The Witching Well

Um. What?

It seems that KTLA in Los Angeles think that Black Canary is a bad role model, and Barbie shouldn’t dress like her. Their story is online here.

Yeah, right. ‘Cause we all know that what you wear is so much more important than what you do or why. Nevermind that fighting evil and saving people stuff, she wears fishnet stockings and a leather jacket, so she’s bad bad bad.

Please notice that they gloss over the fact that this doll is a high-ticket collector’s edition, not a kiddie toy. And that they chose to single out the Canary rather than Batgirl or Wonder Woman, who are coming out in the same product line. Oy.

Mood: angry
Music: Flogging Molly: Float

MA Senate votes to repeal 1913 law..

Mood: excited

Gay Californians now officially have the right to marry. True, there’s a big fight ahead, to keep the bigots from amending the state constitution to put the ban back in place, but can’t you just smell it in the air? The times, they really are a-changing.

Mood: excited

Andy and I went to a reading of the letters of John and Abigail Adams last night at Faneuil Hall. Which in and of itself is a wonderful thing, since the Adams letters are really quite an amazing snapshot of what was going on during those years. Not to mention wonderfully personal.

But this particular event was even cooler because the Massachusetts Historical Society managed to get as readers Ted and Victoria Kennedy, Duval and Diane Patrick, and Michael and Kitty Dukakis.

That’s right. A sitting senator, a sitting governor, and a former governor. Reading historical documents.

And it was wonderful. They obviously had a lot of love for the material. And most of them seemed to be having a ball up there.

And that line between politicians and actors? Very thin indeed.

Mood: impressed

Saudi Rape Victim Gets 200 Lashes, Court Says 19-Year-Old Woman Improperly Used Media To Influence Case

I would love to be articulate right now. I would love to be able, right at this moment, to write a diatribe that goes on for pages about how badly I think the House of Saud needs to be toppled and why. About how any society that treats people like this ought to be taken apart and its name erased from history like the Egyptians tried to do to Akhenaten. But I’m just shaking too hard with anger and outrage.

Gods, I feel sick.

Via Jeralyn at TalkLeft.

Mood: infuriated

Well, maybe 15 seconds, since that’s how long it’ll take you to read my quote at the tail end of this Boston Globe article about Salem at Halloween. (My RL name is Robin Whelton, in case you didn’t know.)

Mood: amused

J.K. Rowling has come out and said, in no uncertain terms, that Albus Dumbledore is gay.

Which is marvelous, IMHO. Why wouldn’t there be gay characters in the HP universe? And why not the headmaster of Hogwarts himself?

What bothers me is that the statement seems to have been made as an implied negative answer to the question of whether or not he ever finds true love. Is that a subconscious bias showing, Jo, dearie?

Mood: contemplative

Sometimes you can really tell the political affiliation of a radio station.

Yesterday morning, on the drive in to work, Andy and I were listening to WBZ, the local AM news station (they do traffic reports every ten minutes, you see), and they covered the story that the State Police will be taking over investigations of homicides that occur within Boston but on state property (such as inside the subway system). The newscaster said that this will take some of the pressure off the BPD and let them concentrate on other areas.

When I got to work, I switched on WFNX, the alternative music station I usually listen to during the day, and their news guy covered the same story at the top of the hour. Only he mentioned something that WBZ never did: that the BPD is seriously unhappy with the whole idea.

Which, as the granddaughter of a cop, I had already guessed.

Funny how staunchly conservative WBZ just sort of left that part out, eh?

Here’s the Boston Globe’s take on the situation.

Mood: cynical

Dubya has always tried to portray himself as a Christian who values the sanctity of human life. That’s why, we’re supposed to believe, he’s against abortion: because fetuses are human and humans deserve to live.

That regard for human life, of course, doesn’t extend to any adult convicted of a capital crime. Even if there’s significant doubt as to whether the person convicted had a fair trial or might even be innocent of the crime itself. All he really cares about there is how much money it costs to keep people on death row while they appeal.

So, now we get to save some cash. Yay.

Fucking barbarian.

Via the nice folks at Small Beer Press.

Mood: nauseated