You want to know something strange? Or not so strange, depending on your own reaction to her death. Anyway, one night a few weeks after she was killed, I was making dinner in my kitchen. Specifically I was mincing some garlic for a sauce. All of a sudden, I thought, Neda has done this before: stood in a kitchen making dinner, and smiling to herself about something she was thinking of. I stopped what I was doing and thought of the enormity of this realization. It seems like a fairly simple process: you see someone get hurt, you see them die, you know that they are dead. But it suddenly seemed like that moment, the one in my kitchen, was when I really knew what had happened and that it wasn't not real. It was really strange, feeling a kinship with a dead woman I'd never met before. Maybe because this had never happened to me before, maybe because she died so brutally and so publicly, maybe because she was wearing jeans and sneakers, maybe all or none of the above, but she didn't and doesn't feel like a stranger to me. Her name won't be erased from my mind, that's for sure. #nedaaghasoltan
after the first revolution (the one the Islamists stole away) alot of streets were renamed after the "islamic martyrs" who had supposedly given their life for the revolution.
I believe that soon streets will be named, and monuments will be built in honor of Neda and all those who gave their life for the right to say "Yes" and "No" on their OWN accord. #nedaaghasoltan
The fact that they think they can erase her legacy by erasing the writing on her grave speaks volumes about why the regime is slowly dying. #nedaaghasoltan
@thenewmrssalazar: No. It's really, really hard for young women (especially us blonds, sigh) to look both aesthetically pleasing and professional. #shrivermccaininterview
@suzannelb: Well I'll tell you what. If you got big boobies, buttoning collared shirts is no easy task my friend. Seriously I bet that's why she's wearing a sweatervest. That and sweatervests are the best thing. Ever. #shrivermccaininterview
@Cimorene: Con-fucking-curred. I've taken to buying my button-downs two sizes too big and getting the waist/sleeves tailored. And yes, wearing both sweatervests and regular vests.
I'd love to have an extra hour in the morning to make my hair do what Meghan's is doing in the screencap. God help me, I like her; I feel like we could have a thoughtful debate about taxes before going "Okay, enough Deep Thinking for today!" and sneaking Kahlua into a movie theater or something. #shrivermccaininterview
Say what you will about Meghan, but it's heartening that a Republican woman is acknowledging these pressures exist. I predict she'll be a force to be reckoned with politically in a few years should she choose to run for office. Yes, she's not a seasoned pro and has had her missteps, but give her a while and she'll be taken seriously. She appeals to moderate Republican women in a way that Palin, Bachmann and Blackburn don't. This Democrat will be watching her career. #shrivermccaininterview
@Working-for-the-weekend: Depends on the position she'd be running for and the location. Are we talking a local, district-wide, state-wide or national race? The perception of her of the demographic of the constituents is what would determine if she could run as a Republican. Alabama, no. New York, yes.
There's a silent moderate Republican contingency out there that you don't really hear about, because the far right ladies are ones are who get the press. If they come out to the voting booths, she might be able to do it. Not sure if her ambition is to run for office ever, though. I wouldn't rule it out at this point. She has a long life ahead of her. #shrivermccaininterview
@Working-for-the-weekend: ha, you have no idea how long i spent sounding yr sentence out in my head, trying to figure out what was wrong with it before i finally clicked! Such a literacy fail, i'm actually ashamed that i'm even admitting to it! #shrivermccaininterview
"Can women have it all?" When will this question die? Nobody and I mean nobody is EVER completely fullfilled. Men are never asked can they have it all or can they be content and unmarried. Are we to assume that men are just happy little clams 24/7. NO! Men are allowed to be unhappy every now and again. But women must be happy idiots forever. I was under the impression that women were beyond this stupid meme, but I guess not. #shrivermccaininterview
@pantsless economist...access RESTORED: I feel like that question didn't even dignify a response. And her face is priceless. I think it reads, "Oh you did NOT just ask me that question Diane... seriously, teh fuck you thinking over there? Who wrote this shit?" #shrivermccaininterview
"It was a teachable moment" Brilliant. I'm going to use this from now on when I fuck up. "I didn't get that report done on time, and it really messed things up for you, but it was a teachable moment and I know not to do it again." #shrivermccaininterview
If it's Peg Yorkin's "personal opinion" that the correct response to Roman Polanski's drugging and raping a kid, and then skipping town is just to "let it go", then she has absolutely no business working for the Feminist Majority Foundation, let alone being its chair.
I am very confused over media coverage of this story in the US. I don't think that any serious-minded, ordinary person anywhere in Europe thinks that its acceptable to rape anybody, or to get away with it.
The big outcry here (in old Europa) is over HOW he was arrested, not whether or not he ought to be prosecuted - he was seized on the way to the Zurich film festival where he was receiving tribute, in a country he'd owned a house in for ten years. Why now? Why there? There's lots of speculation that the Swiss government is interested in revamping its image to the US, where apparently (I've only read this, never actually heard it from the horse's mouth) much popular opinion still sees it as the perpetrator of underhand financial dealings in WW2.
In terms of right/wrong issues of justice, there is no question over the ethics of this case. One swiss guy says he thinks it was a bad idea that he was arrested this way, and suddenly, as was reported on here, 'WaPo readers wonder whether rape is just plain okay in France'. Am I being overdefensive and paranoid to see a weird faux-morality tale casting the US as world morality-police being spun here?
@chinaplate: I actually think the Swiss government's decision to arrest Polanski now has more to do with the current UBS clusterfuck than any perception of Switzerland's underhanded financial dealings during the second World War.
That aside, I don't really think that the fact that he was attending a film festival where he would receive an award or that he was arrested in a country in which he owns a home should have any bearing. Polanski is a fugitive, he was never officially given asylum in Switzerland or any of the other countries he traveled to, and any time he entered a country, he ran the risk of being arrested. Just because he had never been arrested there before doesn't mean that was going to or should continue in perpetuity.
@chinaplate: I don't think you can classify it as simply as that, at least given the quotes we've seen from the French and Polish governments. Polanski has already "atoned for the sins of his young years." "In the same way as there is a generous America which we love, there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening, and it is this America which has now shown us its face." Sarkozy "wants to see the director reunited swiftly with his family." Plus this great nugget in the Guardian: "There is a feeling in France that the US justice department is acting out some kind of prudish revenge against a great talent who never abided by American rules even when he was the most celebrated director in Hollywood." If there's a silent majority in Europe who feels differently, it's been, well, silent.
As for the timing, I can't for the life of me understand why that should be an issue. Are you saying he should have been allowed to get his award first? Or that by failing to capture him in the past, they've forfeited their right to capture him in the future?
@chinaplate: I'm pretty sure it's because after that documentary, his lawyers put in a request to drop the charges so he could come back to the US. The office that's responsible for this arrents on the US side--I think the DA?-- has said that he was arrested now because he basically brought attention to himself by asking for the case to be dropped. If he had left it alone, they probably would have let him die in Europe and not done anything.
So, it's his own fault that he got arrested because he raped a girl, and then it's his own fault he got arrested now because he tried to get it dropped. Asshole times two.
@Astigmatism: I think taking issue with "timing" and judicial and prosecutorial misconduct is a way of disagreeing with his arrest without sanctioning his behavior, which is what they'd be doing if they said what they really wanted to say: America is prudish and puritanical.
@winner: Agreed. Incidentally, maybe the reason we in the US think that Europeans have a more sanguine attitude toward rape - at least in this case - is that France has been harboring an admitted child rapist for 30 years. Somehow that tells me that they're not taking it seriously.
@chinaplate: The how could seem sketchy if the US hadn't already tried to extradite him from France, Israel, and I think Thailand. Just a few years ago, he testified in the UK via teleconferencing because the US and UK have a very strong extradition treaty. The case was forwarded to Interpol a few years ago.
I think the documentary played a role, but I also think Polanski had a whole lot of hubris. The way the LA DA found out that he was listed on the film festival web page. Polanski advertised that he was going to be in Switzerland. No one had to stake out his ski home to see if he'd show up, he made it easy.
I think a lot of the Euro outrage has to do with long standing feelings that the US overreaches and tries to boss everyone else around. If it was the Canadians going after him, I think the reaction would have been a little different. Plus, the case wasn't well known at all abroad.
@chinaplate: I think the bigger question is why Europeans (the French in particular) harbored him for so long after he was convicted, and don't seem to be bothered by his crime.
11/05/09
11/05/09
I believe that soon streets will be named, and monuments will be built in honor of Neda and all those who gave their life for the right to say "Yes" and "No" on their OWN accord. #nedaaghasoltan
11/05/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
I'd love to have an extra hour in the morning to make my hair do what Meghan's is doing in the screencap. God help me, I like her; I feel like we could have a thoughtful debate about taxes before going "Okay, enough Deep Thinking for today!" and sneaking Kahlua into a movie theater or something. #shrivermccaininterview
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
There's a silent moderate Republican contingency out there that you don't really hear about, because the far right ladies are ones are who get the press. If they come out to the voting booths, she might be able to do it. Not sure if her ambition is to run for office ever, though. I wouldn't rule it out at this point. She has a long life ahead of her. #shrivermccaininterview
10/27/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
Ok. I would have edited it but now it is too late. My lack of attention to detail is now permanent.
10/28/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
Why are we still discussing this? I loved Megan's BISH PLZ face. #shrivermccaininterview
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/02/09
If it's Peg Yorkin's "personal opinion" that the correct response to Roman Polanski's drugging and raping a kid, and then skipping town is just to "let it go", then she has absolutely no business working for the Feminist Majority Foundation, let alone being its chair.
She needs to resign. Right now.
10/02/09
The big outcry here (in old Europa) is over HOW he was arrested, not whether or not he ought to be prosecuted - he was seized on the way to the Zurich film festival where he was receiving tribute, in a country he'd owned a house in for ten years. Why now? Why there? There's lots of speculation that the Swiss government is interested in revamping its image to the US, where apparently (I've only read this, never actually heard it from the horse's mouth) much popular opinion still sees it as the perpetrator of underhand financial dealings in WW2.
In terms of right/wrong issues of justice, there is no question over the ethics of this case. One swiss guy says he thinks it was a bad idea that he was arrested this way, and suddenly, as was reported on here, 'WaPo readers wonder whether rape is just plain okay in France'. Am I being overdefensive and paranoid to see a weird faux-morality tale casting the US as world morality-police being spun here?
10/02/09
That aside, I don't really think that the fact that he was attending a film festival where he would receive an award or that he was arrested in a country in which he owns a home should have any bearing. Polanski is a fugitive, he was never officially given asylum in Switzerland or any of the other countries he traveled to, and any time he entered a country, he ran the risk of being arrested. Just because he had never been arrested there before doesn't mean that was going to or should continue in perpetuity.
10/02/09
As for the timing, I can't for the life of me understand why that should be an issue. Are you saying he should have been allowed to get his award first? Or that by failing to capture him in the past, they've forfeited their right to capture him in the future?
10/02/09
10/02/09
So, it's his own fault that he got arrested because he raped a girl, and then it's his own fault he got arrested now because he tried to get it dropped. Asshole times two.
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
I think the documentary played a role, but I also think Polanski had a whole lot of hubris. The way the LA DA found out that he was listed on the film festival web page. Polanski advertised that he was going to be in Switzerland. No one had to stake out his ski home to see if he'd show up, he made it easy.
I think a lot of the Euro outrage has to do with long standing feelings that the US overreaches and tries to boss everyone else around. If it was the Canadians going after him, I think the reaction would have been a little different. Plus, the case wasn't well known at all abroad.
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
10/02/09
09/21/09