Sorkin is sexist. Who knew?

Another illusion shatters. The creative force behind 'West Wing' is a self-referential sexist egotist.

I won't reproduce the Aaron Sorkin observation; this response to his odious peroration bears repeating, though.

It also occurs to me that if there is any truth to this, Mr. Sorkin, it’s because dudes like you have absolutely no idea how to write for women and dudes like you systematically step on the throats of women writers by spewing sexist crap like this.

Come to think of it, now that I review Sorkin's movie credits, I remember the 'Malice' plotline hinged on the worst - and most predictable - vile stereotypes and fallacies about women.

Follow #LadiesInFilm to read quotable lines from women onscreen.

More Contempt from the Cons

It's predictable that cowardly MinJKenney would go into attack mode to cover up the mendacity and hypocrisy of his Contempt Party government.

The Con politician who, like his master PMSHithead micro-manages every detail of his realm, takes cover behind bureaucrats who refused to approve a visa application from Sayed Shah Sharifi.

From here:

Sharifi is baffled by the department’s claims that his narrative has been inconsistent, insisting that he provided the same details before and after he was told he had preliminary approval for a visa, pending the standard medical and security checks.

The interview on July 21 was the final hurdle. Sharifi says he was asked odd questions by the Canadians, who identified themselves as civilian “immigration intelligence officers.”

“They told me, ‘We saw your articles on thestar.com,’” he said. “Did you pass (the visa screening) just by your articles in thestar.com or did you help us, the Canadians?’ So I showed them 13 letters and certificates from Canadian officials.

“They asked me questions from my childhood to yesterday,” Sharifi added. “And I provided them complete, perfect answers.[...]

So we are left with the judgment of Kenney’s anonymous officials and the word of an Afghan interpreter — one praised by his Canadian military supervisors as exceptional for his honesty, work ethic and leadership.

There's a depth and stink of moral corruption here that belies all of Kenney's pious religious bleating.

Like other islamophobes, it's clear he believes the only *good* Moslems are dead ones, killed by the Taliban.

Happy Birthday DAMMIT JANET!

Difficult to believe that today is our 3rd birthday.

And the cat has Patsy's tongue, as you may have noticed; she is non-plussed at the legs DAMMIT JANET! has shown over the last three years.

Since there's sadly no end in sight to the scathingly wrong, batshitcrazy stupidity of rightwingers and greedy neocons, we have miles and miles to blog yet.

The Oxford Comma

Buckets has weighed into the discussion. Go have a look.

Bouquets of Gray: Why punctuation is important

Added by fh: Previous posts on the matter.

Canadian Blog Awards: First Round Voting Is On!

First-round voting has begun!

From the rules:

Each person gets one vote for their favourite blog, in each category. In round 1, you can only vote once per blog. In the subsequent rounds you can vote once per day.

And this year, there are prizes! In addition to shameless self-promotion!

You've got until December 24 for this round, but don't delay. Go find some new reads and/or reward faves.

And, of course, spread farnwide.

Cons and new Canadian animal emblem.

Behold a native crayfish encrusted with zebra mussels.

If the Contempt Party is seriously considering a new animal emblem for Canada then the zebra mussel is the only choice.

First, it is a mollusk - an invertebrate - as most of PMSHithead's MPs are.

It's invasive and parasitic; we've noted this behaviour was consistently present in Con candidates during the last federal election.

They're prolific breeders that gobble up more than their share of the food available. They crowd out other life forms, they're toxic and they carry a wide range of bacteria and infectious diseases.

They colonize areas where native aquatic species live and deprive them of oxygen. They radically change the environment.

In conclusion, zebra mussels behave exactly like Conservatives.

*Low road* all in eye of beholder.

Yesterday on SunTV the ever-petulant cross-dressing amateur journalist Ezrant Levant attacked with his habitual subtlety the US president Barack Obama for putting the Keystone XL pipeline project on ice.

The *Ethical Tar Sands* promoter was soundly spanked by greater minds and defended by the usual suspects.

As I said on Twitter, the *low road* we travel - when mocking the lies and ignorance of Con jobs and other rightwing batshit crazies - does not approach the vile trash-and-slash tactic used by the Contempt party and its accolytes.

The pic was borrowed from Buckdog's blog.

It's a predator's world, not a *man's world*.

"If you're asked if you're sexually attracted to young boys and "No" isn't the first word out of your mouth, you have a problem." This was a succinct response to the Jerry Sandusky interview on NBC.

As the fatuous Ottawa Citizen dinosaur contributor David Warren observed, what's the big deal about men (priests, coaches, men in authority, etc. etc.) sexually abusing children? Happens all the time. Don't make a fuss about it, it only causes harm - to the institutions complicit in allowing those violations.

So. There's a minority of men who are serial sexual predators. Their actions are sanctioned by a second minority of men who don't want to rock the boat nor challenge the status quo. Their silence is complicity.

Then there's a third group of honourable and respectful men who will speak up and take a stand. Such as this guy did:

Meet John Matko. John Matko is a 34-year-old Penn State class of 2000 alumnus, distraught by the recent revelations that Coach Joe Paterno and those in charge at his alma mater allegedly shielded a serial child rapist, assistant Jerry Sandusky. He was livid that students chose to riot on campus this week in defense of their legendary coach. He was disgusted that the Board of Trustees decided to go ahead as planned with Saturday’s Nebraska game just days after the revelations became public. John Matko felt angry and was compelled to act. He stood outside Saturday’s Penn State–Nebraska game in Happy Valley and held up two signs. One read, “Put abused kids first.” The other said, “Don’t be fooled, they all knew.[...]

Matko stood with his signs behind a pair of sunglasses. He wasn’t soapboxing, or preaching: just bearing silent witness. It was an admirable act, but no one bought him a beer. Instead, beer was poured on his head. His midsection was slapped with an open hand. Expletives were rained upon him. His signs were also kicked to the ground and stomped.

As the Washington Times wrote, “Abuse flew at Matko from young and old, students and alumni, men and women. No one intervened. No one spoke out against the abuse.”

One disapproving student said, “Not now, man. This is about the football players.”

And with those nine words, we see the truth about Saturday’s enterprise. It was about the football program, not the children. It was morbid theater where people were mourning the death of a jock culture that somewhere along the line, mutated into malignancy. It’s a malignancy that deprioritized rape victims in the name of big-time football.

It's a malignancy that deprioritizes victims of abuse in the name of ... the Catholic Church ... heterosexual marriage ... the war in Iraq ... the credibility of the IMF ....

Add your own big-time sacrosanct institution to the list.

UPDATE: Must-have link to Heather Mallick's piece. This is vintage Mallick, thank the goddess. For a while there, I suspected that she had been declawed, defanged and neutered by Toronto Star publisher John Cruikshank and kept around as a warning to other feminist writers.

Grand merci to fellow Prog blogger DrDawg for one of the references.

Contempt Cronyism

Well, well. That didn't take very long, did it?

Alykhan Velshi's climb up the ranks of the Contempt Party continues.

Alison at Creekside first took note of Velshi here.

Now CBC reports:

Former Jason Kenney staffer Alykhan Velshi is returning to Parliament Hill -- this time as director of planning for the Prime Minister's Office [...].

Velshi was most recently executive director of EthicalOil.org, an organization set up to promote writer Ezra Levant's take on Canada's oilsands.

Funny how the ReformaTory claim that Stephen Harper Conservatives would govern differently never happened.

Plus ça change, more there are Con jobs feeding at the public trough.

Update from The Mark.