suitep:

“From Gary, Indiana…here is the youthful Jackson Five” - Ed Sullivan

I Want You Back, from their first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show - 1970

whokilled:

A great live version of “Help Me” by Joni Mitchell. Her voice is really an instrument, goddamn. It can bend like the strings on a violin and chirp like a harmonica. As a side note, “Help Me” was one of Pierre Trudeau’s favourite songs.
Nancy and Tuffy on the river today. Pugs love kayaking!
Nancy and Tuffy on the river today. Pugs love kayaking!

melissa:

IRAN: A Nation Of Bloggers on Vimeo

because this can't be said often enough

abbyjean:

notemily:

Teaching relatively class privileged students about why poor people can’t just pull themselves up by their bootstraps can be extremely challenging. One of the things that they harp on is their impression that the poor spend money on frivolous things; somehow they believe that, if the poor just eschewed cable television and Nikes, they would pop up into the middle class.

I try to explain to them that being poor is like living a life of self-denial. To be poor is to be forced to deny oneself constantly. The poor must deny themselves most trappings of an adult life (your own apartment, framed pictures on the walls, matching dishes), a comfortable life (a newish mattress, a comfy couch, good shoes that aren’t worn out), a convenient life (your own car, eating out), a self-directed life (a job you care for, leisure time, hobbies, money for babysitters), a life full of small pleasures (lattes, dessert, fresh cut flowers, hot baths, wine), a healthy life (fresh fruits and vegetables, health care, time for exercise), not to mention all of the must-have consumer goods that are constantly marketed to us (mp3 players, organic food, travel, expensive clothes and accessories). And, since most poor people remain poor their whole lives, they must be prepared to deny themselves (and members of their families) these things, perhaps, for the rest of their lives.

So when my students see someone (they think is) poor walking down the street with a brand new pair of Nikes, perhaps what they are seeing is someone who decided (whether out of a moment of weakness or not) to NOT deny themselves at least one thing; perhaps they are seeing someone who is trying to hold on to some feeling of normalcy; perhaps what they are seeing is a perfectly normal person who just wants what they want for once.

Lisa at Sociological Images: Poverty, Self-Denial, and New Nikes

Rehearing Petition RE: Prop 8

I just got this email notification from CA Supreme Court:

the following transaction has occurred in:
STRAUSS v. HORTON
Case: S168047, Supreme Court of California

Date (YYYY-MM-DD):        2009-06-05
Event Description:        Rehearing petition filed
For more information on this case, go to:
http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/dockets.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=1899725

apsies:

webravebees:
First Lady Michelle Obama hugs a student during the graduation ceremony for the Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C. June 3, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)

The First Lady: “Today is Just the Beginning” (Full Transcript)

apsies:

webravebees:

First Lady Michelle Obama hugs a student during the graduation ceremony for the Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School in Washington, D.C. June 3, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)
The First Lady: “Today is Just the Beginning” (Full Transcript)

This is how being gay feels...

lady88:

avocadosalad:

lady88:

I was in a meeting at work and someone asked if me if I was married…I answered “yes”. Which led to the obligatory “what does your husband do?”. To which I answer “I’m gay, I don’t have a husband, I have a wife.” Which leads to an HR complaint about my “inappropriate comments about my personal life.”

(keep in mind, that I am a member of the HR department)

Well that’s bull shit. Just reading that pisses me off, I can’t even imagine how angry it made you.

You know that feeling when your palms get sweaty and you’re so angry you can’t think? Well, imagine that, and then picture yourself in a conservative company where YOU are your only ally…and then you have to have a day of conversations about how your “lifestyle” impacts the people around you. Ughhhhhhh. 2009? Right?

This just makes me want to cry…My wife and I are one of the 18K couples still married in California, even though Prop. 8 was upheld. I fearlessly refer to her as my “wife” as often as I can, which clearly unnerves people at times. But, I’m extremely lucky to work at a social justice agency in the Bay Area where I’m embraced as a gay, married woman. Visibility takes courage and sometimes puts you at risk of being hated on, but keep going!! Your allies are out here and things ARE changing!

lady88:
Heyyyyyyy Sonya…so, which team are you on???? I like your mohawk, yes I do.
Watching her NOW! Soooo hot and her choreography is amazing.

lady88:

Heyyyyyyy Sonya…so, which team are you on???? I like your mohawk, yes I do.

Watching her NOW! Soooo hot and her choreography is amazing.

Sonoma County Pride. For the first time, SC Pride was held in Guerneville, largest per capita population of gays in the country!  Biggest turnout for Sonoma County Pride ever!
Sonoma County Pride. For the first time, SC Pride was held in Guerneville, largest per capita population of gays in the country!  Biggest turnout for Sonoma County Pride ever!
“Show me you have the courage, show me you have the courage to produce change that I’ve believed in, that I’ve lobbied for. I’ve believed in you, and I’m asking you to prove it.”
Played 47 times [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

grandpooofawesome:

Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Concrete Blonde, Ship Song

Can’t. Stop. Listening. I hate obsessive behaviors.

switchblades:


THE ANSWER TO TORTURE: COOKIES
The most successful interrogation of an Al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or “walling” and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.
Abu Jandal’s guards were so intimidated by him, they wore masks to hide their identities and begged visitors not to refer to them by name in his presence. He had no intention of cooperating with the Americans; at their first meetings, he refused even to look at them and ranted about the evils of the West. Far from confirming al-Qaeda’s involvement in 9/11, he insisted the attacks had been orchestrated by Israel’s Mossad. While Abu Jandal was venting his spleen, Soufan noticed that he didn’t touch any of the cookies that had been served with tea: “He was a diabetic and couldn’t eat anything with sugar in it.” At their next meeting, the Americans brought him some sugar-free cookies, a gesture that took the edge off Abu Jandal’s angry demeanor. “We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him,” Soufan recalls. “So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures.”
It took more questioning, and some interrogators’ sleight of hand, before the Yemeni gave up a wealth of information about al-Qaeda - including the identities of seven of the 9/11 bombers - but the cookies were the turning point. “After that, he could no longer think of us as evil Americans,” Soufan says. “Now he was thinking of us as human beings.”

Solid proof that no one doesn’t like cookies. Your grandmother was right! My plan to solve the world’s ills with baked goods is now set in motion! 
STEP ASIDE, FREEDOM FRIES! HERE COMES FREEDOM COOKIES!

switchblades:

THE ANSWER TO TORTURE: COOKIES

The most successful interrogation of an Al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or “walling” and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.

Abu Jandal’s guards were so intimidated by him, they wore masks to hide their identities and begged visitors not to refer to them by name in his presence. He had no intention of cooperating with the Americans; at their first meetings, he refused even to look at them and ranted about the evils of the West. Far from confirming al-Qaeda’s involvement in 9/11, he insisted the attacks had been orchestrated by Israel’s Mossad. While Abu Jandal was venting his spleen, Soufan noticed that he didn’t touch any of the cookies that had been served with tea: “He was a diabetic and couldn’t eat anything with sugar in it.” At their next meeting, the Americans brought him some sugar-free cookies, a gesture that took the edge off Abu Jandal’s angry demeanor. “We had showed him respect, and we had done this nice thing for him,” Soufan recalls. “So he started talking to us instead of giving us lectures.”

It took more questioning, and some interrogators’ sleight of hand, before the Yemeni gave up a wealth of information about al-Qaeda - including the identities of seven of the 9/11 bombers - but the cookies were the turning point. “After that, he could no longer think of us as evil Americans,” Soufan says. “Now he was thinking of us as human beings.”

Solid proof that no one doesn’t like cookies. Your grandmother was right! My plan to solve the world’s ills with baked goods is now set in motion!

STEP ASIDE, FREEDOM FRIES! HERE COMES FREEDOM COOKIES!