May 2012
64 posts
“If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal”, then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born 95 years ago today. (via think-progress)
FCC Chairman Says It’s Okay to Be Charged for the Amount of Broadband You Use →
betabeat.com
With the internet and all it offers, it is those who don’t have the money who sometimes need it most. Access to all the information and educational materials you could dream of, the means to stay in contact with people you care about, affordable entertainment, connecting to people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet in your life to join brains and solve problems, and so much more. Trying to make it harder and harder for those with small incomes to have tools to educate, organize, etc. … hmm, rather convenient to those making a living from exploitation, hm?
Mr. Genachowski said tiered pricing, will “increase consumer choice and competition” and yield in “lower prices for people who consume less broadband.” Although, as Electronista notes, “he did not clarify what mechanism would drive prices down.”
Public interest groups have decried the potential impact broadband data caps will have on the market and innovation, not to mention the biases baked in the plans. Comcast, for example, counts Netflix video into its data plan, but lets its own XFinity service stream away.
…“increase consumer choice and competition”… yeah, that’s exactly what will happen. I mean, except for how that’s not what’s going to happen, at all.
With the internet and all it offers, it is those who don’t have the money who sometimes need it most. Access to all the information and educational materials you could dream of, the means to stay in contact with people you care about, affordable entertainment, connecting to people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet in your life to join brains and solve problems, and so much more. Trying to make it harder and harder for those with small incomes to have tools to educate, organize, etc. … hmm, rather convenient to those making a living from exploitation, hm?
“Everything good comes from encouraging an artist, nothing good comes from discouraging an artist.”
—Kevin Smith (via the-bad-one)
“
Men who want to flirt with women have to realize: Women live in a state of continual vigilance about sexual safety. It’s like having a mild case of hay fever that never goes away. It’s not debilitating. You’re not weak. You’re not afraid. You just suck it up and get on with your life. It’s nothing that’s going to stop you from making discoveries, or climbing mountains, or falling in love. Sometimes you can almost forget about it. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, subtly sucking your energy. You learn to avoid situations that make it worse and seek out conditions that make it better.
If a female stranger is wary around you, it is not because she suspects you are a rapist, or that all men are rapists. It’s because a general level of circumspection is what vigilance requires. Don’t take it personally.
If this frustrates you, try to remember that women are blamed for lapsed vigilance. If a woman does get raped, everyone rushes to see where she let her guard down. Was she drinking? Was she alone? Was she wearing a short skirt? Did she go to a strange man’s room for coffee at 4am?
A woman must be seen to be vigilant as well as be vigilant. If she is deemed insufficiently vigilant, she will be at least partly blamed for any sexual violence that befalls her. If she’s regarded as downright reckless, that “evidence” can be used to completely exonerate her rapist. If it comes down to a he said/she said dispute over whether sex was consensual, as so many rape cases do, the dispute becomes a referendum on whether the woman seems like the sort of reckless person who would have sex with a stranger.
If a woman does go back to a strange man’s hotel room at 4am, even if she only wants a coffee and conversation, she’s more or less given him the power to rape her. No jury is going to believe she went up there for anything but sex. So, don’t be surprised if a stranger reacts badly to that suggestion.
” —Attention, Space Cadets: Do Not Proposition Women in the Elevator
I wish I didn’t need to reblog stuff like this. I wish people *got it*. But judging from the ridiculous response to these posts, stuff like this clearly still needs to be repeated.
(via lavender-labia)
This actually made me cry. Ugh.
(via m0nikered)
Will always reblog
(via stfuconservatives)
“After all is said and done, you usually find more was said than done.”
— Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)