Category: Uncategorized

Lesley Gore, of “It’s My Party” fame, is letting us know that the GOP is most definitely not her party. Sarah Sophie Flicker, Tavi Gevinson, Maximilla Lukacs, Tennessee Thomas, Leith Clark, Alexa Chung, Karen Elson, and Erika Spring, produced a PSA in which they, along with Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Dunham, Miranda July, Rachel Antonoff and more lip sync to Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.” The song uses text cards to criticize Mitt Romney and the War on Women and urge women to vote.  (See the transcript of the video after the jump.)

Gore, who I’m now following on twitter,  appears in the video and states: “I recorded You Don’t Own Me in 1964. It’s hard for me to believe but we’re still fighting for the same things we were then.”

Watch the video at Feministing

Before last night’s debate, I created a little drinking game for myself and anyone who wanted to join. The instructions were to drink every time Israel was mentioned and drink twice every time the candidate emphasized how close he was with Israel and/or its Prime Minister or criticized his opponent for not being close enough. I had no idea how intoxicating and expensive this drinking game would be. Because it turns out that during the debate, Israel was mentioned 34 times!

I was too trashed from all the Israel mentions to keep track of how many times the candidates praised Israel or accused each other of not hearting Israel sufficiently, so I had to check the transcript.

Read more at Feministing

Why would anyone oppose a vaccine that could protect people from the human papillomavirus and, ultimately cervical cancer? Well, there’s intellectual heavy weight and amateur scientist Michele Bachmann, who claims the vaccine causes mental retardation. But a more widespread fear among some conservatives is that it will lead to “promiscuity.” And at the end of the day, having a lot of sex with a lot of people is way worse than dying of cancer.

Read more at Feministing

I’m interviewed by Nancy Gunn on Narco News TV. Check it out!

Once again, women are suing Wal-Mart for discriminating against them based on their gender, seeking  “to end Wal-Mart’s discriminatory practices regarding the pay and promotion of female employees.”

Tuesday, Three women from Tennessee claimed they were denied training opportunities and were paid less than their male co-workers and are seeking class-action status for current and former female employees at stores in Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi. One of the women suing, Bobbie Millner, accidentally received the paycheck of another worker who was male and earned thousands more a year, although he was less experienced.  A Wal-Mart manager explain the discrepancy by saying “men needed to earn more.”

Read more at Feministing

We all remember Allen West, the Congressman, who compared himself to Harriet Tubman, liberating African-Americans from the slavery imposed on them by the Democratic Party. And who can forget West’s claim that Marxists and Communists infiltrating Congress (I wish!). Well, it turns out, Mr. West is as shocking off the record as on the record. In a recently leaked letter written when West was on duty in Iraq, the now Congressman informs his wife that upon his return, she must engage in certain sex acts that will be “the standard and it is non-negotiable.” He also states:  “From now on, you will wear two-piece swim suits when on vacations.” But the real romance comes out here: “Angela, I need to know, are you committed to being my porn star?…. I do not want to hear ‘no’ or ‘we’ll see about that.’ I want my fantasies to be with you. God has authorized you and you only as my partner for intimacy and that is what I want.”

Read more at Feministing

Signs saying “racist” are being posted on, but not covering, ads that are, well, racist. Anti-Islamic advertisements are now gracing New York City’s subway system after a federal judge ruled that the city’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) could not legally refuse to display the signs because they expressed “demeaning” language. The ads say ”In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad” and are the creation of American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an organization considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center watch group. Pamela Geller, the executive director of AFDI is so Islamophobic, that the very “pro”-Israel Anti-Defamation League says she ”fuels and fosters anti-Muslim bigotry in society.” She campaigned to shut down an award-winning museum exhibit in Washington D.C., which highlighted Muslim contributions to science because it “has indoctrinated hundreds of thousands of children into a rosy and romanticized view of Islam that makes them less appreciative of their own culture’s achievements and more complacent about Islamization in the West.” Pamela Geller may oppose freedom when it comes to something that reflects real history and culture, but she’s all about her freedom to distort and demean, and said ”I will not abridge my freedoms so as not to offend savages.”

Read more at Feministing

 

As we’ve blogged about in the past, three members of the Russian punk feminist band Pussy Riot have spent the last six months in prison singing a protest prayer against Russian leader Vladimir Putin inside an Orthodox cathedral.

On Friday, Yoko Ono, who has been vocal in her support of the three women, who were sentenced to two years in August, awarded Pussy Riot the LennonOno Grant for Peace, saying

I thank Pussy Riot for standing firmly in their belief of freedom of expression and making all women of the world proud to be women. And I am, too. Each injustice like this is very important. And there are many, many activists in this world now, and they are fighting for each one of them. And I’m fighting for many, many injustice—situation of injustice.

Read more at Feministing

The one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street is a time for reflection… and laughter. Check out Nato Green (from Laughter Against the Machine and a writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell) talking about the Occupy Movement, drum circles (of course) and poop. Part of the transcript:

I’m really excited about being in the movement of the 99%, we’re the 99%, that’s inspiring, isn’t it? It’s also a lot because I want to be for the 99% but I don’t now if you realize this, that’s a lot of people– some of you are a step ahead of me– including a lot of assholes. And most of us, given the opportunity, would be able to stay “I’m for the 99% asterisk, except some people.” And we’d all have our own lists, you know what I mean? So, like for me I’d be for the 99% except for human resources, and the yoga people, and Jessica from high school because she broke my heart.

See the video at Feministing

Conservatives love pointing to the Clash of Civilizations theory any time there is any clash. Historical, political, economic circumstances… shmistorical, political, economic circumstances. And many have already presented the attack and tragic killing of the US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others to a cultural war between Libyans and Americans, or Muslims and non-Muslims, as if all Libyans, Muslims, people of the Middle East, were one American-hating monolith. […]

Read more at Feministing