Someone asked me, ”What do you think about the recent GOP political twists?”
I replied, “I think about binge drinking.”
So I’m ignoring it all for the time being and taking a Star Trek break – watching The Captains on Netflix.
The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
By on January 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
[NOTE: This has been drastically edited from the original post. I left to go to a wedding and instead of hitting save I hit Publish. Doh! But as an antidote to all the distressing, depressing political news, here - have a positive, inspiring story about a kid who is doing something remarkable.]
I’ve posted a couple of times about “Windmill Guy” William Kamkwamba. His new children’s book is out! The book looks great – nice art, and of course Kamkwamba’s story is incredible for readers at any age. From his blog:
After my primary education, I was accepted at and began secondary education in Malawi. I began first form (equivalent to a high school freshman in America) and took two trimesters out of three. After the second trimester, I was forced to drop out of school because my family and I did not have enough money to pay the school fees.
I was out of school for five years.
Our family is poor like many families in Malawi and Africa, and as a result, we have no electricity in our village or my home. For many years we had only paraffin candles to light my home at night. They are expensive, smoky, smelly and have to be purchased about 8 km from home.
During that time I decided to try to get as much education as possible by reading as many books as I could find. An organization called the Malawian Teacher Training Activity (MTTA), a project of USAID contributed a large quantity of books to the primary school library near my home. I read many of them. One of the books I read was called Using Energy, a primary school textbook about how energy is made. Inside the book there were plans for a windmill. I decided to build a windmill to provide power for my family.
(Here’s his book for adults
I just love his story – how he overcame adversity, worked hard and creatively and made something that is generating wealth for himself, his family, and his town… it just keeps spreading.
(And for more positive info on Africa, don’t forget the documentary, Africa – Open for Business, which powerfully illustrates that the continent houses, in addition to thatched huts and starving babies with distended bellies, modern cities with high rise buildings and thriving stock exchanges.)
Double Standards: Bama Fans Sexually Assault LSU Fan UPDATE: Teabagger identified
By on January 18, 2012 1 Comment
This is an unremittingly bad story. An LSU fan was stupid enough to drink himself senseless in a public place and evidently didn’t have even a single friend willing to look out for him. An mob of stupid Alabama fans assaulted him – putting trash on him and even teabagging him. In fact, they were so stupid that they filmed their crimes and posted them on the internet.
Next, the New Orleans police department – with actual video of a sex crime in their possession- stupidly decided they couldn’t investigate unless the victim stepped forward.
Let’s do a little thought experiment. Let’s imagine that this was a girl who drank herself stupid. Let’s imagine that she was touched, her breasts were fondled, and that a man rubbed his genitals on her while she was unconscious. Can anyone imagine the NOPD – or any police department, anywhere – dragging their heels on investigating unless she came forward?
Dale Standifer, of the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children, summed it up:
“The man was obviously passed out, intoxicated and unable to defend himself, and he was assaulted,” Standifier said. “He was sexually assaulted, and humiliated and tormented while people cheered, and he shouldn’t have to stand up for himself and say, ‘I want to press charges.’ The city should be pressing charges and trying to move forward. If you had a murder victim, you can’t expect the victim himself, the corpse, to testify.”
Just as women’s domestic abuse against men is routinely blown off, it certainly appears that the police are willing to overlook a sexual crime against a man. Sure, everyone involved was an idiot. And maybe their reasoning is that idiocy should not be prosecuted. But if the victim were a woman, they wouldn’t hesitate, and the law needs to be enforced equally. As The Hayride put it (and click through to read the applicable criminal code),
This isn’t Gumps Gone Wild. It’s sexual battery. You can get 10 years for that, and it’s not acceptable for the cops not to ID this perp and bring his ass in for trial.
Added: Dr. Helen writes:
Given the way that our society laughs and mocks men who are abused in this way, I can understand the guy not coming forward, but he must. It is only when individual men start to say “No, this is not justice for all” and endure the ridicule that men everywhere will no longer have to endure their rights and bodies being violated in this absurd manner without consequence.
More on this at my post at Hot Air’s Green Room.
UPDATE: It turns out this is not a college prank in any sense of the word. Brian Downing, the man Deadspin identified as the teabagger is in his 30s, married, with a child. And at the moment he is on his way – with his attorney – to New Orleans to have a little chat with the NOPD. I’m sorry for his family, but I’m glad that it’s looking like there will be some consequences for his behavior. And what little amusement there is in this whole train wreck can be found in the fact that the tips identifying Downing apparently originated on an Auburn message board.
Ice, Ice, Baby…
By on January 17, 2012 Leave a Comment
Ice-T, Ice Cube, whatev… One of the whitest white guys on television surprisingly knows his rappers. I have to admit – since I haven’t really enjoyed rap since the Sugar Hill Gang, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and old-school Run DMC – I didn’t know who that guy was either. I knew he wasn’t Ice-T but only because I sometimes watch Law & Order: SVU.
Consider this my 2012 kind word for Mr. O’Reilly: well done, sir.
