This is not pretty.

( Flashback: 1.5 weeks ago. ) I start carrying my phone with me at all times, sleeping with it in my bed.

( Interlude. )

( Fast forward to tonight. )

( Oh, but it gets *BETTER*. ) Awesome.

ETA: So the whole time I was talking to Drainpipe Feud Lady and Kul and his wife? Massive gobs of Clearasil all over my face. It doesn't get any sweeter.

That will be fucking all.

music: lab 4 - the witch tags: asshattery, character building, subterranean fastness

Full text is here, because I do NOT want it archived on my lj.

The basic thrust of it is this: hymen reconstructions are becoming ever more prevalent in France, so that Muslim women can receive certificates of virginity to show their future husbands and in-laws. Of course, all of this is abetted by the greedy, immoral surgeons who make it possible.

I mean, oh wait. These medical "providers" really do have the patients' best interests at heart.

Those who perform the procedure say they are empowering patients by giving them a viable future and preventing them from being abused — or even killed — by their fathers or brothers.

“Who am I to judge?” asked Dr. Marc Abecassis, who restored the Montpellier student’s hymen. “I have colleagues in the United States whose patients do this as a Valentine’s present to their husbands. What I do is different. This is not for amusement. My patients don’t have a choice if they want to find serenity — and husbands.”

Oh, really. So you're doing it out of the good of your heart, to save lives.

Then why fuck are you charging $2,900 to the women whose lives you're "saving?" I mean, since your motivation is compassion in the face of this life-and-death scenario, and not anything base like personal profit.

I rest my case.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, gender

I pay a hefty technology fee to AU. This technology fee goes toward things such as providing students with email access. Yesterday, my email was "migrated" from university servers to a "solution" hosted by none other than google.

Yup. I no longer have a university email account. I now have a gmail account that the university claims is still a university account. In other words, I am now paying several hundred dollars for the "privilege" of using a service available for free on the Internet. Above and beyond pointing out that this is like suddenly myself being forced to pay for the right to breathe air, it pisses me off in other ways. Namely, I do not like the fact that American University is forcing me to let third parties invade my privacy.

Don't get me wrong. I already have a gmail account and I love it. I'm fine with using it for things like mailing lists and sending pictures to friends, because it's amusing to get adverts for "Comfort with Style for Men & Women Shoes for the Otaku Generation!" every time someone sends me a squeemail about manga.

But I draw the line at my "official" email address. You know, the one I use for actual real life purposes. The one that knows everything about me, like what banks I use, what credit cards I own, what charities I give to, what classes I'm taking, and the contents of my communication with my bosses, both for the freelance work and the K Street gig.

Indeed, even though I have fewer than fifteen emails in my box at present, the gmail ads are already heavy on finance (my bank and credit card statements), and news (the K Street stuff). Also, I'm worried what will happen to the emails on the older server--those are my communications with profs, bosses, my bank, advisors, and the dual degree program.

NOT COOL, AU. NOT COOL.

That will be all.

music: the crystal method - broken glass tags: asshattery, grad school

...The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled today that it is perfectly legal to take pictures up women's skirts in public places without their consent. Yeah, you read that right.

The defendant in the case was all of 16 years old. Above and beyond the revulsion any reasonable human should feel upon hearing the court's decision, the ruling also begs the question: why was this guy not tried for creating child pornography?

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, gender

..."People have been searching for you on Spokeo." As is my standard practice with all such annoying spamnation (WAYN, Friendster, etc.), I promptly reported the email as spam without opening it. But I had vague memories of metal_dog5 informing me about a particularly virulent gmail phishing scam a few days ago. (metal_dog5, was this the one you informed me about?) At any rate, a quick google search ( turned up some pretty scary stuff. )

I leave you with one final worrisome thought: somebody's obviously done me the dubious favor of sharing my email address with the site, however unwittingly. Does this mean they're compiling information on me, even though I have in no way articulated that I am okay with them doing so or opted to make use of their "service" myself?

So guys, don't sign up for this. The less users and more bad press these creeps get, the better.

That will be all.

location: d-kay & epsilon - barcelona tags: asshattery, teh intranets

Please tell me I'm not the only one irked by his much ballyhooed decision to withdraw as artistic advisor for the Beijing Olympics because of China's then unwillingness to intervene in Sudan.

Maybe Spielberg believes his actions demonstrate altruistic sacrifice in the name of the greater good. From where I'm standing, however, all they demonstrate is that while Spielberg's "conscience will not allow [him] to continue with business as usual" when it comes to China's middling influence over Sudan, it was happy to do just that while China violates the rights of its own citizens.

In other words, Spielberg will intervene in a situation where China has no direct control over violations of human rights, but he's not brave enough to make a stand against a much more egregious violater who can offer him publicity (and perhaps product tie-ins and licensing fees), and whose abuse of its own citizens isn't currently considered sexy by TV news networks.

Way to strike a blow at the heart of human repression, Steve! Your ability to look the other way when there's great personal benefit to you is sure to strike fear into the hearts of wealthy, influential human rights-violating regimes the world over!

That will be all.

tags: africa, asshattery, china, movies, politics

So, St. Louis University, a Catholic school, banned the performance of the Vagina Monologues on its campus last year. Quoting ( an email on feministing: )

Gee, I hope the university stuck to that "no redundancy" policy by banning all on-campus celebrations of Ash Wednesday last week, observances of Lent, and any and all future observances of Easter, Christmas, and any other annual feast days. Cause personally, I sure can't think of anything more redundant than holiday productions that have been occurring more or less continously for the last 2,000 years.

Just saying.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, religion

...in which crypto-misogynist Caitlin Flanagan once again ( proves her suck. )

music: meat katie & elite force - fabulous mint 400 tags: asshattery, gender

Quoting directly from Alan Dupont's ( East Asia Imperilled: )

That will be all.

tags: asia, asshattery

( ajkd&%! )

( And then there was this tasteless fuck. )

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, grad school, politics

Oopsie-fucking-daisy.

This is really, really unfortunate. The state has been trying to find ways to shut IASMH down for well over a decade now, and steadily defunding it in the meantime. This will just give them one more piece of ammunition. And that's a shame because Indiana school systems do not exactly put a premium on intelligence.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, school

or ( American University Needs To Get Its Shit Together )

That will be all

music: lab 4 - the invaders tags: asshattery, grad school

Namely here. Like I did.

Yes, I'm behind again on TWIB. If you had to deal with the same BS as I do, you would be too. Hopefully sometime later this week.

That will be all.

music: flaming lips - yoshimi vs. the pink robots tags: asshattery, lj

...that this administration shocks and awes that really get to me. Like Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff's recent announcement (having, of course, nothing to do with Bush's historically low approval ratings, or the recent "defections" of several Republicans worried about their upcoming reelection campaigns, or rising U.S. and Iraqi casualty tolls in Iraq, or the fact that the Iraqi government has met none of its 18 benchmarks, or that Gonzales once again lied, this time about abuses of the Patriot Act, or...)

You know what, let me try this again:

Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff recently astounded me with his announcement that he feels the U.S. is likely to suffer another terror attack this summer. Does he know this because of intelligence he's received, either legally or perhaps through the recently uncovered abuses of the Patriot Act? Has he received any threats from a known terrorist cell? Was a plot uncovered?

No, he knows because he has a "gut feeling." A "gut feeling" that has nothing to do with any evidence (let alone reality), but everything to do with the litany of scandals I've enumerated above. And if you think I'm straying into tin hat territory here, check out how Yahoo!News has decided to cover Chertoff's announcement:



That's right: "Officials worry of summer terror attack." Not "Chertoff creates bogus terror scare." Not even "Chertoff worries of summer terror attack"--they don't even attribute the worries to a particular individual. So if you're the type of person who doesn't really follow the news (most Americans are) but does have a borderline email addiction (most Americans do), this is all you're going to see.

And the damage is done--terrorism and 9/11 are now at the front of your consciousness displacing all those pesky moral problems that plague the Bush administration, and you're back to that unquestioning willingness to accept the illegal measures (from loss of civil liberties to torture to preemptive invasions of uninvolved nations) Bush posits as being necessary to defend us from a non-existant menace. Their work here is done.

The "actual" terrorists don't even need to lift a finger anymore. Bush and his cronies are happy to do the leg work for them. Osama must be laughing in his cave.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics

Apparently Bushie has just exercised his compassionate conservatism and commuted Scooter Libby's sentence. To put this in perspective: it's okay to perjure yourself as long as you're connected to the Junta ruling this country.

And also: the journalist who refused to talk about the case has spent more time in jail than the man legally deemed to have broken the law.

There's really nothing else I can say about this without committing a federal felony.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics

This is disgusting.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore called the ruling "a substantial victory for efforts by Americans to more effectively aid our neighbors in need of help."

Oh, you mean like the christian "charity" that fleeced the American people for close to half a million dollars on a bogus grant of two decommissioned cutters? Yeah, those people really needed help.

It makes me SICK to think that any portion of my income whatsoever is going to line the purses of people whose beliefs I morally oppose. That I can't challenge this state of affairs in court is just the icing on the cake.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics

...since the deadline for North Korea to shut down its nuclear facilities has passed. Have they done so? No. Has there been a peep of protest out of President Bush? NO.

One wonders where all the rhetoric about preventing the spread of WMDs to our enemies has gone.

Oh yeah, we don't attack countries that actually pose security threats.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics

I mooched Seymour M. Hersh's Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib several months ago and have just gotten around to starting it, at which point I first became aware of the many illuminating notes the previous owner had so thoughtfully inscribed on its pages.

For instance, Hersh writes:

Yet another photograph shows a kneeling, naked, unhooded male prisoner, head momentarily turned away from the camera, posed to make it appear that he is performing oral sex on another male prisoner, who is naked and hooded. Such dehumanization is unacceptable in any culture, but it is especially so in the Arab world. Homosexual acts are against Islamic law, and it is humiliating for men to be naked in front of other men, Bernard Haykel, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at New York University, explained.

The owner highlighted those last two sentences before noting in red ink: NOT true - many Iraqi boys are prostitutes & engage in bestiality - especially nomadic peoples.

Which just o.O on so many levels I don't even care to enumerate them.

But then I realised that of course it would be easy for the previous owner to make such assumptions. After all, she was from the deep south, where, as we all know, people only have sex with their blood relatives^*.

In other news, I stopped coughing up blood this afternoon, so hopefully I'm on the mend.

That will be all.

^*[/end sarcasm]

tags: asshattery, politics

...but after watching him refuse to allow Jon Stewart to even ask him questions--by talking over Stewart?

Fuck McCain.

Anyone who wants to be president so badly that he's willing to spew White House-approved bullshit on command with his ass in the air for the taking deserves neither my pity nor the office.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics, tv

...it will be interesting to see how South Korea responds to the killings, given all the "all Americans are violent and own guns; we Koreans are peaceful and safe" mini-lectures I've been given, either in Korea or while I lived in Japan.

Also, I'm willing to bet the guy was about to drop/be kicked out and that the shootings were triggered by a loss of 面子: not a particularly Western concept.

And finally, it's so nice of President Bush to deign to attend today's memorial service. One wonders when he plans to extend such benificence to the families of the soldier's he's killed in Iraq.

Okay, I'm going to back away slowly from the politics now.

That will be all.

tags: asshattery, politics