I respect Brian Griffiths of Red Maryland. He and I disagree sharply about the political wisdom of Senator McCain's choice of Alaska's governor Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate.

Shark-Fu of AngryBlackBitch, August 28, 2008:

I have needs.

Oh, Lawd…do I have needs.

I need to go to sleep at night and know that my family is safe from violence.

I need to go for a drive and know that I am safe from racial profiling.

I need to look in a magazine and find amusement rather than a series of insults.

I need the police to protect and serve the poor the same way they protect and serve the rich.

I need the media to cease being confused by black America and get about the bitness of understanding us.

And I need peace...

...not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice.

I have hope.

I prefer a more cutting and brutal style, for which we may await Senator Biden.

But for the first time, I understand why Senator Clinton's supporters wept when she lost. I didn't like the way her team played it against Obama, though no need to rehash Mark Penn and his merry band of idiots here. But damn, she is good.

I cannot even imagine McCain trying to keep up with her in a debate.

Pretty compelling story of a 19-year tire factory manager who was repeatedly underpaid and under-raised relative to her male counterparts, discovered the years of underpayment, calculated the net effect on her retirement and sued. She won a jury verdict for her lost back pay relative to her peers, but Goodyear appealed. The Supreme Court of the United States ultimately ruled, 5-4, that she should have sued within 6 months of the first act of discrimination - discrimination of which the tortfeasor was effectively the sole evidentiary. Ledbetter learned of the discrimination against her from an anonymous handwritten tip from someone presumably in or with contact with Human Resources.

Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise goes into justifiable high dudgeon about sleazeball Philip Nobel, the self-described "Danger Man" who turns mundane self-absorption about his infidelities, his divorce, his revolving-door sex life and his abandonment of his children into a fee-earning written piece of obscene self-indulgence in Elle magazine. Keith Olbermann apparently identified Nobel as the "worst person in the world" of the day in a recent segment on MSNBC.

Media Matters, July 17, 2008 (via Shakesville):

"I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent?

The London Guardian/Observer, May 11, 2008 (HAT TIP 3 Quarks Daily):

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.

Speak it, Josh:

Ferraro is a "media assassin" who took the wrong caliber bullets to the "hit." She needs to call Bill Donohue at the Catholic League, have him teach a tutorial on Media Assassin 101. But in a way, she has reminded ethnically identified "white" Democratic voters in Pennsylvania to show up like they did in neighboring Ohio and vote down the big. bad, unfair Negro. Hillary should ship a bottle case of gin to the good servant done well.

HAT TIP Jill Filipovic of Feministe.

In the interest of editorial fairness to the other side, I would be happy to put up a video from those who believe that we have too FEW killings of gay people. Please provide links for the pro-killing side in the comments.

I can understand how pro-life doctors will want to refuse to administer an abortion. I can even understand how some will refuse to supply birth control. But I cannot understand how a GYN refuses on MORAL grounds to administer a PAP smear to determine whether a woman has cancer or a meaningful risk there of in the future. Apparently, the risk of death from cancer is important to preserve as a moral bulwark against the immorality of, well, sex before marriage. I guess it's more moral, more "pro-life", to watch a woman die of cancer than to risk the appearance that her concern for her health might be interpreted as an endorsement of her presumed sex life.

Robin Morgan of The Women's Media Center, February 2, 2008:

Goodbye to the double standard . . .

—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.

—She’s "ambitious" but he shows "fire in the belly." (Ever had labor pains?)—When a sexist idiot screamed "Iron my shirt!" at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted "Shine my shoes!" at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor.

Austin American-Statesman, February 13, 2008:

A federal appeals court has struck down a seldom-enforced Texas law making it a crime to promote or sell sex toys.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ruling in a case originally filed in federal court in Austin, found that the ban in the Texas penal code on selling or promoting obscene devices violates the right to privacy under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

...

"Whatever one might think or believe about the use of these devices, government interference with their personal and private use violates the Constitution," said the opinion in the case considered by a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based court.

It's quite important to reward boldness and courage. Donate to Equality Maryland. I recommend donating multiples of $5.01 as that donation amount is increasing the marker of netroots activists (e.g. $50.10, $25.05, etc.)

Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA), February 3, 2008:

Men presidents only

I think that having a woman president would be a bad idea for our country. Women are not meant to rule countries and be in charge. They are meant to make decisions but not confirm them.

Our president deals with some countries that don't respect or allow women in leadership positions. I wonder if the United States would have more terrorist attacks because we would be seen as weak with a woman leader. I agree that women can do many things, but leave the ruling of the countries to the men.