The Australian actress Nicole Kidman testified yesterday before the House International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight Subcommittee on the subject of violence in film, in particular the sickening amount of onscreen violence against women. Kidman stated that many roles portray women as weak, as mere sex objects, or as both and that this permissive attitude of debasement contributes greatly to real life acts of violence perpetrated against women. The actress’ intent was not merely to condemn the film industry for its excesses but also to advance the larger issue of unchecked, infrequently prosecuted violent acts committed against women across the globe.
The Oscar-winning actress said she is not interested in those kinds of demeaning roles, adding that the movie industry also has made an effort to contribute to solutions for ending the violence. Kidman testified before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that is considering legislation to address violence against women overseas through humanitarian relief efforts and grants to local organizations working on the problem.
That notable stories like these get submerged underneath the incessant back-and-forth of partisan or even inter-party bickering surprises me not one iota. Such stories are often pigeonholed as merely “women’s topics” or moved to the back of the soft news queue, with the tacit assumption that celebrities are incapable of advancing much beyond their own careers or the manufactured drama designed to garnish publicity. As for this particular example in question, Kidman is notably treading cautiously here, not willing to assign full blame to Hollywood because of her stated belief that it has devoted committed and serious internal efforts towards self-regulation. Forgive me for being skeptical, because I know that few major money-making industries do an adequate job of policing themselves from within. Specifically regarding the celluloid conglomerate, it took the Hays Code and then the puritanical Production Code before Tinseltown ever strongly curtailed the content found in moving pictures.
Fucking hysterical. Bill, as only he can, sets the record straight.
Luaghing it off has also been the reaction from the Democratic leaders, proving that Democrats never learn.
~snip~
This birther stuff might be a deluded time wasting right wing obsession, but so was whitewater, and look where that ended up. Liberals said ” oh, what are they gonna do, keep expanding the case until they impeach the Preisdent over a blowjob?”
Bill Maher rocks. He used the example of the swift boat lies that cost Kerry the election because of how stupid the arguement was, and look what that got him. A war hero losing based on cowardice at war to a numb nuts fake cowboy who never served at all.
Yes, the birther issue is a waste of time, stupid and embarrassing, but we have to smack it down, over and over, otherwise it will become a bigger waste of time, and any progress you might have hoped to get out of Obama will get sidetracked totally. For all of Obama’s shortcomings, the only thing worse than not enough is nothing at all, and that is what we will get if you don’t knock the shit out of this nonsense right now.
Some people might say, ” let the GOP run with this, it’s their problem. ”
I say no. We have to share this fucking country with them, troglodites that they are. Their problem IS our problem, and ignoring it won’t make it go away. You want proof of that? Just look at Dick Cheney.
More from Bill.
This birther stuff might be a deluded time wasting right wing obsession, but so was whitewater, and look where that ended up. Liberals said ” oh, what are they gonna do, keep expanding the case until they impeach the Preisdent over a blowjob?”
~snip~
Dummies talking to other dummies.
~snip~
It is so important that we, the few, the proud, the reality based, attack this stuff before it has a chance to fester and spread. This is not a case of Democrats versus Republicans, it is sentient beings versus the Lizard People. And it is to the Lizard People that I offer this deal, I will show you President Obama’s birth certificate when you show me Sarah Palin’s high school diploma.
I don’t know which part I appreciated more, the Reality based part, or the part where he calls them Lizard People.
I can only say this in conclusion. After onloy 6 months out of power, this is where the GOP and Conservatives are. Insane, not to be negotiated with, they are like the meth addict who sees Streisand faced spiiders crfawling on them.
Are you sitting down? Do you have your popcorn ready?
I thought after a rough week of BaucuCrats, Blue Dogs and Wingnut Obstruction, some of us could use a good laugh.
A reality based laugh!!!
As for myself, I have been laughing at this so hard my sides hurt.
About a third of Americans think the best job for Palin is homemaker (32 percent), while nearly one in five see her as a television talk show host (17 percent). Vice president of the United States comes in third (14 percent), followed closely by college professor (10 percent), with president coming last (6 percent).
Republicans think the best job for Palin is vice president (27 percent), followed by homemaker (18 percent), talk show host (14 percent), president (12 percent) and professor (7 percent).
When Fox News throws you under the bus, you are either a Democrat, or your FINISHED.
Housekeeper? You mean the Sarahnator’s chances of being President one day are dead?
Dead as the moose stew in Sarah’s freezer.
I’ll give you a moment to get your self ready before we go below the fold for more of the live comedy show known as the future of the Republican party.
As we wait for the many coming books, I’m sure more will be surfacing, as many try to cleanse their souls, of these last eight years plus, in seeking their higher kingdom, we might have the time to take this seemingly telling descriptive tale into the fold of good reading. We could even make the copies a collective item reminding us, in a comfortable way, of what we’ve been put through, us and the rest of the world. Comfortable because it might not enrage as we read and study the pictures, like the hard reality of the history will.
And so from the spectre of the summer soldier who shrinks from the hard truths and his country’s crises, comes the Winter Soldier who will not look away.
These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
Well. We are rapidly approaching some awfully critical events in the world of domestic and foreign politics. The denouement of the Dem primary battle, and at least a mini-showdown on a few of the fronts where the Democratic Congressionals are FINALLY opposing Bush. It sure feels like Pakistan is going to get interesting, and Iraq is reminding me of the old movie line “it’s quiet……..too quiet.” Despite all of the tensions behind the scenes having to do with the ineffective puppet Govt. And the Oil law, and the Turks and the Kurds….etc. It is going to be quite a ‘interesting’ spring and summer. And then we have the general election that will (at the VERY least symbolically) shape and determine the fate of the world for the immediate future.
And of course during all this…the world is building hundreds of new coal burning power plants and huge numbers of cars and doing all it can to pretend that the ice caps aren’t melting.
And presiding over it all will be the Fourth Estate, the media.
Google the words “Lakota” and “secede,” and watch the fun. It’s an exercise in hysteria.
The story was first reported yesterday morning. The best version I’ve seen is an Agence France-Presse report, on the News Australia website.
THE Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the US.
“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us,” long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means said.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message to the State Department and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the Federal Government, some of them more than 150 years old.
The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and said they would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas.
The article mentions visits to foreign embassies, declarations that old treaties with the U.S. are invalid, and the intention to issue passports and drivers’ licenses, and to live tax-free. It sounds radical and exciting, and the perfect response to the Bush Administration’s having made the United States an international pariah. In other words, lots of people are going to want to impute great significance to this declaration. There’s just one little problem.
Russell Means is a legendary activist. That’s a given. That’s also why many people seem to think this means more than it does. What they should be asking themselves is this: whom does Russell Means represent? By what authority are he and his fellow activists declaring independence. Because this is where we get back to reality.
