Shriver, Pesident of the Special Olypics, on Obama's apology:

"This is a population that struggles every day to be accepted. It's the population that has as its greatest challenge to not be humiliated, to not be made fun of, to be valued every day...Children going to school with special needs are trying to find ways to fit in, trying to find ways not to be the butt of a joke."

Good one, Barack.

Surveys can be deceptive. Those hotel managers could be seeing trends that support their pre-existing stereotypes.

I like her art. And it's definitely the smirk.

In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:
Your avatar always reminds me of an artist I follow on dA that goes by loish. I think it's the smirk. She uses a similar look in quite a few of her drawings.

I totally disagree. The music is awesome.

As I watched this, I found myself thinking, "Yeah, it's a good thing for these people use email now so that their dogs can't do that."

Wait...

>> ^messenger:
It's hilarious, but the music was so wrong, not wrong like a kazoo at a funeral, just wrong.

*beg

Bah! Humbug!

Out of tune! Ear carnage! There are much better choral performances that can't even get sifted. I want to downvote on principle, but I'm trying to resist.

The rainstorm part is cool, but I've seen choirs do similar things many times. It's not all that inventive. The thunder was very well done, though.

Really? Was Ricky's ethnicity made fun of in the show? I never saw any of that, but I haven't seen much of I Love Lucy. I don't think that they constantly made fun of Ricky, but his accent and other things created humorous moments. There is nothing racist about this clip, for instance, in which Ricky's accent creates humor, and Ricky points out the stupidity of English spelling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBXl0vPzFSA. His accent is cute and funny, and Desi plays it up for humor.

See, to ME it always seemed like Ricky was the intelligent, successful, exasperated one, and that his dumb blonde wife was always screwing things up.

>> ^entr0py:

And yes, you have to be a bit stupid not to realize that the way Ricky's ethnicity was constantly made fun of was racist, and would probably be offensive to most people from that part of the world.

I don't think that anyone said that women are inherently weak. I was explaining to imstellar the reason that most of us feel the way we do about the "we don't hit girls" attitude. I said that women are smaller and weaker on average. Others have said that this particular woman is smaller and weaker than the man assaulting her.

And, yes, all gender issues aside, the violence should not have occurred.

>> ^Creature:
As a woman that bothered to go out and learn to defend herself I call bullshit on this women are inherently weak crap. Should this situation have happened? No. Why? Because violence has no place in a civilized society.

I obviously need nerd help. Why aren't the codes working?

P.S. Berticus, your last comment is a beautiful, beautiful thing. A treasure, of sorts.

EDIT: I got the needed nerdy assistance.

Oh, imstellar, I almost agree with you, but you have to take into consideration that no matter how equal we want to be in other respects, women are biologically different than men. We are smaller and weaker on average. And I think that most of us believe that violence against the weak is more wrong than violence against the strong.
In an ideal society we would look at each case individually. As in: If this woman had been bigger and stronger than the man, the violence committed against her would have been less wrong. But seeing as how she is smaller and appears to be weaker, it just makes us a little bit more pissed off.
But we don't usually look at every case individually. Since woman are smaller on average, we think that violence against them is more wrong (on average). And if you want to look at it from an evolution standpoint (this could be utter bull), it may actually be instinctual for men to feel the need to protect women from violence. We're pretty defenseless when we're pregnant, you know. That's basic survival and reproduction instincts we're talking about. Strong stuff. Not to mention that, historically, violent crimes involving a man and a woman are far more often committed by men.
Little girls should definitely be taught that they can't just hit boys whenever they feel like it, and I think that a healthy "we don't hit girls" construct is good for little boys to learn as long as it is coupled with a healthy "we don't let girls hit us."
>> ^imstellar28:
Sexism
1. Discrimination based on gender.
2. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotping of social roles based on gender.
Moral position:
Violence against others, men or women, is wrong
Immoral position:
Violence against women, but not men, is wrong
Sexist position
Violence against women is more wrong than violence against men.
Just so you understand what you are and where you stand in the eyes of the LORD-AH

Hey, thanks!

In reply to this comment by EndAll:
*promote

Let's examine just how racist this is. The Senator made a pop culture reference to a very well known, heavily accented Cuban TV character while addressing a Puerto Rican woman. First of all, Desi Arnaz was awesome. My question is, are references to Ricky Ricardo inherently racist in nature? I've never heard them used that way, but I could be wrong and I'm ready to be corrected. I don't think that Ricardo was an ugly racial stereotype (I've only seen bits of the show, so I could be mistaken). He had an accent, but there is nothing wrong with that.

I would be worried if Coburn had quoted Speedy Gonzales or Tony Montana or Cheech or something.

Think about it. Is Coburn making any kind of derogatory statement about hispanic people in any way? I mean, really, it may have been kind of inappropriate to make a joke that called attention to her nationality and possibly drew a comparison between Sotomayor and Ricardo (if he even intended it that way), but just how racist was it? Not very. It makes you cringe a little bit inside, but is it really even derogatory?

I would venture to say that this really isn't a big deal and that the reaction is a classic example of our hypersensitivity to racial references of any kind.

I am willing to accept that I may be wrong about this, so if anyone wants to explain to me how this is racist, I'm all ears.

I love this video. *beg

Why has almost everyone come to the conclusion that this woman is a bitch?

If you listen to the very beginning of the video very carefully, you can hear her say, "...[indistinct] a hotdog?" I'm thinking that whatever these guys did to her probably wasn't very nice and involved some sexual harrassment. Did you also notice the other guy's hand on the back of her neck? Her next comment is immature, but then he starts moving toward her AS SHE WALKS AWAY before she even flips him off. And then he makes some unseen gestures at her and mutters something, she says she doesn't care, he calls her a bitch, and then flicks his hand at her face. He deserved everything he got and that woman was just reacting, trying (and failing) to keep her dignity, and defending herself from those pricks.

I can't believe that anyone could think that the leg sweep was justified.

I'm sorry I corrected your spelling. I should have been nice, but I didn't like your insinuatioin that I'm a liar. You have to forgive me when it comes to grammar and stuff. I'm studying English, and while mine is not perfect, I am slightly annoyed by people who completely disregard grammar and capitalization like you do. But that really isn't your problem, because it doesn't matter. Just a pet peeve of mine.

How long can you go without watching porn?

In reply to this comment by deputydog:
>> ^thepinky:
DeputyDog, I'm not a counseller or even a counselor...


are we pouncing on spelling now ms pinky? ok then. 'heroin' is a drug, whereas 'heroine' is the word used to describe a female character much admired for her heroic actions.

you should clean your own stinking kitchen before reporting my cockroaches to the authoritays.


>> ^thepinky:
...but why is it so hard to believe that I know three guys who have talked to me about their porn dependency? I talk about serious topics with lots of people, not just you guys. One of my good friends told me this after I knew him for about 2 weeks. I'm very open with other people about my own experiences, and they often confide in me.


it's not impossible for you to know that many porn addicts by chance, that much i admit, but it's extremely unlikely. either a) you're incredibly 'lucky', especially at your age, to have randomly met these guys, b) you haven't met these guys, or c) they're feeding you a lot of bullshit (maybe through fear after realising you want to end porn's life).

if you have somehow met all these tragic porn addicts, please realise that this is not the norm. it's very much the opposite. i also talk to people about serious topics (it's not whoopee cushions all the time) but don't know a single man, or woman, who has a problem with porn, and that includes friends of friends of friends (and so on).

i'm actually surprised you haven't boycotted the sift anyway. i take it you've seen pornbumper?