1.24.2007

On this day in history


I was eight hours old when Johnny Rotten took the stage

41
Roman Emperor Caligula is assassinated by the Praetorian Guards

76
Hadrian, Roman Emperor, is born

1679
King Charles II of England disbands Parliament

1848
James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, California Gold Rush begins

1857
The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia

1862
Edith Wharton, American writer, is born

1908
Robert Baden-Powell founds the boy scouts

1916
In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.

1918
Oral Roberts, American evangelist, is born

1924
St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad.

1925
Maria Tallchief, American ballerina, is born

1927
Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England

1941
Neil Diamond, American singer, is born

1944
Klaus Nomi, German synth-pop messiah, is born

1965
Winston Churchill dies

1966
An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117

1977
Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy

1978
A blogger is born

Another blogger is born on this day, but I'll spare her the indignity of mentioning the year!

1984
The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale

1986
L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology founder and general crackpot, dies

Wapping dispute. Newspaper workers in London launch ultimately unsuccessful strike against Rupert Murdoch's News International

1989
Ted Bundy, American serial killer, is executed

1993
Thurgood Marshall, first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, dies

2003
The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation

2006
Disney agrees to purchase Pixar in an all-cash deal, making Steve Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney

2007
Annamaria takes a silly idea way too far

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annamaria at 6:41 AM

4 spoke

1.22.2007

Because...

Today is the 34th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and in commemoration feminist bloggers are celebrating in our own way: we're blogging for choice. This year's topic is so straight-forward and simple, I almost feared I wouldn't have much to say. After all, isn't obvious why I'm pro-choice? I'd think that anyone that knows me, or reads this blog with any regularity, would recognize immediately why I work so hard to maintain reproductive freedoms.

I don't remember a time when I was anything but pro-choice. From the moment that I was aware of and able to conceptualize the issue of abortion (back when I was a wee little one of ten or so), I understood implicitly the importance of recognizing that women are and should be the guardians of their own bodies and reproduction. I used to wear buttons in middle and high school that looked like this:



It was an indelible image, and despite never having lived in a time when women were forced to resort to back alley butchers and dangerous home remedies, I still felt with passion and conviction the belief that we cannot, will not, go back. My Catholic upbringing did nothing to disabuse me of the notion that it is simply just and moral to recognize a woman's right to choose. I argued with priests and Catechism instructors, I argued with teachers and friends, and I went to college and volunteered at clinics, and argued with protesters bent on shaming women but not lifting a finger to help them. But in all that time, in nearly 20-years of feminist consciousness, never once have I articulated precisely why I am pro-choice. I never had to; it was enough for me to know that I am. So here is my attempt to remedy that.

I am pro-choice:
Nothing I have said here should be shocking. When faced with the reality of an individual woman's life, only a tiny minority of people still cling to the but it's a baby! point of view. Any society that aspires toward freedom and justice must recognize when women do well, society as a whole does better. And the only way to ensure that women are successful in every other area of their lives is to ensure that women are given the respect and moral authority to control their health, bodies and lives. And that's why I am pro-choice.

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annamaria at 6:34 AM

0 spoke

1.19.2007

Friday Random Ten: Damn the Man! Edition

It is really Friday already?

I'm still annoyed that I can't blog at work anymore. I do my best thinking when I'm pretending to be working! I'll do my best to write at work and blog from home, but I trust you'll all forgive me if I slack a bit. After all, I've been slacking for months now and you all still love me, right?

I'm really enjoying this MyPlaylist thingy...though the site is slower than molasses at times. And apparently I have strange taste in music since I can't find half the songs on my FRT, so I have to upload them to the site. But it's fun to think that people are listening along with me, singing along just as poorly to Woody Guthrie.

So, here's my ten, leave yours in the comments:


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annamaria at 6:14 AM

1 spoke

1.18.2007

Damn you, corporate overlords!

Damn you all to hell!

So, I tried to log on to Blogger this morning to post something, only to find that it has been added to the list of restricted sites by my employer. I can read blogs, I just can't post anything to mine. 'Cause I might say something nasty. Of course, I'm more liable to cast aspersions about my Major American Automotive Industry (MAAI) employer now than I was when I could actually log on to my blog.

That means that I'll be posting mostly in the evenings from now on. Oh, I'll still blog during the day--I'll just have to save them* and upload the posts on my own computer. The MAAI thought police won't stop me completely.

*using my wonderful 1GB flash drive, a christmas gift from Republican Brother. If only he knew he was enabling my liberal rantings!

annamaria at 5:35 PM

0 spoke

1.13.2007

New Year New Template

My blog template was boring as all hell and it was time for a change.
Thanks to Beth at Pink Design, I now have something cute and sassy. Like me!

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annamaria at 9:57 PM

2 spoke

The President who cried wolf



Via

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annamaria at 10:37 AM

1 spoke

1.12.2007

Friday Random Ten: Long Weekend Edition

If only I were Irish...



I know I just got back to work from a glorious week off, but I really need this long weekend. What I don't need is my white coworkers wondering why we get Martin Luther King day off work, but not President's Day. I've finally started asking them these two questions:

1.) Name one, just one, thing that Dr. King did to make this country a better place.

2.) Name one, just one, thing that James K. Polk did to make this country a better place.

If I get more than a vacant stare at question number two, I will deign to engage the speaker in conversation about the merits of treating Dr. King's birthday as a holiday. Because, it's not like we don't live in the blackest city in America or anything.

FRT:
  1. Fiesta - The Pogues
    Come all you rambling boys of pleasure, and ladies of easy leisure
  2. I Was Meant for the Stage - The Decemberists
    Rays of light shone down on me and all my sins were pardoned
  3. Promises of Eternity - The Magnetic Fields
    No Seven, no 8 1/2, no Nine, and no 10
  4. Penny for a Thought - Saul Williams
    We're performing an exorcism on all this keep-it-realism
  5. The Angels' Share - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
    We saved and saved, only to find them spent
  6. B.O.B. - Outkast
    Seventy-five emcee's freestylin' to the beat
  7. Neapolitan Bridesmaid - Tarkio
    Albert Camus said living is anguish
  8. Tokyo Storm Warning - Elvis Costello & The Attractions
    Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke
  9. Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants
    I don't want the world, I just want your half
  10. Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding
    Ooh she may be weary
Leave your ten in the comments, as well as any accomplishments of the esteemed President Polk of which I may not be aware.

UPDATE: I did another FRT just that I could share with you this fun new toy:



Click on standalone player, and you can listen along!

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annamaria at 7:16 AM

9 spoke

1.11.2007

Oh Noes!!1!1!

The most important thing in the whole world ever has happened!

Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz are officially kaput. The duo, dating since 2003, confirmed their split Thursday in a joint statement.

"We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship, and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another," the pair said.

The two said they usually prefer not to comment on their relationship, but recent speculation and inaccuracies prompted them to issue the statement.


Oh, and an American soldier was sentenced to 18 years in prison and three other "bad apples" were charged in the murders of three Iraqi detainees in Samarra last year.

Guess which of these two stories was on the Fox News front page, and which was not. Hmmm...

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annamaria at 8:39 PM

0 spoke

Fundies say the darndest things!




Via Shakespeare's Sister, I found what is destined to be my new favorite spot on the interwebs: Fundies Say the Darndest Things! Check out these gems:

Fundies explain atheism:
"No, everyone is born Christian. Only later in life do people choose to stray from Jesus and worship satan instead. Atheists have the greatest "cover" of all, they insist they believe in no god yet most polls done and the latest research indicates that they are actually a different sect of Muslims."




Fundies explain physics:
"One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn't possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it. [emphasis added]"




Fundies explain away their kid's obvious gayness:
"I am a bit troubled. I believe my son has a girlfriend, because she left a dirty magazine with men in it under his bed. My son is only 16 and I really don't think he's ready to date yet. What's worse is that he's sneaking some girl to his room behind my back. I need help, God! I want my son to stop being so secretive!"




Fundies explain etymology and how to ignore history:
If your original Hebrew disagrees with my original King James --- your original Hebrew is wrong. If your original Hebrew agrees with my original King James, your original Hebrew is right."




Fundies explain simian biology:
[Replying to 'as for not seeing evolution it takes several million years... incase you missed that memo...']

several million years for a monkey to turn into a man. oh wait thats right. monkeys dont live several million years."




Fundies explain moral consistency:
"I appreciate your recommendation, and it is intriguing, but as a pro-lifer, I cannot support an organization that is opposed to the death penalty."




Fundies explain Michelle Malkin:
"[On homosexuality being a condition one is born with]

Just because you are born a certain way doesn't meant that is the way you have to be. Some people are born Asian, but through surgeries and counseling they can change."




Fundies explain closed-captioning:
"But God don't talk in Arabic. He talks in a REAL language, namely, English. It's true that back in them days He translated that to some other language after Speaking it in English, but after all, it's His universe and He can do what He doggone well wants to do."




Fundies explain Neanderthal* courting rituals:
"If u have sex before marriage then in Gods eyes u are married to that person if a man rapes a woman in Gods eyes they are married it sucks for the girl but what can we do lol"




Fundies explain Marlene Dietrich:
"Men should stick to blue and women should stick to pink. We dress babies in the right colors so why can't we do the same as adults? It is a sin to wear clothes that belongs to the opposite sex and women are particularly bad at violating this rule. Men don't wear dresses (apart from a few sickos) so why should females wear pants? It's a sin! Most women today are transvestites and abominations. [...]

So please dress like a man if you are a man and dress like a woman if you are woman and stop flaunting your satanic lifestyle and defiance of God. Thanks."




No, thank you!

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*Just kidding! Neanderthals are a lie perpetuated by godless evolutionists!

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annamaria at 7:08 PM

0 spoke

Someone get James Kopp a new dictionary

click on the map, then click on a state to see a history of abortion clinic violence



Malice:

  1. desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy
  2. Law: evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

Premeditation:
  1. an act or instance of premeditating.
  2. Law. sufficient forethought to impute deliberation and intent to commit the act.



On the evening of October 23, 1998, anti-choice terrorist James Kopp* laid in wait in the woods behind Dr. Barnett Slepian’s home with a high-powered military rifle equipped with telescopic sights. Dr. Slepian and his family had just arrived home from his father’s funeral; when Slepian passed in front of a kitchen window, Kopp fired the shot that killed him—in full view of Slepian’s wife and two of their four children.

In Federal Court on Tuesday, Kopp apologized to Lynne Slepian for murdering her husband. In an effort to save his own ass from serving a mandatory life sentence, Kopp (acting as his own counsel), defended himself against murder charges by arguing that he didn’t mean to kill the doctor, only maim him. According to Kopp, since he’s so very, very sorry, and he surely never thought that shooting someone in the shoulder with a military rifle could possibly kill them, he is totally and completely innocent of these silly murder charges.

Earlier Tuesday, Kopp used his opening statement to tell jurors that Slepian's death was "a full-bore, 100 percent tragedy" but was not murder because it was not malicious or premeditated.

Kopp has acknowledged planning the shooting for a year and then firing a high-powered military rifle with telescopic sights from the woods behind the Slepian home, but he has said he meant only to wound the doctor to prevent him from performing abortions."Shoot them in the head, blow up a car, riddle their body with bullets like they do in the movies. That's how you kill someone" with premeditation, Kopp said.

He urged jurors to look for evidence of premeditation or malice toward Slepian. "If you don't see it, that's me proving my case," he said.


Apparently, intent to do harm and a year's worth of planning are lost on Kopp. As the old adage goes, a man who represents himself will have a fool for a client.

-------------------
*And I will damn well call him a terrorist. He’s a member of Army of God, whose other members include Eric Rudolph and Clayton Waagner. AOG "Chaplain" Michael Bray has also spoken approvingly of the public beheadings of homosexuals in Saudi Arabia. How very pro-life of him.

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annamaria at 12:40 PM

3 spoke

1.05.2007

Friday Random Ten: Back to Work Edition

In a just world my hair would be this color.
And I'd have a voice like Patsy Cline.


Hey, it's Friday! My first week back at work since the holiday has been really fucking boring. Somehow, I was elected to the position of "hey-we're-about-to-undergo-a-quality-audit-and-shouldn't-someone-make-sure-we-don't-fail" task force. Yes, I am the task force. I've been putting little labels on practically every non-moving object in the office so that we are not in violation of these completely bullshit corporate information standards, and going through co-worker's files and emails to remind them to purge everything in accordance with said bullshit corporate information standards, in the event that Major American Automotive Corporation is sued and the documents that would spell our doom are somewhere in someone's filing cabinet tucked between a Chinese take-out menu and a quarterly revenue report from 1986.

By the way, neither the take-out menu nor the 21-year-old revenue report should be in that filing cabinet anyway.

Also, just because our corporate overlords have installed neo-Orwellian software on your email client that automatically deletes messages after six months doesn't mean that a.) you never have to purge emails on your own or b.) it is acceptable to simply print out said emails and keep them indefinitely.

Finally, clean your fucking desks for fuck's sake! Seriously, coffee stains are unsightly enough, but dirty dishes in the bottom of a desk drawer? I didn't think it possible to respect some of my coworkers less than I already did, but then I became the task force.

But, as I said above before I degenerated into can't-stop-bitching-about-work girl, it's Friday! And Friday means music. And music is good. Nearly as good as music is the news that we might be getting a dog! Mama G suddenly got the yen for a cute little doggie pet while in the hospital, and lo! a friend-of-a-friend of hers is moving and unable to take the little puppy to their new residence. So, Mama G is seriously considering taking in the little raggamuffin.

I just noticed that I have prefaced every reference to the dog with "little." though I have no idea what type of dog it is nor have I actually even seen it. Just wait, Mama G is going to pull up in her ginormous SUV* someday soon with a fucking rottweiler! And, as anyone who has ever met Mama G can attest, that's actually pretty appropriate!

My music goes here:

1. If You Knew - Neko Case
She spends her Daddy's money, and she drives her Daddy's cars, and what's crazy is the way you think that's style.

2. Detachable Penis - King Missile
I woke up this morning with a bad hangover, and my penis was missing again.

3. Heartbeats - The Knife
And you, you knew the hand of the devil

4. In My Arms - Rufus Wainwright
I ain't a soft and saccharine wannabe

5. Avenue B - Gogol Bordello
Oh little Sally with the magic pebbles, now she sells equipment to the Chechen rebels.

6. Filthy/Gorgeous - Scissor Sisters
You make me feel so nasty

7. Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
I tell you love, sister, is just a kiss away

8. 50ft Queenie - PJ Harvey
Tell you my name: F-U-C-K

9. Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad - The Clash
You could've been a physicist, but now your name's on the mailbag list

10. L'Italiano - Toto Cotugno
Lasciatemi cantare con la chitarre in mano, lasciatami cantare sono L'Italiano


Your music goes in the comments.


*Until you've seen a little 70-year-old Italian grandmother efficiently parallel park one of these, you've not truly lived.

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annamaria at 8:36 AM

0 spoke