September 2005 Archives

And now the milk industry brings us an advertisment so insidious in its undertones it makes my milk fortified teeth hurt. The background music is an R&B classic instrumental. Very sexy. In the ad men are seen hoarding milk, grabbing it away from each other at the convenience store, looting it out of the delivery truck while hastily tossing some spare change on the seat, carrying home so many cartons that they have to put a little carrier pack on the dog to move it all. The men are clearly wracked with fear, desperate to acquire as much milk as they possibly can. The screen goes black and we are shown the message -
"A recent study has shown that calcium may reduce the symptoms of PMS"
- which is read to us by a guy with an Al Green voice.

We then switch to a shot of a man with roses in one hand and several cartons of milk in the other creeping into his own home and warily calling out "honey, I'm home" while his head swings back and forth like a solider on the lookout for a sniper.

Terrific. We are introduced (in a big way) to yet another image of woman as a once a month emotionally fractious, irrational Hulk moment wating to happen - to the image of wife as a potential fire breathing dragon just waiting to castrate her man under the influence of a hormonal rage.

When I was a kid I remember my mother telling me that women couldn't be pilots because their vision changed once a month during 'the curse'. She believed it, too. She believed a lot of sexist claptrap and was herself a misogynist having been well trained by her Victorian era parents. Now we don't need parents to give our daughters a good dose of self loathing - we have the advertising industry stepping up to the plate and making sure that all of those image positive young girls don't get too full of themselves.

If you look at the Got Milk web site what you see is a story about how calcium supplements help women with dibilitating symptoms of PMS feel better. The Got Milk newswire information includes the phrase 'mood swings' to lead the reader to believe that one of the PMS symptoms that can be alleviated by drinking milk is mood swings. However, if you dig a little further you find an abstract that states: The women were monitored throughout three menstrual cycles. Each provided daily documentation of 17 core symptoms and 4 symptom factors including water retention, food cravings, and pain. The results showed a 48 percent reduction in total symptom scores compared to a 30 percent reduction seen with the placebo. The researchers concluded that calcium is a simple, effective treatment in premenstrual syndrome, resulting in a major reduction of associated symptoms.

See anything in there about mood swings? Neither did I but that comes as no surprise. It isn't the science of the study that is important. What is important is using hackneyed old stereotypes to trash women. And so to the milk industry I say a hearty Fuck-moo.

I ran 3.1 miles this AM in 30:40 which is very good for me. I am finally going to take my car to my mechanic for an overdue tune up and some repairs (it makes an ominous scraping/squeaking sound) and I'm going to take care of a few other things I've let go forever. Yea me.

NO is in recovery mode and so am I.

While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.

They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.

I'll bet it's fun. I'll bet it's almost as much fun as enduring 5 days with little food or water and fearing for your life in the midst of human waste. I'll bet it's like the super good fun time those boys had waiting and waitng and waiting for someone to get them out of whatever hell-hole they were having fun in before they got there. I'll get it's just like going to Camp Lackacompassion which is where DeLay most surely spent his summers.

And to think he was probably out on 'the tour of the less fortunate' to take the focus and heat off of his PAC getting indicted for improper campaign contributions today. Nice job, bucko!

She was part of a group in Houston today at the Astrodome that included her husband and former President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son, the current president, to head fundraising efforts forthe recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were also present. In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to Houston."Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Is it any wonder he can't run emergency relief? I mean really, how bad can it get at a horse show?

Mr. Brown had no obvious qualifications, other than having been Mr. Allbaugh's college roommate. But Mr. Brown was made deputy director of FEMA; The Boston Herald reports that he was forced out of his previous job, overseeing horse shows. And when Mr. Allbaugh left, Mr. Brown became the agency's director. The raw cronyism of that appointment showed the contempt the administration felt for the agency; one can only imagine the effects on staff morale.

At dinner he performs the honor of opening the wine and pouring for everyone. He stands at the table, lifts his glass and makes a jocular speech remembering to thank the hostess for a lovely meal and then he veers off course and makes some off color joke at which point the host guffaws loudly and gets Drunk Uncle to sit down and start eating.

By the end of dinner Drunk Uncle has become argumentative and crass. He has teased and cajoled the children to tears, making derogatory comments about their perfectly good manners and stinging them with insults about their appearance. He provokes the other men into arguments about sports or politics, calls them ‘shit for brains’ and then blames his foul mood on the kids being too noisy and the food being a huge disappointment which has put him a bad mood. He screams at everyone, blaming them for everything that is wrong in the world and spins out of control until someone finally walks him out of the dining room and gets him to go horizontal on the couch in the back room where he passes out for the night.

In the morning the family wakes to find Drunk Uncle in the kitchen making bacon and eggs and squeezing oranges for fresh juice. The table is set and there is a center piece of fresh flowers. He welcomes them into the kitchen, pours coffee and serves breakfast. He promises the kids that next time he comes he will take them to the park and out for pony rides. He sings the praises of yesterday's meal to the hostess. When he leaves he hugs everyone and thanks them for another great holiday – the best yet. The family waves good-bye, never even considering the idea of calling Drunk Uncle on his egregious behavior of the day before.

And so it goes with our Drunk Uncle Georgie who hung out in San Diego strumming a guitar and raising money on Tuesday while people died of thirst and heat prostration in New Orleans. They died because there were no medical facilities, because hospitals ran out of fuel for generators. Wednesday he flew back to Crawford, TX (because the White House is under renovation, wink wink) and slept soundly while others sweltered in the heat and endured the incessant crying of hungry children. Finally on Thursday, after people had been left to rot in human waste and dead bodies he flew over New Orleans to get a comfy, air conditioned look at the destruction. It wasn't until Friday that he made a personal appearance at which time he pointed his finger away from himself but at no one in particular and declared that the relief efforts had been unacceptable and that help is needed and is on the way . On Saturday he asserted “"When you talk to the proud folks in the area, you see a spirit that cannot be broken," followed by "In America, we do not abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need"

Yes Unckie George – we did abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need. The babies and the old folks who died are gone because we weren't there for them. Their hour of need came, was ignored and with its passing so went theirs. For the proud survivors, they used their spirit to do the only thing they could do – loot Walmart to get some supplies.

But never mind – a Drunk Uncle is always warm, always caring, and always makes just the right promises. He is guilt free and focused only on the positive - on the promise of a new, fresh tomorrow. And the most noble thing about a Drunk Uncle is that he will never prevail upon his friends and colleagues for anything. For example, side kick Dick Cheney is still on vacation in Wyoming and Drunk Uncle has yet to demand he get his fat ass back to Washington to do some work. Oh those crazy Drunk Uncles - if it weren't for them we might all have to face reality.

Captain Dumbass, our Commander in Chief now gets to appoint 2 people to the Supreme Court. The way he has totally screwed up in Louisiana and Mississippi will hopefully have a very negative impact on his ability to slip some uber Christian right wing nut job into the position.

Oh please, oh please, oh please let us leverage his utter incompetence - please? Just this once?? (and no, I don't know who I am pleading to.)

Can't we please, please, please fire the entire Bush Administration now? People are DYING because these morons in power can't think their way out of a paper bag. I am just sick to my stomach.

Read this - then read it again.

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The fact that people have had no way to get out for 5 days has in no way impacted the brilliant strategy of the Dept. of Homeland Security. And now babies and the elderly and infirm have died because they have no way out, and no relief came for 4 or 5 days. Tragic.

"The president urged a crackdown on the lawlessness."

Our President is a moron and I say that at the probable risk of the FBI showing up at my door and arresting me for treason. Karl Rove can out a CIA agent but an angry citizen is fodder for Camp Gitmo.

If George W. Bush doesn't go down in history as the biggest idiot ever elected to office and if this turn of the century doesn't go down as the most oppressive, misguided time in our country's history I will be very, very surprised. Not only do we have a total monkey brain for a President - he has disciples who keep him in power and protect him all the while chipping away at our basic rights and sending our country in bankruptcy. It feels like we are in the dark ages. Under the leadership of Bush we have lost our country. Hopefully he will put us over the edge and the next fight for survival will be for a return to freedom, justice, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Hopefully not too many more people will die needlessly before it happens.