Jezebel
trash tv
-
-
Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back
Sorry, Idealists: Racism Doesn't End With Our First Black President
There is no doubt that Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 Presidential election is an incredibly historic one; the race barrier for the top job in the nation has been broken, signifying a giant step forward for the country as a whole. But the notion that Obama's victory signifies some type of end to all racism in America is a ridiculous one; while the country has made progress by electing an African-American leader, there are still signs that many citizens in the country aren't happy with that decision at all. And it's not based on Obama's policies, tax plans, or "elitist" background: it's based on the color of this skin. More » -
math is hard!
Why Sexist Larry Summers Shouldn't Get A Cabinet Slot
Larry Summers was a popular Treasury Secretary in the Clinton Administration who parlayed his intelligence, academic credentials and popularity into a post as the President of Harvard University. He then turned around and proved that maybe academia wasn't his forté when, in 2005 at a conference sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, he said that biological differences between men and women might account for the relative lack of success of women in math and the sciences and questioned the role discrimination might play in the lack of success for some women. More » -
clips
Dan Savage Has Stopped Blaming Black Voters For Prop 8
A week ago, Dan Savage posted a now-invisible (but helpfully-cached) rant about how difficult it was for him to "[pretend that] the handful of racist gay white men out there — and they’re out there, and I think they’re scum — are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans." Dan has apparently changed his mind about whether the black community is to blame for Prop 8's passage in California. He appeared on the Colbert Report last night and said, "I don't feel like we can pin this all on the African-American community." He's now blaming it on old people "and they're dying, which is some comfort." Although he doesn't address his earlier writings at all, he does crack Steven Colbert up, so watch and enjoy his anal sex jokes. -
news roundup
Liberals, Palin Would Like The Senate To Take Out the Trash
- Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided that the entire Democratic caucus will vote next week whether Independent Senator Joe Lieberman will keep his seat as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee after having back John McCain and gone negative against Obama. [TPM Election Central]
- How negative did Lieberman really go? There's a video to count the ways. [Politico]
- And both the Clintons swear that — despite leaked reports that rather obviously came from Lieberman's camp — they aren't pushing to keep Lieberman at Homeland Security or in the caucus. [Politico]
- Racist Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, who, according to the Constitution represents all the citizens of Georgia regardless of their race, knows the reason he didn't avoid a run-off election because not enough of "his" people turned out. You know, white people. That always vote for the white guy. Because they're white. [Think Progress]
-
news roundup
More Obama Cabinetry And Lieberman Speculation
- Though Barack obama told Americans nothing about forthcoming nominations, that doesn't mean there's nothing to speculate about! John Kerry, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are lead speculative Secretary of State candidates, Robert Gates might stay at the Defense Department, Janet Napolitano could be headed to Justice and former eBay executive Steve Westly, the Governator or Kathleen Sebelius could end up at DOE. Discuss at your leisure — Obama certainly is. [CNN, Politico]
- The President-Elect has included sexual orientation and gender identity in his non-discrimination pledge on hiring, which is awesome. [ACLU]
- Harry Reid is a little pissed about Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's Obama-bashing during his balls-out support of John McCain this election season — to say nothing of his current flirtation with Mitch McConnell and the GOP caucus. He is thinking of allowing the Democratic caucus to strip Lieberman of his committee chair, which Lieberman calls "unacceptable" and everyone else calls "no less than he deserves." [CNN, Huffington Post]
- Unlike the obstreperous Lieberman, Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd is stepping aside as chairman because he's confident of the new Democratic majority and, likely, because of his continuing ill health. Sadly, this means no more "barbaric" speeches. [The Hill, YouTube]
-
-
Last night a Florida school board voted 5-2 along racial lines to keep the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, named for a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader. Brenda Priestly Jackson, one of the two board members who voted for the change, said Forrest was "a terrorist and a racist." (He was also a plantation owner and slave trader, and, by some accounts, he ordered the massacre of black prisoners after a Confederate victory in 1864.) The name was originally suggested by the Daughters of the Confederacy as a protest against the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that integrated the school. A mural from the school gym of the Confederate Rebel, the school's mascot, is pictured at left. [The Associated Press]
-
personal/political
Why You Shouldn't Vote For A Bad Guy With Good Positions
I was one of those voters who didn't really care who Bill Clinton was shtupping in the 90s. When he got caught with his cigar in Monica Lewinsky (possibly the best non-euphemism ever), I was nearly 21 and was really curious why, as a feminist, I was supposed to be all freaked about a woman my age having consensual sexual relations with an older man. I don't care terribly much about the personal lives of my elected representatives except when the (conservative) positions they take are in stark conflict with their private behavior — and even then, I am voting based on the positions and not whether they, for instance, get blow jobs in the Union Station's men's rooms. There is one exception to this rule for me, and that exception is my Congressman, Jim Moran. More » -
crappy hour
Stop Worrying About Obama Losing Already
With Election Day less than 24 hours away, it's now time for the official Liberal Freak Out that it is all for naught. For that reason, Spencer Ackerman and I are here to hold your collective hands and guide you through all the reasons you shouldn't freak out at Matt Drudge's numbers tomorrow or what anyone has to say today. Except for one, small, game-changing November surprise...after the jump. More » -
slow march towards redemption
Geraldine Ferraro, Quietly Remembering That She's A Democrat, Endorses Obama
Geraldine Ferraro has had quite an Obama-hating, principle-abandoning year. First, claimed that Barack Obama only made it so far because he was African-American; then she got mad when people said that was offensive; next she called Obama a sexist with no evidence; and finally she tried, and failed, to explain to American the difference between "racism" and "racial resentment" to explain why she wasn't a racist. I was, to put it lightly, disappointed. But despite gender and sexism initially being the dominant issues of this election for her, she wasn't necessarily impressed with Sarah Palin (or John McCain), and, in the end, she can't bring herself to vote Republican. More »
