Kat Stoeffel at NYMag:
Today, Malala Yousafzai — the Pakistani girls' education activist who was nearly killed by a Taliban sniper last year — turns 16. The United Nations declared it Malala Day, and she gave a moving speech. Wearing a pink shawl that once belonged to slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, she said, "The wise saying, 'The pen is mightier than sword' was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them."…
More at the link. What an awesome example for us all.
###
In what can only be considered a modern masterpiece of wingnuttery, Daniel Flynn pens an op-ed in the American Spectator that is one half Kim Du Toit's infamous Pussification of the Western Male and 1/2 half Ron Paul newsletter. You really have to read it to believe it:
They don't make men like they used to. One can consult a Danish study that shows plummeting testosterone levels for scientific confirmation of this. Or, one could more easily turn on any cable news network's wall-to-wall coverage of the Zimmerman-Martin case, a tragedy involving two males fumbling in the dark on how to be men.
***On the maturity count, Trayvon Martin might reasonably plead not guilty by reason of chronology. Seventeen-year-old boys quite often act like, in the vernacular of Zimmerman, "f—-ing punks." Most grow out of it, but Mr. Martin unfortunately will not get that chance. Rarely, in spite of their exaggerated masculine posturing, do teenage boys behave as mature males.
Martin's Twitter feed reads as a parody of poor grammar and an even more impoverished vocabulary. There, he's a "No Limit N-gga," girls he knows are "bitches" and "hoes," and the primary extracurricular activity he immerses himself in is marijuana. The gold-teeth smile, the tattoos, the ten-day suspension from school, and all the rest appear as pathetic attempts to assert his virility. Yet, as his supporters point out, Trayvon also liked Skittles and Chuck E. Cheese's. The presentation that Trayvon affected and the Trayvon that his supporters present are, like so many making the journey from adolescence to adulthood, at war internally.
George Zimmerman, in contrast, projects a courtroom image of a meek pudgeball who wouldn't (couldn't?) hurt a fly — and not in a Norman Bates way. Perhaps this is the effect that his lawyers intended. But it jibes with what we know. According to one unidentified witness, Zimmerman endured a domineering mother's frequent beatings and a docile father who failed to stick up for his kids. His mixed-martial arts instructor described him as "physically soft," a student who lacked athleticism and "didn't know how to really effectively punch."
One wonders if the cage-fighting classes, the pursuit of a career in law enforcement, and a firearm kept ready to fire were Zimmerman's ways of discovering his elusive manhood in a manner akin to Trayvon's tattoos, coarse language, and demonstrative drug use. With the teenager sans a father in the home to serve as guide, and the neighborhood-watch captain growing up watching the cowed captain of his home, the pair's past altered their future as much as anything else did.
Zimmerman's screams and Trayvon slamming Zimmerman's head into the concrete weren't the acts of men. A man is neither a woman nor an animal. The proper response to an assault by a 158-pound teenager isn't to scream for help or grab for a gun. It is to punch back or better yet subdue and issue a spanking. And a sucker punch, the repeated hitting of a downed opponent, and the bashing of a skull against the concrete doesn't pass muster with the Marquess of Queensberry. Perhaps the "No Holds Barred Fighting" dojo that Zimmerman had signed up for would approve.
***Civilizing men out of existence has come at great cost to civilization. Instead of men, we get feminine imitations lacking beauty. We get lost boys compensating by becoming barbarians. We get Sanford, Florida, February 26, 2012.
It's breathtaking, especially as beyond the racism and sexism, there is also the firm belief that Zimmerman is the victim- notice the notion that it is Martin who should be pleading not guilty. Not to mention, there is a political party that would like to reduce the number of guns in the hands of unstable people. Daniel Flynn is not in that party.
I think I feel sick.
###
Texas Senate gives final passage to abortion bill delayed by filibuster
"Texas legislators overturned a temporary victory by state Democrats and standard bearer Sen. Wendy Davis, passing a bill late Friday that puts new restrictions on abortion procedures.
The bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate just before midnight, two weeks after the Legislature failed to put the restrictions to a successful vote in its first special session. The bill would ban most abortions past 20 weeks of pregnancy, place new requirements on which facilities could perform the procedures and limit a woman's ability to induce an abortion by taking a pill."
God bless Texas.
###
###
It isn't your imagination — the presence of guns really is hazardous to the health of children, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The number of U.S. youth getting murdered by guns is rising, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control. In the last 30 years, nearly four times as many kids were killed by guns than by other violent methods like stabbing, strangling or poisoning — and researchers noticed that proportion rose significantly during the end of the three decade time period. [...]
A separate study released this week found that the youth who own firearms are far more likely to end up in the ER with assault injuries than the youth who aren't gun owners. Treating wounds resulting from gun injuries costs Americans an estimated $5.6 billion in medical bills each year.
It's worth pointing out that new studies from the CDC, the first of their kind in years, will begin to emerge as directed by President Obama in an executive order signed following the massacre at Sandy Hook.
The last time the CDC studied the issue was in 1996 before the NRA successfully convinced Congress to defund such studies.
###
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory claimed that he would not sign the state Republican party's new restrictions on abortion when they were attached to a Sharia Law bill, but now that the restrictions have been attached to a Motorcycle safety bill, he will sign it.
From the Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's governor says he will sign a new version of a bill that raises standards for abortion clinics into law if it reaches his desk.
Gov. Pat McCrory announced his decision Friday, two days after he threatened to veto the previous legislation for how it addressed raising standards for abortion clinics through rules similar to outpatient surgery centers. The House changed the language to satisfy McCrory's health and human services department.
McCrory says the version that passed the House on Thursday will ensure women's safety and not limit their access to abortion.
It's for your own safety, ladies. So say the menfolk in charge.
By the way, the title of the motorcycle safety bill includes 17 words regarding motorcycle safety and 123 words on abortion. I shit you not.
Abortion, abortion, abortion, abortion, and safe driving!
No comments:
Post a Comment