How low can they go?

As noted in the previous posts, the young woman in Pittsburgh lied to the police about being attacked.  That story is disgusting, but this is worse:

Earlier today, John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, commented on his blog there that “this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election. If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.

“If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.”

(emphasis added)

Let’s see, 20 year-old female McCain volunteer tells police she was attacked because of the “McCain” sticker on her car.  Initial reports treated the story as true, the McCain campaign expressed sympathy, some people on both sides expressed skepticism.  Others who believed the young woman felt that the very real misogyny emanating from Obamanation was to blame, but no one I saw proclaimed that Obama’s “quest for the presidency was over.”

Today the young woman recants, and admits she lied.  Her motive for lying has not been reported, but she is obviously disturbed.

Media conclusion:  It’s all McCain’s fault.

Of course Teleprompter Jesus isn’t even held responsible by the media for the things he himself does and says, let alone what one isolated supporter does.

It turns out her pants were on fire

Those of us who gave her the benefit of the doubt can officially feel foolish:

At a news conference this afternoon, offiicals said they believe that Ashley Todd’s injuries were self-inflicted.  

Todd, 20, of Texas, is now facing charges for filing a false report to police.

Todd initially told police that she was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield and that the suspect became enraged and started beating her after seeing her GOP sticker on her car.

Police investigating the alleged attack, however, began to notice some inconsistencies in her story and administered a polygraph test.

Authorities, however, declined to release the results of that test.

Investigators did say that they received photos from the ATM machine and “the photographs were verified as not being the victim making the transaction.”

This afternoon, a Pittsburgh police commander told KDKA Investigator Marty Griffin that Todd confessed to making up the story.

No explanation has been offered for why Ms. Pinocchio made her false report in the first place, but I’m sure all the real victims of misogynistic violence and intimidation are really grateful to have their credibility diminished by this young woman.  Stories like these provide “reasonable doubt” in the minds of juries.

I hope they throw the book at her.  I’m sure Obamanation is celebrating, although they shouldn’t be. 

If they show up here to gloat they won’t stay long.

UPDATE: Comments closed

Friday: If Obama doesn’t condemn misogyny, we will resist

Heidi Li has a post up today about the pernicious effect of unchecked misogyny:

Some people have asked me why most mainstream media does not report on the misogyny that I claim has been and continues to be fully evidenced this political season. Answer: misogyny sells. That is, of course part of the the problem, and part of why we need our top political leaders to object, over and over, to misogynistic portrayals of women.

Just as Nixon and Reagan tapped into racial resentment in the American electorate to bring us decades of Republicans in the White House, Democrats have tapped into misogynism to win it for Obama in 2008.  In both cases, the antagonism, prejudice and bad behavior had been held in check by societal norms but was released when the candidate and the media gave silent approval.  It isn’t possible for us as a society to change the way people think.  That happens over time.  But it *is* possible for us to reinforce rules of acceptable behavior so that we all live together in some kind of detente that keeps people from getting hurt, either emotionally, financially or physically.

The Obama campaign and the DNC has done away with all that.  They know that “misogyny sells”.  For men and women who feel helpless to change their own circumstances, misogyny gives them a place to direct their anger and take power.  Women become the convenient scapegoats like the stereotypical African American “welfare queens” who didn’t exist or German Jews after the Armistice at Versailles.

But misogyny goes even farther than this.  Misogyny is rooted in our great religions.  It prevents women from ascending to positions of power in the Catholic Church.  It has been used in churches for millenia to make sure that women know that their bodies do not belong to themselves.  It has only been in the last century that women, through advances in pharmacology, have been able to break the “biology is destiny” cycle that kept them relegated to second class citizenship.  In the last 50 years, women have struggled mightily in the workplace for economic livelihood, self-fulfillment and respect.  Anyone who wants to know what that early period was like should watch AMC’s Mad Men to see what unchecked misogynism is like.

Even before the election of 2008, those of us in male dominated careers still have a tough time of it.  We see the “Chris Matthews Effect” on a daily basis.  Men have a very difficult time acknowledging the accomplishments of women and women have a tendency to reinforce the notion that our achievements are based on luck or some personal connection instead of hard work, intelligence, insight or creativity.  We struggled with male professors who gave their time and praise to our male colleagues.  We often find ourselves criticized for being “difficult to work with” or not properly deferential when we challenge male colleagues at work.

The misogyny that the Obama campaign, the DNC and media have unleashed is going to be very difficult to put back into the bottle after the election is over.  There has been only one good thing to come out of all of this.  Women are now more aware than ever that the issue of abortion has been used as a political football by both parties as a way to control women voters.  The Democratic party has been revealed to take no real interest in the wishes of women.  18 million voters, many of them women for Hillary Clinton, were easily dismissed and their votes relegated to the circular file.  It was *expected* that they would just fall in line and hand over their power in November.  This actions taken during the primaries and the convention show us the deep rot of sexism that runs through the party.  They are so used to taking us for granted that they feel they don’t need to try to win us over and they have no comprehension of the damage they have done to their most faithful constituency.

Republicans, on the other hand, know that if you want to win, you have to rely on all of your players.  John McCain may have fought the inclusion of a female on his ticket and maybe he’s not entirely comfortable with it.  But you have to admire the courage it took to do it.  He’s a little like one of the baseball team owners who relented to give Jackie Robinson a crack at the big leagues.  If McCain and Palin win this election, things will never be the same.

That is why we resist the Democratic party this year.  We want real change and we’re not going to get it with Barack Obama as president after he has unleashed the monster of sexism that lurked beneath a thin veneer of comity.  It is on his shoulders to do something about it.  We hold him personally responsible because misogyny sells and he has reaped the benefits all season long at our expense.

She doesn’t eat puppies either

From the Associated Press:

Sarah Palin is blaming gender bias for the controversy over $150,000 worth of designer clothes, hairstyling and accessories the Republican Party provided for her, a newspaper reported Thursday.

“I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard in her primary race,” Palin said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune posted on the newspaper’s Web site Thursday night. “Do you remember the conversations that took place about her, say superficial things that they don’t talk about with men, her wardrobe and her hairstyles, all of that? That’s a bit of that double standard.”

Palin, who is John McCain’s vice presidential running mate, said the clothes were not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.

Most of the clothes have never left the campaign plane, she told the newspaper.

“It’s kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported,” Palin said.

“That whole thing is just, bad!” she said. “Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.”

News of the purchases of designer clothes, largely from upscale Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, contrasts with the image Palin has crafted as a typical “hockey mom.”

McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree — and he answered each one more or less the same way: Palin needed clothes and they’ll be donated to charity.

“She needed clothes at the time. They’ll be donated at end of this campaign. They’ll be donated to charity,” McCain told reporters on his campaign bus between Florida rallies.

I waited eight years for this election, now I can’t wait for it to be over.

(h/t Britannia)

Conflucian Cocktail Party: Fundraising for Franken

The Wiki entry for the French Resistance includes this passage:

In retrospect, the famous résistant Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie gave the image of the resistance having been made up of social outcasts on the fringes of society, saying “one could only be a resister if one was maladjusted.”^[34] Although many did adhere to this description, including d’Astier himself, most resistance participants came from traditional backgrounds^[35] and were “individuals of exceptional strong-mindedness, ready to break with family and friends.”[36]

Back in the Dark Ages of 2003-2004, Al Franken was one of those {perhaps maladjusted} individuals.  😉  When the whole country seemed to be in the grip of Movement Conservative fever, fear and retribution, Al Franken was the leader of the Resistance.  Along with a few other like minded individuals, he started Air America radio.  I used to record the televised version that would air on the Sundance Channel.  It was comforting to know he was there.  When Kerry lost in November 2004, Al was crushed.  He wept.  But bright and early the next day, there was a message on the Air America web site.  It said simply, “We’re here for you.”

A lot has happened in the last few years.  Air American was sabotaged from inside and outside forces.  It struggled mightily in the New York City market until its weak and staticky signal on WLIB was extinguished.  Now it’s something completely different.  But back in the bad old days, Al Franken was our rock.

Tonight, I’m dedicating the Cocktail Fundraiser to Al Franken, the wiseass running for Senator in the great state of Minnesota.  Hillary is a big fan and I think we can trust her judgment on this.  Al is a committed liberal, wicked smart and will bring a much needed sense of humor and determination to the Senate in what is about to be another dark period in our nation’s history.

Welcome to the Conclucian Cocktail Party.  The bar is to the left of the door where you will find our bartender with flair, Rico.  Tonight, his special drink is a Frosty Nipple (‘cos that’s what everyone’s got these days?). You can purchase a Causmo for $10.00.  Tonight’s Causmo is dedicated to Al Franken.

Tonight’s entertainment is from the Twin City’s Jazz Festival 2008.  Beseme mucho:

Ladies and Gents, I know I can count on you to use your best Minnesota manners.  But if the cold is addling your courtesy, check your trigger words with Florence, our lovely checkroom attendant. The waiters will be circulating soon with squeaky fried cheese curds and hot dish made with cream of mushroom soup.  Please Drink Responsibly and tip your wait staff generously.

Also, join me at 10PM EST for Conflucians Say on PUMA United Radio (PURrrrr).

With “Friends” Like These . . .

So I’m over at TGW and I see a post on how this election may increase the percentage of women in Congress from 16% to 19% and I decide to post this comment:

I was still a kid when “Women’s Lib” supposedly happened. That was damn near four decades ago.

By this point women should occupy something like 45%-55% of elected offices.

I didn’t figure that was controversial, but this morning I see this response from someone named “Zee”:

myiq! A foray here, how exciting. However…after a quick look at your webpage, you may be related to Mormons who are “good people” but the cult definitely deserves to crash and burn. I’m sorry, yeah, I hate all religions as they are mostly paternalistic crap, but some, such as Islam where they practice gender apartheid to the point where male firefighters let schoolgirls burn to death rather than TOUCH them and the MORMONS, where the men are “gods” of their own planets in their ludicrous afterlife and women just part of a harem to pump out ghost babies to populate said planets, deserve all the ridicule they get and then some.

“Tolerance” is bullshit in these cases.

Zee was referring to this post of mine, where I called out a commenter at Corrente for religious bigotry against Mormons.  here was my response to Zee:

After we round up the Moslems and Mormons, do we gas them with Zyklon-B and burn the bodies?

Yeah, I Godwined, but I thought it was appropriate.  I don’t know who “Zee” is, and frankly I don’t want to know, but I’m assuming that TGW doesn’t endorse or share Zee’s views.  I’m not endorsing Mormonism, Islam or any other religion.  I practice heathenistic hedonism, but that’s because it scares away the Jehovah’s Witnesses and leaves my Sundays free for watching football.

Freedom of religion (which includes freedom from religion) isn’t just a liberal value, it’s a constitutional right.  Us lefties have demonized Christian conservatives for being intolerant of other religions, and we have seen charges of racism made whenever someone suggests that Obama is a Moslem or even when they use his arabic middle name.

But for the second time in two days I see someone spouting religious bigotry on a supposedly progressive blog.  The first one was more disturbing because despite numerous responses not one person called it for what it is.  It’s bigotry:

A bigot is a person who is intolerant of opinions, lifestyles, or identities differing from his or her own, and bigotry is the corresponding state of mind. Bigot is often used as a pejorative term against a person who is obstinately devoted to prejudices even when these views are challenged or proven to be false or not universally applicable or acceptable.

Bigotry, whether in the form of racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism, religious intolerance or even partisanship is WRONG.  Progressives used to have principles.

Liberals still do.

Alan Greenspan: Who could have predicted?

Alan Greenspan, testifying before Congress today that he had no idea that Wall Street tycoons would abuse the system:

Greenspan was the head of the Federal Reserve for 18 1/2 years. In testimony prepared for the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, he voiced shock over the present turn of events and called conditions deplorable.

He said that he and others who believed lending institutions would do a good job of protecting their shareholders are in a “state of shocked disbelief”. And Greenspan also blamed the problems on heavy demand for securities backed by subprine mortgages by investors who did not worry that the boom in home prices might come to an end.”

Ok, I have to stop right there for a second. The subprime mortgage problem was *completely* predictable. Alan Greenspan worked his ass off to keep inflation low and one surefire way to do it is to depress wages. When mortgages are skyrocketing and wages increase by a lousy 3% for year after year, what else can we expect but that people eventually won’t be able to afford the house they live in? How could he not know that the most productive workers in the world haven’t benefitted from their productivity in the past 20 years? He set the conditions for it.

And as for investors not looking out for shareholders, well, that comes as a bit of a shock but shouldn’t be surprising when human nature isn’t held in check by regulation. But Alan, self-actualized, Ayn Randian, Greenspan didn’t think that the finance industry should be forced to play by the rules of the rest of society. It might inhibit creativity. So, now we have some extremely creative players who found out-of-the-box ways to lose our money. But at least they were allowed to live freely without conformity.

And Greenspan is *shocked* that investors would go gangbusters and be selfish and greedy? Really? I thought that was the point.

Thursday: Resistance- no longer useless

Many of you have lost friends during this election cycle.  They can’t understand why you’re holding out.  Isn’t a Democrat in the White House what you’ve been working for all these years?  And now you’re about to get one and you’re being stubborn, immature and racist.

When I was canvassing in PA, I found that support for Obama was actually pretty soft.  I didn’t meet too many hard core Obama supporters.  Most were in the infatuation stage.  He was the new kid in town.  And there were some conflicted feelings towards Clinton.  What was really weird is that I got people to listen to me only *after* I told them what I did for a living.  Apparently, the fact that I’m a chemist with a degree made me more credible.  Whatever was going on in their heads back in April had a lot to do with perception of who we are or would like to be.  We all know that Clintonistas were old, uneducated working class women- except when we’re not.

I am resisting the party’s ticket for a couple of reasons that have a lot to do with the perception that David Axelrod and the media conjured up about us.  What does it say about the way the Obama campaign, the DNC and the media see us if they treat older, working class, undegreed voters as an embarrassment?  What does it mean when Donna Brazile says that we are the “old coalition”?  What was Jack Cafferty trying to convey last August when he said:

Hillary Clinton apparently hasn’t gotten the message yet that it’s over.

That message was delivered 3 weeks before the convention when Obama’s delegate lead was so slim that the superdelegates would have been perfectly justified in making Clinton the nominee based on her qualifications and the popular vote count.  So, why were voters, especially CLINTON voters, so powerless to affect the outcome in spite of their 18 million votes?

We keep coming back to the fact that the media and the DNC would like to put the older, uneducated, working class, women and eventually, African Americans, on an ice floe and let them fend for themselves.  It appears that the Democratic party no longer intends to represent those groups.  “Those people” represent a vast majority of people in the United States.  The recent brouhaha over Joe the Plumber demonstrates that voters in both parties have woken up to the new reality that they simply do not count anymore and they’re angry.  If this is America, they should still be able to vote in confidence that their wishes are respected and counted and this is no longer necessarily the case.

We are resisting the chopping away at the ice that the priveleged part of the tribe is doing to disconnect us from them.  That is what is fueling the resistence.  And what is happening on Wall Street right now is a bellwhether for what is to come if Obama wins by discounting and suppressing the vote.  It isn’t right to take the taxes of the hardest working Americans and give it to the well connected on Wall Street without those taxpayers having a say in how the money is used.  That is the way the government will operate in the future if the DNC, Obama, Pelosi et al get their way.  For once and all, they won’t have to reach out the Bubbas, as they call us.  They will treat us like non-voting partners in whatever business plan they intend to carry out.

What the Resistance is saying is we all go forward together or we don’t go forward.  The media and the DNC just haven’t gotten that message yet.

But they will.  Very soon.

And no matter what happens, because neither outcome is in our best interests, the PUMAs will be here afterwards.  We stick together and go forward.

Palin asks: Why did the person with 18 million votes get passed over?

Good question.

Late Night: Equal Opportunity Offender

Brook finds some unusual things on YouTube.  Like, today, she found a Blond Joke video.  (Q: What did the blond say was the capital of California?  A:”C”)

Recently, she’s developed a keen sense of the absurd when it comes to politics.  Take a look at this play on the media narrative for each candidate in this Skippy Shorts video of a debate between Obama and McCain:

Hang in there.  Less than two weeks to go.