Wonderland or Not

A Huff Po post about an interview (show, performance piece, who the fuck knows), Lizz Winstead did with Tracie Egan and Moe Tkacik, two writers from Jezabel.

Lizz is distressed about this interview, in which two women she thought were clever, funny, insightful, and intelligent were none of the above. As a matter of fact neither Traice or Moe could string three words together coherently. Lizz now feels responsible, so she wants them to take responsibility, as after all they are “role models”.

The whole embarrassing grouping is here on Shoot the Messenger. In this case shooting the messenger might be a good idea..

True, after viewing the clips my The Valley Doll is Dead illusion was destroyed. I guess it’s now Valley Doll Feminism. A pathetic scene in which a large part of the discussion was some kind of incoherent quasi drunken dialogue about rape. Now, the writer interviewer (who kept these imbeciles talking for an hour), shocked that “Slut Machine” and her partner in crime exhibited such disregard for their responsibility as role models to a generation of women, put up the vids and wrote a post to “hold these young women accountable for the statements they made as they seem sure to keep repeating them.”

The girls come on, apparently drunk or suffering from recent header ball syndrome. They exhibit a flippant disregard for the seriousness of topic, but are too drunk (or brain damaged), to actually work the hipness they were trying to convey. Truth is the responsibility lies with the writer/interviewer who assumed incorrectly that these people were even worthy of an interview, and were role models for anyone.

Presuming anyone with the name “slut machine” a role model, especially after reading her blog, was pretty stupid to begin with. What happened is she interviewed a couple of rather inarticulate wanna be “new wave feminism icons” in a venue which leans itself often to comedy, and now wants to hold them responsible for their ridiculously embarrassing diatribe.

She might want to hold herself accountable for not doing research, true it was disgusting, but no one holds these pathetically sad creatures up as role models, at least not anyone who matters ( anyone with an ounce of reason ). Lizz should have known that. It would have saved us all a lot of pain.

I did have to remove Jezebel from my reader though, and for this I thank you, as my reader was getting a little crowded.

Technorati Tags: feminism, Huff Po, ignorance, Jezebel, Lizz Winstead, Moe Tkacik, News, stupidity, Tracie Egan

For those celebrating Independence Day, inhale, relax and enjoy the company of friends.

If by chance you have to ask the question “should those under the age of 18 be allowed to purchase fireworks“, or if you even felt the need to stay tuned to the “next segment” on your local news where they were going to answer that question, you are too stupid to have fireworks, please leave them alone.

It’s gone terribly wrong, but we can fix it. The corrupt copper pipes will soon to be replaced by newer plastic fittings, and caulked with silicone, which I hear is more flexible than glues of the past. The fittings, which we have yet to select, may or may not endure. The fact of their newness will be enough at first.

Until then, or at least for the weekend, shut off the television, unless your watching a rerun of “John Adams” or The Shawshank Redemption ( I know I saw this when I was young and really never realized how much I did not watch this film at that time - it is one of the best films I’ve ever seen at 3 in the morning, or any other time for that matter), go out and play.

Every year I post American Tune. It’s one of the best songs written about “America”. This year I’m going to replace it, because this is our land, and it’s the year we can at least go with to the polls with the pretense of trying to take it back.

There are not nearly enough covers of the following song. Misunderstood by many, punk bands often destroyed the song by distorting or changing the words, because they never understood the intent of the song. It’s intent was not make us stand proudly beating our chests claiming this land as our own, it was about the possibility of this country, for everyone.

I’ve seen some good clips of Arlo Guthrie doing this song.
I couldn’t find any decent ones tonight, so I present Tom Morello, because he knows what the song is about.

Here’s to a time when we no longer have to rage against the machine.

Technorati Tags: 4th of July, Independence Day, Rage Against the Machine, Thomas Morello, you tube

Dear candidates for President of the United States of America, it’s great you are going to Iraq and Columbia. Consider a brief detour to hospitals in this country where the not so fortunate members of the nation you want to preside over must go to seek care.

What a sad world we live in. I’m not talking about a world full of genocide, the starving babies of third world countries, or the prisons in Thailand. I’m talking about institutions in the United States of America meant to serve the ill and needy. I say institution(s) so you don’t assume the one cited in the rest of this story is the only one. You and I can no longer be that naive.

NYCLU image

In Maryland if you are financially sound Shepard Pratt has a great mental health facility, “The Retreat at Shepard Pratt“, they of course are non participatory in insurance, but for 1800 dollars a day – even if you are batshit crazy – you are going to be treated like royalty. I’m certain we can find similar facilities all over the nation.
Others are not so fortunate.

A 49 year old women, Esmin Green, died in the ER of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. She was a victim of negligent homicide. You see, if you’re poor and crazy people can ignore you, even at places which are theoretically there to help you. The hospital will also feel justified in falsifying records, writing “patient awake and alert, walking to the bathroom” (paraphrase of noted falsified records), when the patient is lying on the chair or floor unconscious, perhaps already dead.

Kings County Hospital, from a three click scroll, tends to ignore people every now and again. In 1991 they did not pay enough attention “to a suicidal patient who escaped her restraints and jumped from a sixth-story window”. Last year they were sued for Inhumane Treatment. This is the pdf of the complaint filed last year against New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

No doubt if you are ill, especially mentally ill, have no money, and no advocate in the way of family or friends, you are sunk. In this case the end result was death. I have to wonder how many more of these occur throughout this country on any given day. Deaths covered up by hospital notes, unquestioned deaths not caught on videotape.

How dare people who work in an institution meant to help and heal allow something like this to happen. How dare those who run this facility allow these conditions to persist. How dare the conditions at this facility be ignored for so long.

What baleful specimens of humanity would allow such to happen to another human being?

We’ve seen the enemy…………..

Technorati Tags: death, injustice, Kings County Hospital, Murder, News