Amanda Marcotte Fears Brown People?
— Ace

First a silly charge against her. Amanda Marcotte's first book, which by the way will sell eight copies, is called It's a Jungle Out There: Something something blah blah about surviving as a feminist or something blah blah, and so features a cover with a retro-comic book blonde being molested by an ape. Correction: I think that image is photoshopped; other pics I've seen of the cover feature the White Jungle Queen fighting an alligator.

The jungle theme continues in the chapter illustrations, featuring that retro comic book White Jungle Queen beating up Jungle Thugs Who Are Not White.

For this insensitivity, she apologizes profusely, as does her publisher, which promises to remove these offensive images in the second printing (which isn't going to happen). You can see the horrifying images here and here, as well as all the screaming and self-flagellating and general drama.

The other charge is deadly, but alas there's no way to prove it anymore. A while ago Dan Riehl tipped me to a serious charge of plalgiarism against Amanda Marcotte. She had attended a conference of Women of Color bloggers, and WOCblogger calling herself Brownfemipower gave a speech about racial code words (of course) in the immigration debate (naturally) inciting sexual violence against women of color (what else?). Amanda Marcotte then wrote a column for AlterNet a few days later making liberal use of similar (idiotic) ideas, without so much as a hat-tip or mention of Brownfemipower.

After Brownfemipower wrote a long screed about WOCbloggers having their work appropriated by WhiFemBloggers (or whatever) and how hard it was for WOCBloggers to get book deals... well, she then deleted her entire blog.

So at this point, search as I might, I cannot find any of the allegedly plagiarized ideas of Browmfemipower and compare them to Amanda Marcotte's article.

This is why I didn't jump to link this two weeks ago, by the way. I tried to do the basic due diligence on the controversy but couldn't. Whatever Brownfemipower wrote or said, I can't find it on the Internet, and all I have is this post-deleted blog rant from Brownfemipower which says that the issue isn't about who stole what ideas from who. It seems then she's specifically denying the plagiarism charge after first making it.

Wikipedia addresses the controversy, briefly:

In April, 2008, Marcotte posted an essay entitled Sexual Abuse Fueled by Abusive Immigration Language on Alternet. In it, she discussed the intersections of racism and sexism as experienced by female illegal immigrants to the United States [13] "without one attribute to any blogger of color, male or female."[14] This led to allegations of appropriation on Marcotte's part: "I do not accept that the author of this article made a mistake in not publishing any links to the work already being done by pro-immigration bloggers, nor do I accept that the author came up with these ideas all on her own."[14]

Numerous feminist bloggers pointed to Marcotte's actions as symbolic of a wider process of cultural and racial appropriation, in which the words and work of feminists of color are both given less value than those of white feminists, and co-opted by them.[15] Several bloggers accused Marcotte of directly plagiarizing the work of another well-known blogger, Brownfemipower, as much of Marcotte's article appeared to be derived from Brownfemipower's work.[16] These bloggers pointed to Brownfemipower's extensive history of highlighting immigration as a feminist issue[17] and Marcotte's lack of history dealing with immigration on her blog,[18] as well as Marcotte's previous admissions that she read Brownfemipower's blog regularly.[16] Marcotte denied these allegations, claiming instead that she was inspired by a speech on a related subject delivered by Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.[19].

Marcotte seems to be ignoring the issue on her own blog (searches for the likely keywords call up no recent posts on the matter), preferring instead to insist she is innocent in the comments of other bloggers who broach the subject.

So I don't know whether the charge is valid. Lefty bloggers seem divided into two, camps, though: Those who think Marcotte is guilty, and those who gingerly suggest we shouldn't be fussin' and fightin' about who stole from who, which doesn't seem to be a very strong defense.

But with Brownfemipower deleting the evidence and herself declaring this isn't about whether Marcotte stole from her (while then complaining of a general pattern of white appropriation of WOC labor, etc.), I guess Marcotte gets to walk.

Thanks to DelD for reminding me of the plagiarism charge.

Et Tu, Feministe? Even Sister in Solidarity Jill "suspends" her endorsement of the book over the "racist imagery," and takes a rather weak let's-agree-to-disagree position on the plagiarism charge.

Amanda Marcotte's All-White Country Club Publishing House: as silly as I think this is -- I certainly don't think the dumb comic-book pictures are intended to be racist, or can even be viewed as racist without really, really, really wanting to find "unconscious racism" wherever one fixes one's gaze -- it's quite obvious the goofball left takes this nonsense seriously.

And so it should have been obvious all along the "racist imagery" would be a problem.

So-- is there not a single EoC (editor of color) at Marcotte's publishing house? Not a single BFLCLE (black female lesbian-curious line-editor) there to raise a warning flag? Nary a WOCWFILWTPNTGLM (woman of color who falls in love with the person, not the gender, layout manager) in sight?

Now that's racist.

Posted by: Ace at 06:07 AM | Comments (46)
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Banned in Florida
— Purple Avenger

"Banned in Boston" used to be a popular phrase. Not to be outdone by a bunch of provincial New England Neanderthals, the Florida legislature is set to up the ante and create a whole new level on the retard Richter scale™.

...Metal replicas of bull testicles have become trendy bumper ornaments in some parts of the Sunshine State, but state Sen. Carey Baker is campaigning to ban the orbs.

Baker acknowledged that Florida lawmakers have more pressing issues, including huge revenue shortfalls, but said the state needs to draw a line on what's obscene before more objectionable adornments appear...

Banned in Florida	Not Banned in Florida
"Obscene"	Not "Obscene"

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 03:02 AM | Comments (55)
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Troop-Supportin' Lefty Blogger: "Fuck The Troops-- So 4,000 Rubes Are Dead, Cry Me A Tigris"
— Ace

A higher form of patriotism. Caution on link: I'm told that there's a virus at the website. I think the tipster means the virus is at the lefty's website, and not Pat Dollard's site, which is where my link actually goes.

If you want to be very cautious, don't click at all. If you want to be somewhat cautious, click through to Pat Dollard's but don't chase the next link to the lefty who wrote this.

Yup... The virus is one the lefty's site, if you attempt to click on his donation buttons.

So, 4000 rubes are dead. Cry me the Tigris. Another 30,000 have been seriously wounded. Boo fucking hoo. They got what they asked for—and cool robotic limbs, too.

Likely, just reading the above paragraph made you uncomfortable. But why?

The benevolence of America’s “troops” is sacrosanct. Questioning their rectitude simply isn’t done. It’s the forbidden zone. We may rail against this tragic war, but our soldiers are lauded by all as saints. Why? They volunteered to partake in this savage idiocy, and for this they deserve our utmost respect? I think not.

The nearly two-thirds of us who know this war is bullshit need to stop sucking off the troops. They get enough action raping female soldiers and sodomizing Iraqi detainees. The political left is intent on “supporting” the troops by bringing them home, which is a good thing. But after rightly denouncing the administration’s lies and condemning this awful war, relatively sensible pundits—like Keith Olbermann—turn around and lovingly praise the soldiers’ brave service to the country. Why?

What service are they providing? I don’t remember ordering 300,000 dead Iraqis—although I was doing a lot of heavy narcotics back in ‘03. Our soldiers are not providing a service to the country, they’re providing a service to a criminal administration and their oil company cronies. When a mafia don orders a hit, is the assassin absolved of personal responsibility when it’s carried out? Of course not. What if the hit man was fooled into service? We’d all say, “Tough shit, you dumb Guido,” then lock him up and throw away the key.

As a society, we need to discard our blind deference to military service. ThereÂ’s nothing admirable about volunteering to murder people. ThereÂ’s nothing admirable about being rooked by obvious propaganda. ThereÂ’s nothing admirable about doing what youÂ’re told if what youÂ’re told to do is terrible.

Etcetera.

I'm sure like Reverend Wright he's been "taken out of context."

Question: Isn't it a federal crime to deliberately infect computers with viruses?

Posted by: Ace at 03:55 PM | Comments (121)
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"Members Only:" Chinese Penis Restaurant, This Time With Pictures
— Ace

The penises are often dipped in soy or hot sauce.
For women, eating penises is supposed to be good for the skin.

"Good for the skin." I always try to sell that one. That's the real caption, by the way.

I already linked a previous article about Che Coq, but this one has pictures.

It's pictures 5 and 8 you probably want, or don't want, to click on. Yak and donkey penis.

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 10:42 AM | Comments (68)
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Bitter Mayor Clings To His Religion
— Ace

A mayor calls for citizens to don burlap sacks and ashes in a religious show of contrition for Birmingham's worsening crimewave. The article, of course, hides the fact that he's a Democrat, because we all know it's Republicans who do this sort of thing.

Not only is there an obvious double-standard on display here (has anyone asked Obama if his fellow black churchgoers are also bitterly clinging to Wright's lunatic version of Krazy Konspiratorial Kristianity?), but even as metaphysics it's awful.

In what version of the Bible can one ask for forgiveness for someone else's sins (or in this case, capital crimes)? There was a bit of this is in the Middle Ages with the buying of indulgences for others who had sinned, but that theory of redemption-by-proxy has been long discredited.

It's the same stupid liberal impulse to pretend that evil-doers are not themselves blameworthy and instead make a great show of one's own enlightenment by ostentatiously "taking responsibility" for one's contribution to someone else's evil.

But it's always bullshit. Liberals and lefties are fond of claiming that Al Qaeda, for example, is largely reacting to "our own" sins, but when they make such claims they are using the words "we" and "our" in a nontraditional manner. They never really mean themselves, despite that "we" and "our" traditionally include the speaker in the grouping. They always mean other people by "we" and "our."

So it's doubly dishonest. They make a great show of "accepting their own responsibility" for the crimes of others, which is jackass in and of itself, but on top of that they're even claiming this indirect responsibility on behalf of their less-enlightened, less-nuanced fellow Americans who are bitterly clinging to their notions of individual responsibility and so will not and cannot take such responsibility themselves.

When Michael Moore et al. so nobly and courageously ask aren't "we" responsible for Al Qaeda, of course they always mean you. It's hardly noble or courageous to point fingers of righteous blame at others.

Why, that almost sounds like a Republican thing to do, doesn't it?

Instead of this ostentatious posturing, why doesn't the mayor focus his attention on those who are actually responsible for the crimewave, such as, I don't know, just spitballing here, just right-braining it, criminals?

Posted by: Ace at 08:17 AM | Comments (34)
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Context: Hugh Hewitt Plays the Full Wright Sermons that the MSM Claims are Unobjectionable "In Context"
— Ace

If this "context" proves Wright's claim and rescues Obama, why doesn't the MSM follow Hewitt's lead and play them during one of their hungry-for-content evening magazine shows?

Posted by: Ace at 07:46 AM | Comments (17)
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Dubious: Aurora Spyplane Photographed
— Ace

Or, 99.99% likely, a model tossed into the air.

Sherlock writes:

There are some aspects of the report that make me skeptical, however. One is that I know I have seen a model or photo of a hypothetical triangular craft that has exactly this configuration: black equilateral triangle, blunted / drooped nose and wingtips, inward-canted control surfaces mounted on the upper rear deck, presumably to hide them from radar. Anyone remember seeing that photo?

The other thing is that the third photo was suddenly "recovered" from the camera several days after the first two were published. It alone shows the "ruddervators", but they were not mentioned as having been seen before by the witness. As you can see from the photo, they are pretty hard to miss.

The scale looks way wrong, and it's very suspicious the plane just happens to be entirely silhouetted, which helps a faker by obliterating details that might give the game away.

And oh yeah, given that it comes from a UFO-spotter's website, more dubious still.

I have no idea why I'm putting this up. I guess it's just that I want to believe.

Here's an artist's conception of the Aurora, mocked up for a flight simulator. Maybe this is the "photo" Sherlock meant.

Maybe they just snapped a pic of this guy.

Posted by: Ace at 07:33 AM | Comments (43)
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Orang-Utan Photographed Spear-Fishing
— Ace

First time this has ever been seen, say biologists.

Portly Pirate is justifiably worried. We know where this train is headed.

Even Worse: Monkey Sword Fight!

Thanks to JamesR.

Posted by: Ace at 06:39 AM | Comments (69)
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McCain vows protection from Cat 5 hurricanes
— Purple Avenger

I'm thinking the senator has no clue as to what a Cat 5 hurricane is all about.

The senator also vowed to protect New Orleans from future Category 5 hurricanes, seeming to give little regard to costs. "First of all, to protect the lives of American citizens, we can always find the money,"

A Cat 5 is the big one™. There is no way you can protect a sub-sea level place like New Orleans from a Cat 5 unless you encased the whole city in some massive Sci-Fi type full city bubble 3 foot thick polycarbonate shield...which would take about a billion barrels of oil to make that much polycarbonate plastic...which would send AlGore into apoplexy. It would be cheaper to relocate the whole city inland to dry ground than it would be to protect it against a Cat 5.

Seriously - if a Cat 5 is coming, you don't need "protection" from it, you need to GET THE FUCK OUT.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:01 PM | Comments (100)
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Rev Wright at the National Press Club
— Open Blog

Senator Barack Obama's spiritual advisor and pastor of 20 years will be speaking at the National Press Club for a Monday morning breakfast.

The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, will discuss the role of faith in the public square in a presentation entitled, The African American Religious Experience; Theology & Practice, at a National Press Club breakfast on April 28th.
Dr. Wright will also talk about his pastorate, his development as a theologian and teacher, and the how the issues of social justice and global inequities have shaped his faith and his fight for those who are most marginalized in society. He will address the legacy and tradition of education in his family. And Dr. Wright will put into perspective theologically, historically and politically, his ministry and public service that has been so widely discussed in the media.

The NPC calendar item mentions that the event is unfortunately sold out, but there is a link at the bottom of the page requesting submissions for questions to ask the Honorable Reverend. I'm certain that the readers here can think of some relevant queries, and wouldn't even consider submit anything offensive or objectionable. There's plenty of room for offensive and objectionable in the comments for this post.

(via Discarded Lies)

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:29 PM | Comments (38)
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