complaint.

Lawsuits work for me, but failing success in courts, I have an idea: Everyone who looks precisely like the stores’ models shop at A&F, and the rest of us take our money elsewhere. Abercrombie & Fitch can have their narrow little universe, and we’ll have ours.

But lawsuits work, too.

Even while yes, I am addicted to the Winter Olympics

…(go, Joannie Rochette), maybe it’s good to remind ourselves that not everybody wins when the Olympics come to town.

And thanks, Feministe, for this link and so many others.

We eat our young

I posted this last year because it was just so stinking cool that someone from nowhere (no offense) could hit it so big, could defy expectations and rock the house. She gave that little nervous hip-wiggle and it meant something to those of us who will never hit it big, I guess. Because I’m a big baby, I can still watch the video and get all weepy.

But fame, of course, has its price. Subsequent stories have followed her difficulties in dealing with all the attention. I do not wish to add to that, but I do wish for Susan Boyle peace. Fame, yes, but peace on top of it. And I hereby take the unusual step of naming her Dating Jesus’ Honorary Girlfriend.

I don’t know why

But I just love this.