a journalism blog

shortformblog: McSteamy vs McDreamy: Round 2, Over Coffee Actor...

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:23:37 -0500

McSteamy vs McDreamy: Round 2, Over Coffee

Actor Patrick Dempsey just bought a Seattle-based coffee company. No, not Starbucks. Dempsey bid $9.15 million for Tully’s Coffee, an amount that beat whatever Starbucks offered during a private auction this week. ”I think some of the players involved in this deal want to take those jobs away, and you’re looking at an economy that’s rough to get jobs,” Dempsey said. “I went by one of the stores yesterday and the employees are deeply concerned. That’s one thing we care deeply about.” (No word on whether Dempsey plans to sell $1 reusable cups.)

gracehelbig: I got interviewed for BUZZFEED! Click through to...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:50:19 -0500

gracehelbig:

I got interviewed for BUZZFEED! Click through to read the full article!

It was, like, literally an honor to interview one Miss Grace Helbig for BuzzFeed.

Check it out!

Feminist Feelings - Calm down, there is no ‘war on men’

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:05:46 -0500

Feminist Feelings - Calm down, there is no ‘war on men’:

There are very few words to describe all the emotions we felt when reading Suzanne Venker’s piece on Fox News’ website titled “The war on men.”

“Women aren’t women anymore,” wrote Venker.

Well then. Let’s delve deeper into her article and see how she explains herself.

“In a nutshell, women are angry,” wrote Venker. “They’re also defensive, though often unknowingly.”

Is “confusion” an emotion? We definitely felt that when we started reading. Follow along as we find other words to label our emotions other than “angry” or “defensive!”

Thank you, Venker, for showing women in a positive light. Finally, someone is brave enough to call out the shortcomings of an entire gender by using generalizations. Just kidding. That was an example of us feeling “sarcastically bewildered.”

How in the world could a woman write an entire article that blames modern women for not getting married even though they want to while claiming that we’re leading a war on men?

“All the articles and books (and television programs, for that matter) put women front and center, while men and children sit in the backseat,” wrote Venker. “But after decades of browbeating the American male, men are tired. Tired of being told there’s something fundamentally wrong with them. Tired of being told that if women aren’t happy, it’s men’s fault.”

Sorry, that noise you just heard was the sound of our brains breaking. Nope. All of those words feel completely opposite from the truth. Now we feel “sad.”

Does she really think women are leading a war on men in the media? Sarah Palin would probably argue to the contrary. Hillary Clinton might have something to say about it. Michelle Obama’s arms, while magnificent, could feel a bit awkward about all the attention they get.

Sometimes women receive attention from the media. The media has not led a war on men as a gender. So, how has feminism, or the media’s portrayal of feminism, made men feel?

“It has pissed them off,” wrote Venker. “It has also undermined their ability to become self-sufficient in the hopes of someday supporting a family. Men want to love women, not compete with them. They want to provide for and protect their families — it’s in their DNA. But modern women won’t let them.”

We feel “disappointed,” at best.

We’re not sorry about wanting equal treatment. We’re not sorry if being more equal makes some people feel that they’re in a competition of who can provide for a family the best.

The point of feminism, and other movements similar to it, as we understand it, is to receive equal rights, opportunities and attention. That’s it! It isn’t a war on men; it’s a war on inequality.

Venker’s article received a lot of attention because so many people thought her point of view was outrageous and hilariously out-of-touch. She should realize that her article is perpetuating the problem she proposes. She’s portraying women as the aggressor and putting them at fault for the world’s problems.

Women aren’t the problem. They’re in the middle of a response to a problem.

Don’t Call Him “General Betray-Us” - Why his affair matters

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:33:10 -0500

Don’t Call Him “General Betray-Us” - Why his affair matters:

Here are some quick facts that you need to know in order to make real conversation this week:

One: Gen. David Petraeus, (yes, that Petraeus) stepped down from his position as director of the CIA on Friday.

Two: He resigned, rather abruptly, due to an extramarital affair that was discovered by an FBI probe.

Three: His affair was with one of the people writing his biography, Paula Broadwell.

Four: His resignation came about a week or so before a trial before Congress about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Five: The title of his biography is “All In.”

There’s probably more to the story than “military man has affair.” Quite frankly, the fact that anybody has an affair is not an example of necessary news.

The root of the problem comes from why the FBI was investigating Petraeus and Broadwell in the first place. They were trying to trace back anonymous emails sent to Jill Kelley.

Kelley is a “long-time friend of the Petraeus family and a Tampa, Florida volunteer social liaison with military families at MacDill Air Force Base,” according to Reuters.

She received multiple threatening emails from Broadwell; these emails essentially amounted to: “stay away from my man.” Even that isn’t exactly a hard-hitting or necessary fact.

The FBI also discovered that Broadwell “seemed to offer some salient tidbits about the circumstances of the attack by Islamist extremists” in Benghazi during a speech she gave at the University of Denver in late October with details that she shouldn’t have been aware of, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

She also gave details in the speech that appeared to contradict testimony Petraeus gave about the attacks in front of Congress.

“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” Petraeus, 60, wrote in his resignation letter to fellow CIA employees. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.”

It’s not exactly clear at this moment if the FBI closed its investigation into a possible intelligence leak, and there doesn’t appear to be any “criminal or national security matters involved.”

What does this mean for Petraeus’ Benghazi testimony next week? Does his resignation from CIA director mean that he doesn’t have to testify?

Not to mention, this abrupt resignation occurred during Veterans Day weekend, a time when America remembers the brave men and women who fought to secure our country and its freedoms. This kind of places a foul covering over what should be a time of honor.

“General Petraeus is one of America’s most outstanding and distinguished military leaders and a true American patriot,” said Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who heads the House Committee on Homeland Security.

This shouldn’t detract from the service Petraeus provided to our country, but it could be detrimental to the information we learn about the attack in Benghazi.

Hope and Change - How Obama won our hearts

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:27:19 -0500

Hope and Change - How Obama won our hearts:

Twas November the seventh, day after elections,

America was represented, all of the sections!

The votes had been cast in the system with care

In hopes that Obama soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their classes,

While visions of binders scared all the lasses.

And mom in her apron, and I in my suit

Had just settled down to look at our Halloween loot.

When out on North Lawn, there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.

Away to the window, I threw open the blinds

To see tons of people standing in lines!

First Sandy stole gas from the Jersey Shore,

Then people who voted found it quite a chore.

When, what to my wondering ears should appear,

Tons of Americans who gave quite a cheer!

They were led by Obama, jumpin’ and jivin’,

Next to him smiling sat good ol’ Joe Biden.

Led by two eagles, and that cute dog Bo,

On all their shirts was a big, giant ‘O.’

Away they all walked, headed north to Washington

Where they knew they wouldn’t be greeted with stones.

So up to D.C., they all took a walk,

To hard work or a challenge, they did not balk.

From health care to human rights, Obama took a stand.

For that we’re very grateful — give him a hand!

Sasha and Malia must both be so proud;

If he was our dad, we’d announce it aloud!

From Twitter to Facebook, the youth won the vote.

We earned it, dear reader, take a moment to gloat.

No need to be scared of the almost nightmare

Of the man who’s a robot that dyes its hair.

We’re saved from the possible Romney curse;

Obama is better and definitely not worse.

He’ll give us better Pell grants and health care to boot,

He’ll provide us with hurricane supplies, so we don’t have to loot.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to work,

And filed all the bills, then turned with a jerk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the White House chimney he rose!

He sprang to Air Force One, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew without even launching a missile.

But we heard him exclaim before they had left,

“Many thanks, all you young people! Especially UF!”

"There’s no way Sami Main wrote this personally, it shows a vague familiarity with journalistic..."

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:02:00 -0400

“There’s no way Sami Main wrote this personally, it shows a vague familiarity with journalistic fundamentals. I don’t buy it.”

- a real Internet commenter on my Nate Silver editorial

Punk rock fans leave Gainesville with fond memories and strong sickness

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:41:34 -0400

Punk rock fans leave Gainesville with fond memories and strong sickness:

Each year, a whole new world invades Gainesville for just one weekend.

When so many people head off to Jacksonville for the football game between the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs, tons more come into our town to hear some music.

The Fest is a music festival that celebrates all things punk.

Read the full story and listen to my radio piece at the link. There’s also a Storify element at the bottom, which explains how people on social media were affected.

Debate Debacle - Have binder sales increased this week?

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:16:17 -0400

Debate Debacle - Have binder sales increased this week?:

Here’s a problem with Mitt Romney: He sees people as numbers and commodities.

He said during the debate this week that he ran businesses for about 25 years — that either means he’s good at running businesses, or he’s good at starting and closing businesses.

Either way, he might be good at simply looking at numbers.

Romney is trying to claim credit for a women’s group. What else is new?

“I went to my staff, and I said, ‘How come all the people for these jobs are all men?’” Romney said during the debate, according to ABC News. “We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.”

“I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women,” he said.

Which was a lie. According to CBS News, the collection of female candidates “was actually spearheaded by a nonprofit group called the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project, which was founded under the leadership of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus specifically with that goal in mind.”

He tried to take credit for work that somebody brought him, which kind of sounds like someone who’s used to running companies.

Romney’s “binders full of women” is his way of trying to convince the American public that he cares about women’s rights, and that’s the biggest joke we’ve ever heard.

Just because you hire a woman, doesn’t automatically suggest that you’re a revolutionary feminist. It means you’re a person … who … hires … other people.

But because Romney isn’t a champion of women’s rights by any means, and also because he is a robot, he thinks hiring a woman makes him a better person.

We’re here to tell you that it does not, in fact, make you a better person just because you hired a woman.

Hire the person who is the most qualified for the position. That should be regardless of gender, sexuality, race or background.

That being said, if you discover that women are being underhired for jobs, then maybe try to counterbalance that by looking at female applicants more seriously. Or, better yet, try to foster an environment that will make more women want to apply in the first place.

Don’t pull a Bic, though. The pen company recently released a pen specifically designed for women, for some reason, and colored it pink, of course. It’s “Bic for Her.”

How should a lady use the pen?

“When you have an opinion, you write it down on a piece of paper, and then crumble it up and throw it away, because no one wants to know our opinion, sweetheart,” said Ellen DeGeneres, in a fake ad for the product.

Romney having “binders full of women” does not make him a hero. It makes him a commodity-interested robot.

Viral Volunteer - Be careful who you talk to in El Paso We love...

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:15:38 -0400

Viral Volunteer - Be careful who you talk to in El Paso

We love a good viral video.

Cat sitting on a bench? Classic.

Compilation of dudes trying to extreme skateboard or bike ride? Always awesome.

The latest video taking the Internet by storm comes from El Paso County in Colorado.

Someone in a Safeway recorded a video on her cellphone when she noticed something funny about a volunteer who was registering voters outside of the store. She saw that the volunteer had begun asking people which presidential candidate they would vote for before offering to register them to vote.

The woman who recorded the video asked the volunteer who she is working for.

“Well, I’m actually trying to register people for a particular party. Because we’re out here in support of Romney, actually,” the young woman replies. “We’re working for the County Clerk’s Office,” she said.

This created a reaction from the video recorder.

“And you’re only registering Republicans?” The video recorder says with outrage, to which the young woman replies, “No.”

“You said you’re only registering Romney people,” said the video recorder.

The voter registration volunteer replied, “Well, we’re trying to, to be honest.”

The video was recorded about a month ago, but it has only recently surfaced. The El Paso County Clerk & Recorder issued a statement on Sunday regarding the video.

“The statement made in this video is both unfortunate and inaccurate,” said Clerk & Recorder Wayne Williams.

The volunteer might have been confused about who hired her. Instead of working for the County Clerk’s Office, she works for Romney’s campaign, according to 9NEWS in Colorado.

“It’s clearly just a campaign tactic that someone is trying to use to damage the Romney campaign image and a young lady trying to get involved,” said Eli Bremer, the chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party, to 9NEWS.

How is recording someone’s answers a campaign tactic?

“Even if you can ask preference questions,” said El Paso County Democratic Party Executive Director Christy Lelait to 9NEWS, “… the goal is to register people … She does make it very clear she does want to register Romney supporters.”

The woman who recorded and posted the video to YouTube has denied requests to take it down because it contains inaccurate information. Quite frankly, good for her.

This is the kind of voter fraud that people should be upset about. If volunteers are being asked which candidate they’re going to vote for before being allowed to register to vote, then that’s something very sneaky that should be addressed.

The girl featured in the video might not know that just because she turns in registration forms to the County Clerk’s Office, doesn’t mean that she works for it. She just might not know.

You know what they say, ignorance is Mitt.

Ramblin’ Romney

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:58:56 -0400

Ramblin’ Romney:

Are you part of the 47 percent?

You might not matter to Mitt Romney.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney said. “All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

He claimed that 47 percent of people don’t pay income taxes. That’s true. But a lot of times, that figure is misrepresented, and people start to believe that 47 percent of American households don’t pay any taxes at all. That’s not true at all.

His remarks were captured on a secret video filmed at a private fundraising dinner in Boca Raton in May.This dinner, by the way, cost about $50,000 a plate to attend.

That secret video of the event has been circulating around the Web for a few weeks. In fact, parts have been around since late May, according to a timeline put together by Ben Smith of BuzzFeed.

This week, Mother Jones posted more “snippets” of the video, which prompted Romney’s campaign to hold a press conference late Monday.

“By the way, whoever has released the snippets would, I would certainly appreciate if they would release the whole tape so we could see all of it,” Romney said.

Mother Jones talked to the video’s owner and released the entire 49-minute fundraiser speech Tuesday morning.

Romney’s first number might be accurate, but it draws too many conclusions for the public.

Although two-thirds of the 47 percent don’t pay income tax, they do pay payroll tax, according to an article on The Daily Beast by Kevin Fallon.

The other one-third of the 47 percent of Americans that Romney accused of already voting for President Barack Obama in the upcoming November elections are elderly or poor. These two demographics either earn nontaxable money from Social Security or don’t make enough money to be taxed. It also turns out that a lot of those people live in conservative states.

“Of the 10 states with the highest percentage of people who pay no income tax, nine are red states,” Fallon said.

While it’s tough to get the full context from a short clip, Mother Jones released the full video, so now we have the full context of what Romney was trying to say.

But he hasn’t backed down, and he hasn’t apologized to the 47 percent of Americans he has basically ostracized. He stands by what he said: The people who don’t pay income tax are the same people who will automatically vote for Obama.

Do you fall into that category of non-income-tax-paying individuals? Are you voting for Obama?

Romney thinks so, and he already wrote you off.

This debacle may not do much in the long run to the campaign. We’ll need to keep an eye on the ramifications, but there are only a few weeks until Election Day.

Secret Scouts

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:55:00 -0400

Secret Scouts:

You know how the Boy Scouts of America officially excludes gay people from joining its organization? Yeah, that’s not super.

You know what’s worse?

Recent reports state that the BSA has covered up decades of alleged child molestation that occurred under its roof.

The Los Angeles Times reviewed 1,600 confidential files dating from 1970 to 1991 and “found that Scouting officials frequently urged admitted offenders to quietly resign — and helped many cover their tracks.”

The organization calls them the “perversion files.”

In about 80 percent of those cases, the allegations were not reported to police.

The people “suspected of abuse were allowed to leave citing bogus reasons such as business demands, ‘chronic brain dysfunction’ and duties at a Shakespeare festival,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Apparently, being gay is more of a crime to the BSA than is being a pedophile.

Perhaps the organization should care more about the members it does allow than the members it bans.

As a country, America teaches children to tell an adult whom they trust when something is wrong. When no action is taken against a terrible situation, what lesson are we teaching them?

The fact that so many cases, a system of files dating back to 1919, have not been reported to authorities is unsettling. They have instituted a way to cover up and shame the truth — for what purpose?

Was it to make the organization look better? Was no one supposed to uncover what has actually happened so that people would continue to put their faith and trust in the group?

Because this has done exactly the opposite.

This paper trail unearthed how awful this organization can be.

What’s worse is that people will, probably while reading this piece, suggest that the entire club isn’t so bad, and we shouldn’t generalize a few slights to turn everyone against the club as a whole.

Well, united we stand, folks. The simple fact that this happened at all ever, anywhere is what’s enough to make people angry at the club. And people should be angry.

People were already angry at the BSA for its discriminatory practices. It makes no sense to ban members due to their sexual orientations. Was the club under the impression that a homosexual person is automatically some kind of sexual predator or threat?

Because clearly it was wrong.

Actual predators were, and continue to be, right under its nose — not even hiding — and it did nothing about it.

Instead of forcing an intolerant system of rules, BSA, how about you focus on standing up for your members, no matter who they are.

Intolerance may be widely spread across our country, but child abuse acceptance should never be.

Republican’t: Check Ann’s facts first

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:35:00 -0400

Republican’t: Check Ann’s facts first:

You know how Shark Week feels like it lasts for at least a month?

Well, Tuesday night was only the first night of the Republican National Convention.

Since this is kind of the biggest party of the Republican Party for every election cycle, the convention planners scheduled Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to speak.

The whole point of having those two give speeches on the opening night of the convention, when the public would probably be paying the most attention, was to add human flesh to the robot skeleton that is Mitt Romney.

And that’s fine, right? That’s what his campaign needed, we’d say. After all, when a presidential nominee says things like “I stand by what I said, whatever it was,” the campaign could use any boost it can get.

Ann Romney took to describing her and Mitt Romney’s humble beginnings as a young couple.

“We got married and moved into a basement apartment,” Ann Romney said. “We walked to class together, shared the housekeeping and ate a lot of pasta and tuna fish.”

That sounds like almost everyone here at UF.

What she didn’t mention in her speech, however, is the fact that they were living off of stock options.

“Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time,” she said in a 1994 interview with Jack Thomas of The Boston Globe, when Mittens was running for a Senate seat.

Huh. All right.

During Tuesday evening’s speech, she also said that “Mitt Romney was never handed success.”

But in her 1994 interview, she said that the house they bought together in Boston for $42,000, thanks to a loan from Mitt’s father, cost less to pay the mortgage for than it did to rent. They sold it for $90,000 seven years later.

“So we not only stayed for free, we made money,” Ann Romney said to Thomas. “We had no income except the stock we were chipping away at. We were living on the edge, not entertaining.”

At the RNC, she said their “desk was a door propped up on sawhorses” and their “dining room table was a fold down ironing board in the kitchen.”

That statement matches what she said in 1994, but she said then “the funny thing is that I never expected help.” She never had to expect help, because they had plenty of investment money to live off of instead of scrambling to find employment.

Listen up, guys, because this is actually important.

By now, we’ve all been on this planet long enough to smell when something’s fishy.

Does the story of the young lovebirds, Mitt and Ann Romney, sound humble? Living off of stock options does not a struggling young couple make.

Her speech sounds plausible — until you check the facts.

Health Help: Women should take care of themselves

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 21:00:00 -0400

Health Help: Women should take care of themselves:

There are so many threats against women in America today.

Between trying to earn our reproductive freedom and explaining that we deserve equal pay, it can be difficult to remember that we’re not second-class citizens.

We have to take care of ourselves, because it seems like our government and our companies aren’t going to help.

Because there are so many things that can go wrong in our bodies, we need to monitor them and take the best care of ourselves possible.

About 42 million women are living with some kind of cardiovascular disease. About 200,000 women die each year from heart attacks, which is five times the number of women who die from breast cancer.

Two weeks ago, Rosie O’Donnell, one of TV’s favorite lesbians, suffered a heart attack.

She helped an “enormous” lady out of her car and later didn’t feel normal.

According to her blog, a few hours later, she experienced body aches, including chest pains, nausea and other symptoms of heart attack.

She Googled womens heart attack symptoms but still wans’t sure.

From her blog:

“i took some bayer aspirin

thank god

saved by a tv commercial

literally”

When it feels like the entire world is generally out to get us, women need to be prepared and ready.

Take control of your health, ladies.

The risk factors for heart disease include high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, being overweight and being physically inactive. These can be changed for the better, but only if you’re aware of them.

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are seven major threats to women’s health: heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s disease, accidents and type 2 diabetes.

Thankfully, freeing yourself from some of these threats is as easy as eating healthy and exercising. Include in your diet more fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains; decrease your intake of saturated fat and sodium.

When there is legislation enacted in this country that limits women’s rights and freedoms, we should take that as a hint. Our government is giving us a gigantic clue, ladies.

It is up to us to take care of our bodies, because we may not always be able to find help.

Now, not every politician is leading a witch hunt against women. But when even celebrities, like O’Donnell, are in denial of possible symptoms at the onset of a heart attack, then our education system has failed us.

Traditionally, heart disease is thought of as a man’s disease.

Don’t make an assumption when it comes to your health.

Darts & Laurels

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 23:05:21 -0400

Darts & Laurels:

Welcome (back) to Gainesville, folks! Sorry for all of the global warming during the summer, but we’re sure we’ll have a milder fall. Even though the weather will be nice, do yourselves a favor, and don’t expect much from the football season. Expect a light chance of touchdowns and a downpour of yellow flags.

So now it’s time for the sorry-for-the-abrupt-transition-but-we-don’t-want-to-rush edition of…

Darts & Laurels

First off, we’d like to send a possible thank you to our good buddy Isaac for threatening the Republican National Convention in Tampa next week … Tropical Storm Isaac, that is. That’s why we’re giving a good the-RNC-needed-a-shake-up LAUREL to Tropical Storm Isaac.

Fingers crossed that he’s not late to the Grand Ole Party!

Also, we’re throwing a leave-our-puppets-alone DART at the RNC. Andrea Davis, the spokeswoman for the Tampa Police Department, said that protesters aren’t allowed to bring puppets, because “their heads have been used to hide weapons and other matter, fecal matter.”

Although you won’t see them in the crowds outside, you can still see plenty of puppets who are full of s—t on stage.

We give a Why-Canada!-we-hate-your-“punk”-“rock”-bands DART to Canada for allowing Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger to get engaged. Come on, guys. We trusted the Great White North, and this is what they did to us.

That being said, we can’t wait to hear “This Photograph Is Complic8ted” on the radio.

In other celebrity news, we want to give a you-kept-it-together-for-so-long LAUREL to Prince Harry. He was recently spotted partying in Las Vegas, um, naked with other naked people. But give the guy a break! It’s gotta be tough to be the more attractive (yet still not married) royal.

Plus, maybe he just wanted to show off the royal jewels…

If you’re planning a trip to Scandinavia soon, bring extra underwear. This warning was brought to you by the recipient of our we-don’t-blame-you-for-probably-pooping-your-pants LAUREL to a driver in Norway who crashed into a bear after swerving to avoid hitting a moose in the road.

Dudes and moose and bears — oh, s—t!

South African authorities are giving some of their elephants birth control to help maintain the population. This means that elephants in South Africa have more reproductive freedom than women in Missouri.

That’s why we give a why-don’t-you-go-on-a-legitimate-date-with-Mike-Huckabee-to-Chick-fil-A DART to Todd Akin.

Have a dry and safe weekend, and be sure to check back next week!

Legitimate Rape?: Todd Akin fails at science

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 23:02:26 -0400

Legitimate Rape?: Todd Akin fails at science:

Can you remember the last time you heard about Missouri? It’s just one of those lonely, forgotten fly-over states — until last week.

Rep. Todd Akin stuck his Midwestern foot in his Midwestern mouth when he tried to express his opinion about a St. Louis television station.

He seemed to think that women rarely get pregnant via rape.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin said.

Oh!

Phew, what a relief.

Y’know, maybe that’s why most conservatives are against birth control and contraception: They must think that it’s almost unnecessary. We women are apparently in much more control of our bodies than science originally taught us.

We can just wish ourselves sterile at will, right?

Wrong.

Akin’s comments on women’s health issues are troubling.

Other anti-abortion enthusiasts maintain that women “secrete” something during the act of rape to prevent pregnancy.

These are our elected officials? Men who believe there is mythical magic inside wombs?

Akin has since apologized for his controversial comments and was probably also taught a quick biology lesson before appearing on popular conservative radio and TV shows.

While Sean Hannity called for Akin to drop out of his Senate race on TV, Mike Huckabee provided some sort of sanctuary on his radio show.

Somehow, through all of this, Huckabee became a beacon of journalism and the go-to place for interviews with the “no-dude-left-behind/two-wrongs-don’t-make-a-right” representative.

“Rape is never legitimate,” Akin said to Huckabee. “I used the wrong words in the wrong way.”

He also said he would win this race “by the grace of God.”

Listen, pal. Let’s not bring God into this, because one of us won’t be happy with what God has to say on the matter.

Akin might still stand a chance in his Senate race despite his gaffe-a-thon on Sunday, and that should be alarming.

Are Missouri voters OK with his stance on anti-abortion versus pro-abortion rights issues? It’s possible. Missouri is a notorious swing state.

But we’d hope voters would find a problem with voting to elect someone who is so tragically misinformed about basic biology. The things he said were reprehensible and insulting to the American public and to all women.

Our congressional representatives should have a grasp on reality, not on a science that is loosely based on nothing.

Kudos to Huckabee for snagging the scoop on this brushfire of a political gaffe. All that Chick-fil-A must be brain food.

bublog: Hey check it out, Bub took over Buzzfeed and made it...

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:27:59 -0400

bublog:

Hey check it out, Bub took over Buzzfeed and made it BUBFEED.

Honestly, this is my proudest moment in journalism.

Chick-fil-A debacle not just ‘free speech’

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:48:57 -0400

Chick-fil-A debacle not just ‘free speech’:

It’s about more than just chicken, people.

This Chick-fil-A debate has been around longer than the past month; the company’s policies are no secret.

Chick-fil-A’s chief operating officer and president, Dan Cathy, created the WinShape Foundation in 1984. WinShape is the charitable facet of the restaurant company.

In 2009, WinShape donated almost $2 million to anti-gay groups, including the Marriage and Family Legacy Fund. The MFLF was created with help from Chick-fil-A’s senior vice president, Donald Cathy. MFLF is the “implementation and funding arm” of Marriage CoMission, a coalition of groups to counteract the “downward spiral of marriage and the traditional family in America.”

WinShape also donated to groups that discriminate or express hate toward the gay community, like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Christian Foundation. Those groups then also donate funds to anti-gay groups such as Focus on the Family.

What makes a group anti-gay and not just Christian? Focus on the Family once posted on its website that “the homosexual agenda is a beast. [It] wants our kids.”

But these are just groups that a side foundation supplies funds. What about the chicken?!

Chick-fil-A’s website states:

“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our Restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”

I understand that this company was started under Christian beliefs and concepts; we’re all familiar with the pangs of waffle fry hunger on a Sunday, only to be left disappointed and hungry. I also understand that the individual stores are run by managers who don’t necessarily apply the Bible to their customers.

But how can such a large and successful company claim to support every person on this planet while donating millions of dollars to groups that do the exact opposite?

It’s that hypocrisy that bothers me.

If you are going to be a bigot, then be a bigot by all means. Just be honest about it.

This recent kerfuffle started up when Dan Cathy said in a July article in the Baptist Press that Chick-fil-A is “guilty as charged” in supporting only heterosexual marriage and “the biblical definition of the familly unit.”

Now that we’re all on Twitter and Facebook, there was a small uproar against the man and his company.

This outrage was met with a response of support that was somewhat led by former Gov. Mike Huckabee. He declared Aug. 1 “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.” That became code for I’m-a-conservative-who-hates-gay-people.

Sarah Palin posted a photo of her and her husband, Todd, with the caption: “Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business.”

Even Michele Bachmann posted a video to YouTube that gave a brief endorsement of a company that “stands with families.”

Reports say Chick-fil-A stores had record-setting sales on “Appreciation Day.”

Reports also say that 67 percent of Americans are obese or overweight.

Congratulations. Your hatred and ignorance helped make you fat.

How To Actually Use Tiny Ketchup Cups

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 22:34:44 -0400

How To Actually Use Tiny Ketchup Cups:

Is surgery the right response to bullying?

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:50:40 -0400

Is surgery the right response to bullying?:

I’m tiny. As in, petite.

As in, even if I wore high heels, I would barely be average height.

I can’t reach the tops of shelves, and I get confused for a 12-year-old on the regular.

While I was “growing” up, I don’t remember being terribly teased about my height, though. Even friends who have known me for years still comment on my size. It’s just a part of who I am by this point. I don’t really notice it.

I guess I must be pretty lucky.

Currently, about half of kids in school are bullied by their peers. Childhood bullying can affect the self-image of children as well as their emotional and mental health.

So while that was never my experience, I understand that millions of kids go through bullying at some point in their life. Take, for example, the experiences of Nadia Ilse.

She’s now 14, but she’s been asking for plastic surgery since she was 10. Her peers in school would make fun of her constantly.

They would often call her “Dumbo” or “elephant ears.” After years of this abuse, Ilse asked her mom for help or for plastic surgery. Her mother found the Little Baby Face Foundation.

This nonprofit organization provides “corrective surgery” for children born with a facial disfigurement or who have been bullied about their physical appearance.

During a consultation with her surgeon about a procedure to pin her ears back, he decided she needed more work done than they originally thought. He thought her nose and chin also needed correction. Her total surgery costs were about $40,000; thanks to the Little Baby Face Foundation, Ilse didn’t have to pay a thing.

Should the surgeon have pointed out other things that were “wrong” with this young teenager? It seems extremely unnecessary, almost cruel, to point out other “problems” with such a young girl who already has self-esteem issues.

Ilse, however, feels better about herself since her surgery.

“I look beautiful, this is exactly what I wanted, I love it,” Ilse said.

Kids should never feel so attacked that they want to change their physical appearance. But should an organization take that a step further and offer to change someone’s entire look to protect him or her from mean children?

There’s been no word on what consequences the bullies of Ilse have faced; her surgery seems like she’s saying “you were right” to her bullies, that she agreed with them about her looks.

It’s great that she has regained her lost self-esteem and can now walk with confidence.

The other kids that Little Baby Face Foundation has helped do appear to have more severe problems than ears that are perhaps slightly larger than normal.

The problem is not with how kids look; it’s with how they act. Ilse’s bullies should be reprimanded and corrected, not her face.

If a child can’t feel comfortable in his or her own skin, it is absolutely not his or her fault. The fault lies with the society and environment that created the unhealthy habits of bullies.

I’ve never been exactly in Ilse’s shoes, so maybe that’s why I don’t fully understand why someone would make this extreme of a decision.

I have been an awkward teenager, though, and I know it can be hard to accept who you are.

Acceptance is tough, but it is necessary.

Interview With "Go Fug Yourself" Bloggers About Release Of Second Novel

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:41:26 -0400

Interview With "Go Fug Yourself" Bloggers About Release Of Second Novel: